tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post6220742235632663672..comments2024-01-06T07:53:11.832-08:00Comments on disabled Christianity: A lesson from Pagan ChristianityJeff McNairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10029386598033932429noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post-82730439979389406002008-03-23T19:50:00.000-07:002008-03-23T19:50:00.000-07:00It seems to me that ministry among persons with di...It seems to me that ministry among persons with disability ought to be primarily experiential in nature. We should not talk about why it is important to love, we should not be teaching or talking about what love looks like or what what love feels like; we should simply love. If you want to call it teaching, we should be shaping and modeling love, by loving. As the song says, "...and they'll know we are Christians by our love."<BR/><BR/>I recently heard a presentation by Erik Carter, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He talked about the way church ministers to people with disabilities (and Anyone else , for that matter) as "a progression of prepositions."<BR/>In the beginning we:<BR/><BR/>Minister apart from persons with disabilities. This is where most of the church is now.<BR/><BR/>Later, we minister to persons with disabilities.<BR/><BR/>We come to minister with people with disabilities.<BR/><BR/>Finally, we experience ministry from people with disabilities.<BR/><BR/>I will argue that the last stage of disabilities ministry begins as soon as they are present within the church body. We experience ministry by persons with disability because their deficit in social skills force us to decide how we react to them. We can get better at Christian love, or we reject those people. We walk away from that experience knowing exactly WWJD, and comparing our response to that knowledge.<BR/><BR/>It seems the discussion on this blog has been focused exclusively on this particular issue for some time now. But what other issues are there? Really? When will we ever learn?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post-77249915975078524772008-03-20T18:55:00.000-07:002008-03-20T18:55:00.000-07:00a great challengewell putIf it is answered properl...a great challenge<BR/>well put<BR/><BR/>If it is answered properly this could revolutionize the church and give us a future we do not seem to have in our present mode of propogating the faith<BR/><BR/>I'm glad to see you are still doing such a good job of articulating the call God is making thru PWD'sImpossibleapehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423495309073520479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post-85817306683196490442008-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:002008-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:00Amen and amen!Amen and amen!Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11507473811211698711noreply@blogger.com