A Different
Perspective
By Shaun Burrows, International Missions Manager
I heard of a man who visited a refugee camp somewhere in
Sudan. While he was walking along the banks of a nearby river,
he heard the cry of a newborn in the reeds. As he approached
the baby he noticed it was physically disabled and gasping for
air. He picked the baby up, carried it out and tried to resuscitate
it. The mother, who had been working in a nearby field rushed
to them. Instead of getting down and attempting to assist the
man, she shouted to him to put the baby back near the river. “It
was meant to die", she shouted. The man’s view was that the
baby was meant to live. Both people had completely different
world views. The baby was taken to a hospital and later
adopted. The mother's view was that it was the baby’s destiny
to die because it was the will of the ancestors. The man however,
saw the baby from a different perspective - God’s perspective.
In polytheistic cultures disabled people are seen to be in that
state because of their past lives, and suffering in this life will
alleviate their suffering in the next life. But in many animistic
cultures, present in many African countries, when a child is
born disabled it is often seen as punishment from their
ancestors. The belief is that parents should not interfere with
‘the fate’ of the baby.
Our last visit to Mozambique reached many churches and
community leaders
Our Churches Inc. program is aimed at alleviating the barriers
(physical, cultural, ethnic, and spiritual) to the inclusion of
disabled people in developing countries. We would like to
reach the church leaders as we believe that they are the key to
addressing these and other barriers. As part of that, we’re now
introducing Leaders’ Events to assist pastors and church leaders
and introduce them to God’s perspective of disabled people.
Our first Leaders’ Event will be in Maputo Mozambique from
the 30th of July to the 9th of August. We are planning one in
Tanzania from the 7th to the 17th of February next year. If
you’re a teacher or pastor, and feel called to join the team,
please contact me on [email protected].
Conference
on Catch-Up
Through the Roof played a key role in organising
the Churches for All Network’s No Limits conference
last year, and now you can catch-up on the
teaching sessions you missed. A video featuring
highlights of the day, along with the audio
recordings and transcripts of all the presenters are
now available for you to view, listen, and read at
www.churchesforall.org.uk (have a look in the
‘Enabling Church’ section). You’ll be blessed with
insights and ideas from inspiring speakers and
All the talks from the 2016 conference are available now
leaders
from
nationally-known
Christian
organisations such as Urban Saints, Care for the Family, and Messy Church as well as church leaders, Malcolm Duncan,
Zoe Heming, and experts in their field like Lynn McCann and Cris Gangemi. Catch up on the content and start a
conversation with others about it on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/Throughtheroof.
www.throughtheroof.org