Purpose
and Plans
By Dr . Mike Townsend , Chair of Trustees
Do you ever wonder if God has any purpose for you ? Many disabled people struggle with their personal sense of value ( and it ’ s not just disabled people !)
I am writing this just after our first Every Church Needs a Roofbreaker day in Ashtead . The keynote message drew our attention to an amazing fact . We are ‘ created in the image of God ’ ( Genesis 1:27 ). We all reflected on what this means . Does it include everyone ? Even those with profound disabilities who struggle to communicate ?
I used to run family houseparties . In the evenings I told the children exciting serial stories illustrating God ’ s message for the day . Daniel was a regular from the age of eight . He had absolutely no communication , and just lay there in his flat carriage . I used to wonder if he understood anything . When Daniel was thirteen , he arrived with a communication aid . He used Dectalk synthetic speech - like Stephen Hawking . Daniel had broken the communication barrier ! He described to me , in great detail , the stories I had told them back to when he was eight .
In the silence , God spoke to Daniel and he was now finding purpose in telling others about Jesus .
At the Roofbreaker day , we were privileged to have Becky Tyler speak . Becky had preached at the main Sunday service at Greenbelt last year . She is 15 , and uses a computer to speak , controlling it with her eyes . She
Time for sharing and discussion among Roofbreakers
prepared her sermon in advance , and delivered it very effectively using glances to the screen .
Referring to the book of Romans ( 8:28 ), ‘ In all things God works for the good of those who love him , who have been called according to his purpose ’, Becky testified that with her profound disabilities she is “ created in God ’ s image ” and therefore God has a plan for her . “ All things ” are not always “ good ”. But the real meaning of that verse is that God uses our experiences for his “ good ” purposes .
There are two sides to the work of Roofbreakers . Firstly , they enable disabled people to engage with church . Roofbreakers look for ways to include people and encourage leadership to make this happen . However , real belonging is a two way street . We are not just “ to be served but to serve ”. Roofbreaking includes enabling disabled people to use our gifts for the glory of God .
God has a plan for Becky , for me , and for you too .
New Logo
Last year we created a special logo to celebrate Through the Roof ’ s 20th Anniversary . It was designed to reflect the unity and dynamism of the charity ’ s mission and its 3 programmes , as well as incorporating its roof-shaped graphic and colour schemes of each area of work : the red of the charity , the green of Wheels for the World , blue of DCF , and purple of Churches inc . Trustees are so pleased with it we have decided to adopt it for the charity on-going , and you should start seeing it on all of our new publications soon . www . throughtheroof . org www . throughtheroof . org