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EQUIPPING THE CHURCH
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We, at The Banquet Network, recognize how important it is to be in a constant learning posture particularly as we seek to submit to the Church in our work. Our growth is contingent upon learning from people of different backgrounds and pursuing relationships with churches of many denominations. This list of resources from various authors and origins has given us a framework to shape our thinking around true inclusion in the Church.
Read MoreAt the young age of three, Danny was introduced to the Deaf community. He began learning sign language at this time and through the years built strong friendships with Deaf individuals. As a college student, Danny started a job as an American Sign Language interpreter and went on to interpret in school systems, legal settings, and became one of very few medical interpreters in Kentucky.
Read MoreOne of the goals of The Banquet Network is to inspire people and churches to consider people with disabilities as a people group. We are urged to this by the example of Jesus who refers to the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind as identifiable categories of people (see Luke 14:13). We want to notice people and social dynamics like Jesus did. We want others to see the distinct characteristics of people with disabilities, how they relate to the world, and how they relate to others.
Read MoreThis story illustrates an example of what happens when a family with special needs walks into a church. We would do well to gain understanding of what some of these families experience at churches on a regular basis. We pray that this podcast would illuminate the need to welcome those with disabilities with the open arms of Christ.
Read MoreHow cool is your church? Is it filled with people who have many material possessions? Is it filled with highly resourced, comfortable, successful, powerful people? It is a common sentiment throughout the years and in our current day, as the Church, to try hard to be relevant and “cool” by these worldly standards.
Read MoreThe best of theologians and Christian leaders in our history were not exempt from playing a part in marginalizing people with disabilities. Even the disciples thought that the blind man in John 9 was afflicted due to sin of the part of his parents or his own sin in the womb.
Read MoreMichael Beates outlines in his book, Disability & The Gospel: How God Uses Our Brokenness to Display His Grace, the characteristics of a “disability effective leader”. Our prayer is to see church members and leaders alike grow in and exemplify these characteristics.
Read MoreLainie Brown, board member at The Banquet Network, hit the ground running with special needs ministries after God gave her Trent. Her son, like many with downs syndrome do, changed Lainie’s life. She was acutely aware of God calling her to care for the special needs community particularly as she thought of her son, but quickly realized her need to assist others. “I was hurt knowing that I couldn’t invite my friends with special needs to my own church.” At the time, her church wasn’t built for it- willing servants or otherwise.
Read MoreCan you imagine this scene? A group of men carrying their paralyzed friend on a bed, submitting themselves to urgency and desperation, ignoring any sense of patience and social norms, and deciding that they would push their friend through a roof rather than risking the chance of missing Jesus. In this moment, these men prioritized their friend above anything else. They simply needed him to be healed and they believed that it would happen.
Read MoreThe Church is not reaching individuals affected by disability with the Gospel. "Only 5 to 10 percent of the world's disabled are effectively reached with the Gospel, making the disability community one of the largest unreached -- some say under-reached -- hidden people groups in the world," -Joni Eareckson Tada founder and CEO of Joni and Friends International Disability Center.
Read MoreHealing does not manifest itself in physical transformation alone. How can we talk, pray, and hope for healing in a more expansive and less traditional way that honors the disabled person? Let us widen our perspective to see healing through God’s eyes.
Read MoreFor many of us, there is an unspoken discomfort that arises in us when we enter a room and there facing us is a person with a visible disability. It might be a child in a wheelchair or an adult with Tourette’s syndrome, but regardless of the disability, the feeling is the same. We feel a sudden need to avoid the individual completely to ease our discomfort, or we fearfully fumble over what we should do or what we should say.
Read MoreIn the days of the early Church there was a certain population that was being neglected: the Greek widows weren’t receiving their distribution of food. We don’t know exactly how or why this was happening, but we do know that this is nothing new: humanity has a tendency to neglect/oppress certain populations. And as much as we wish this wasn’t the case, that even happens in the Church.
Read MoreI stood with a milk bottle in my hand, trying to muster up the visual acuity to make out the numbers on the label. But no matter how long I stared and squinted, I couldn’t see the expiration date. Thank God for Facetime and loving husbands and friends. Reading expiration dates on labels is one of the many things that vision impairment makes more difficult. Now I have to use my other senses instead of relying on a simple label to determine whether my next sip will lead to projectile…anything.
Read MoreWhen Amberle Brown was a child, she wanted to be a martyr for Jesus, or at the least, a missionary to an unreached people group. She never imagined she would one day become part of one.
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