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By Joni Eareckson Tada 

CEO and Founder of Joni and Friends’ Christian Institute on Disability

USA

In 1989, I was asked to address the participants of Lausanne II, the International Congress on World Evangelizationin Manila. The subject of my message centred on the church’s responsibility to give the gospel to ‘the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind,’ and I was excited with the prospects of awakening the Lausanne gathering to Jesus’s mandate in Luke 14. I knew instinctively that the need was greatest among churches and people with disabilities in countries like the Philippines. Back then, I had travelled to only a handful of less-developed nations. The needs in the Philippines focused my mind. I had never seen so many maimed and injured people dragging themselves along the dirty sidewalks, wearing flip-flops on their hands. I managed to make friends with many of them living in makeshift lean-tos between our hotel and the conference centre.

Most were paraplegics; some were blind, and a few were amputees. But none of these dear people had ever seen anyone like me. When I extended a greeting to them, gesturing awkwardly with my limp hand, they seemed hesitant to touch me. They stared wide-eyed, few of them having ever seen a quadriplegic who had no use of legs or arms. When I spoke to them about my love for Jesus, they seemed fascinated. I could almost read the thoughts behind their amazed expressions, how can this lady trust God the way she is?!

The same thing happened at the Manila Pastors’ Conference, an additional Lausanne convocation for several hundred Filipino Christian leaders. I shared with them the same Luke 14 message. Observing my obvious limitations, they seemed especially curious about my faith in Christ. During lunch break in the main hall, many watched my husband Ken feed me a hamburger. Again, I felt curious eyes examining us, and I could almost read their thoughts: how wonderful that God has made her so happy amidst such a difficult disability! How does she do it?

I was experiencing first-hand the power behind 2 Corinthians 4:7,10, ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.… We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.’ The more obvious the weakness in the messenger, the more beautifully-adorned is the gospel he shares! People with disabilities are the burning bushes spoken of in Exodus 3 – we cause curious onlookers, even skeptical ones, to turn aside and ‘see this strange sight, why the bush is not burned up’ (Exodus 3:3). People with disabilities, especially missionaries with disabilities, make people hungry for the Bread of Life, and thirsty for the Living Water. They provoke the question is God truly powerful enough to sustain his joy in a quadriplegic? I must find out more!

This shows exactly why people ‘who seem to be weaker are indispensable in the Body of Christ’ as together we strive to make Jesus known to an unbelieving world (1 Corinthians 12:22). To the natural eye, people with disabilities seem to be weaker; they seem to be the least-likely candidates for Kingdom work. But to the spiritual eye – to those who value what God values – people with disabilities add depth, richness, and a platform for explosive power in Kingdom advancement.

To quote the editors of the book:

‘Herein lies the problem with the mission movement. We are inclined to assess our performance according to the standards of the secular world. This success-oriented approach can cause us to squeeze our potential missionaries into rigid molds in which they have to be intelligent, strong, agile, and have high energy: the Type A personality. This can mean that the mission movement selects only missionaries who have certain personality types, or alternatively it can tend to squeeze people who are different shapes into the same mold. When applying the world’s standards of success we therefore discount people who are different, who can’t be squashed into an ableist mold. Almost by definition, people with disability will not fit into an ableist mold, and nor should they. The stories you will read in the following pages are of missionaries who do not fit that mold.’

The book you hold in your hands is vitally important to the church and its mission movement. Its stories of people with impairments are the proof-text for 2 Corinthians 4:7-12. They are modern-day validations of the need for Christian workers on the field whose disabilities adorn the gospel. I appeal to leaders in agencies and denominations to consider what I believe to be a compelling case for selecting and training qualified people with disabilities for mission work. It is an idea whose time is long overdue – especially considering that our preeminent example is the apostle Paul himself!

So, enjoy the stories, consider the arguments, study the Scriptures, and start asking questions. Ask how you can enlist, and even exploit, people’s limitations for the glory of God on the mission field. Do you lead a mission agency, a denomination, or a church? Are you a wheelchair-user seeking to hold out the gospel in places where most say, ‘You can’t go there’? This book is your guide to taking next steps in inviting God’s all-surpassing power to explode through your mission or church outreach! Turn the next page, and let the adventure begin.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Lausanne Board Member

CEO/Joni and Friends International Disability Center

Our two bookstores sell physical books and ebooks. (If you are a Christian leader or seminary student in the Majority World, go to efacglobal.com/books where you will find how to download ebooks as a gift from EFAC.)

UK www.churchbooks.co.uk

US www.goodread.store

Both offer a free ebook: Jesus prays for Unity, based on an address by John Stott. Please claim it. It's pure gold. 

Also available through all online retailers or any trade outlet worldwide. Distributed by CLC Wholesale.

For any enquiries, please use the contact form. 

JOHN STOTT:  
Pastor, Leader and Friend (2nd edition)
By Christopher J.H. Wright, Lindsay Brown, et
al (Editor Julia Cameron)
Dictum Press. £6.99
ISBN 978 1 838 097 219

The aim is to ‘bring new insights into the life of John Stott and the ministries founded and fostered by him’ (pp. ix-x). But this is not merely of historical concern. As one of the most significant global evangelical leaders of the last 100 years, we all have much to learn from his life and ministry.

There is a great variety of contributors and topics, but each has the vividness of being painted in the months following JS’s death in 2011, while the collection benefits from a reflective distance.

Easily read in an hour or two, it opens up the story of Stott’s life and his remarkable contribution, under God, in five parts.

Part I focuses on ‘John Stott the man.’ The testimony of Frances Whitehead (his secretary of more than 50 years) to his authentic faith and godly example is one significant note amongst many.

Part II turns to ‘John Stott: Anglican Evangelical,’ demonstrating his concern for global and local Anglicanism, and his greater concern for the gospel and the glory of Christ without regard to denomination.

Part III looks at his ‘Global interdenominational ministry,’ including his service to the student world, pivotal involvement in Lausanne, passion for whole life discipleship, and seminal role in A Rocha. The breadth testifies to Stott’s concern for full-orbed Christian maturity, as well as to his energy and discipline.

Part IV brings ‘Voices from around the world,’ with contributions on subjects as varied as personal Bible reading and cultural engagement. Striking again is repeated testimony of the impact of Stott’s friendship and servant-leadership.

Some key books keep being mentioned: Basic Christianity, The Cross of Christ, Issues Facing Christians Today, and Your Mind Matters. All are classics that all should read. And some key themes from Stott’s life recur: his humility, godly example, authenticity, clarity of thinking and generosity in listening, his friendships across generations and cultures, preaching and teaching, commitment to the Scriptures and to the cause of Christ.

The collection does not encourage a search for a successor. But everyone will find here much for which to give thanks, and much from which to learn.