Creating Belonging and Building Inclusion: The Roofbreaker Mission to Kolkata
Creating Belonging and Building Inclusion: The Roofbreaker Mission to Kolkata
In February 2026, five UK Roofbreakers— Abigail, Anne, Vitoria, Martyn and Janet— travelled to Kolkata for a ten‐day mission focused on strengthening Christian disability inclusion through advocacy and teaching. This visit followed a Wheels for the World trip in 2025, and once again, the team witnessed unforgettable expressions of courage, faith, and community.
Belonging: Opening the Church to Everyone On their very first day, the team led a seminar for local church leaders. The response was overwhelming. Many committed to return to their congregations determined to make genuine changes so that disabled people can fully belong in church life— welcomed, included, and able to access the Gospel.
Throughout the trip, the team shared this message across house churches, large congregations, and even a leprosy mission hospital where attendees travelled up to 200km to learn about disability inclusion.
Moments of deep belonging shone through everywhere— from worship in a small slum house church, accompanied only by a tambourine, to meeting members of a Deaf church whose pastor is working on a 15‐year project to translate the Bible into Indian Sign Language. For the 50,000 Deaf people in Kolkata, this is life‐changing work.
Kolkata: February 2026 at The Leprosy Mission hospital
Enabling: Equipping People and Communities The team also spent time with blind ministry groups, where Scripture was read aloud in Bengali braille— a living testimony to enabling people to use their God‐given gifts. They visited children’ s centres, outreach programmes, and even homes run by the Missionaries of Charity, seeing first‐hand how practical support empowers disabled people to thrive.
A highlight was visiting recipients from last year’ s Wheels for the World distribution. Many shared how their mobility equipment— and especially their audio Bibles— had brought renewed independence, faith, and dignity.
A Lasting Impact Although the team faced unexpected delays during their journey home due to conflict in Iran, they expressed deep gratitude for God’ s protection and for the many ministries they were privileged to serve alongside.
This Roofbreaker trip beautifully reflects Through the Roof’ s values: creating belonging, enabling people to fulfil their potential, and encouraging churches to become places where everyone can participate fully.
The Term‘ Roofbreaker’ comes from the passage in Luke 5 where four men bring their paralysed friend to Jesus. When they couldn’ t get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they found another way and literally broke through the roof to bring him into Jesus’ presence.
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