The third Sunday of May every year is the National Day for Helping the Disabled. On May 12, the Christian Church of Yaodu District in Linfen, Shanxi Province, invited three fellow workers from the Disabled Fellowship for an online interview with the theme of Join Hands for the Spiritual Journey.
In this interview, Elder Zhang Xiaohua, responsible fellow worker of the Disabled Fellowship of the downtown church, and Cui Wenxiang and Deacon Wu Zexin were invited. Wang Shuai, the pastor of the Urban Church, led this activity.
At the beginning of the interview, Pastor Wang Shuai first asked Elder Zhang to briefly introduce the original intention of establishing the Disabled Fellowship based on his personal experience. Zhang said that he himself is physically disabled, so he can empathize with the experience and psychological state of the disabled community. Secondly, his work and service experience are related to the cause of services for the disabled, so he really wanted to help the disabled Christians in the church, and hoped to provide a harbor for them to study the Bible and communicate with each other. With the support of the church, the Disabled Fellowship was officially established in 2011.
Then, Elder Zhang recalled the witness stories of several mutilated or visually impaired Christians in the fellowship who, after their lives were changed, embarked on the path of serving the Lord, showing the beauty of disabled believers after their lives were transformed. He felt that the life of the disabled has been renewed and changed through the love of God, and the disabled Christians should share this love with more vulnerable groups, and use their lives to influence and change other lives.
In his presentation, Cui also shared the story of an elderly sister who was disabled due to hemiplegia: although she can not walk because of illness, she loved God as much as anyone else. She did not miss any of the Sunday services when the church meeting was not suspended, nor did she miss even the evening prayers, which almost always ended at midnight. The hardship of her life, and the incomprehension and irony of others, did not hinder her longing to seek God’s Word.
Brother Cui said that in the disabled fellowship, touching testimonies such as this sister are many, which shows that it is because of the setbacks and pains experienced by disabled believers that they value god’s eternal beauty more and their desire for God’s Word would be stronger and stronger.
In addition to the witness of love, another manifestation of “love each other” in the Disabled Fellowship is visiting. Elder Zhang also presented his own experience of visits to the Disabled Fellowship.
He believes that at a time when churches cannot offer physical services due to the epidemic, they should use visits to better care for disabled believers. On the one hand, it could strengthen the union between believers, fellowship, and church; on the other hand, it could bring comfort and encouragement from God to them, lead them to deepen their faith in God, keep their faith in God and avoid falling into the trap of heresy and cult.
In addition to caring and participation, “equal treatment” is also the theme of concern by the disabled community, and the Bible also embodies God’s equal and undifferentiated love for human beings. On this theme, Pastor Wang Shuai invited Elder Zhang to exhort everyone based on the Bible.
Elder Zhang said that in the process of Jesus’ preaching on earth, he gave forgiveness and salvation to countless disabled people, enabling them to receive grace and blessing from God. The Bible teaches us that “God is love.” The life of Jesus shows that he loves us all equally, whether we’re disabled or not.
At the same time, Elder Zhang also reminded everyone that physical disability is not God’s punishment, abandonment, or despisement. On the contrary, God has his good will for everything prepared for the disabled. The disabled themselves should not abandon themselves and blame the world; For the healthy people, it is more important to treat the disabled as equals, like Christ, and embrace these unique lives with love.
At this point, Elder Zhang looked back on his own growth experience and exclaimed with emotion: “Thanks to God’s countless love and grace, or I would never have helped so many people when I’m just a disabled person. If I had not been disabled, I would not have met the Lord, I would have been lost in the world, and my life would have been different.” In this way, Elder Zhang said earnestly in front of the camera: No matter what the situation is, we should give thanks in everything. Whatever God granted us, it is God’s good will. After suffering, there must be god’s greater blessing.
At the end of the interview, Elder Zhang talked about the future development of the Disabled Fellowship. He hoped to explore more group pastoral care and further improve the spiritual level of everyone in the context of the normalized pandemic situation. Secondly, apart from paying attention to believers with physical disabilities, the Disabled Fellowship should also further expand the caring and pastoral care for believers with hearing and visual impairments. Thirdly, based on the current service scope of the Disabled Fellowship, practical services such as picking up disabled believers with mobility difficulties to attend church services and delivering Holy Communion to disabled believers on Holy Communion days should be further refined. Fourthly, in addition to the elderly and the disabled, further care should be provided to more vulnerable groups in society. Fifthly, the fellow members of the Disabled Fellowship will lead more “physically sound but mentally disabled” souls back to the Lord by learning about psychological counseling.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
每年五月第三个星期日是全国助残日，5月12日，在助残日到来之际，山西临汾尧都区基督教会特邀残障团契的三位同工，举行了“携手同心奔灵程”的助残主题线上访谈活动。
此次访谈特别邀请了城区教堂残障团契的负责同工张晓华长老以及两位团契服侍同工崔文祥弟兄以及武泽新执事。该堂王帅传道主持活动。
在访谈开始，王帅传道首先请张长老结合个人经历简要介绍了残障团契的建立初衷。张长老介绍道，其自己本身就是肢体残疾人，因此对于残障群体的遭遇与心理状态能够感同身受。其次，由于个人的工作与服侍经历又与残疾人事业相关，因此他便对于教会中的残障基督徒产生了负担，希望能够为该群体提供一个学习圣经、生命相交的港湾。在教会的支持下，残障团契于2011年正式成立。
接着，张长老回忆了残障团契中几位肢残、视障基督徒在生命改变后，踏上为主热心服侍之路的见证故事，向大家展示了残疾信徒在生命蜕变后展现出的美丽风采。他颇有感触地表示：在主的爱里，残疾人的生命得到更新与改变，而残疾基督徒则更要将这份爱分享给更多的弱势群体，用生命影响生命，用生命改变生命。
在讲述中，崔弟兄还分享了团契中一位因患半身不遂致残的老姊妹的见证故事：这位老姊妹虽然因病行走不便，但是爱主的热忱之心却不亚于任何人。在教会没有暂停时，三堂主日礼拜她一次不落，就连结束已到深夜的晚祷会，她也从未缺席。生活的艰苦，他人的不解与讽刺，都没有阻碍这位姊妹寻求神话语的渴慕之心。
崔弟兄表示，在残障团契中，诸如这位姊妹的动人见证简直数不胜数，也是借此向大家表明，正因为残障信徒经受过挫折与痛苦，所以他们对于神的永恒美好才愈发视为宝贵，渴求才愈发旺盛。
除了爱的见证，在团契之中，“彼此相爱”的又一大体现则是探访。围绕残障团契的探访事工，张长老也提出了自己多年来总结的心得体会。
他认为，在疫情下教会无法实体礼拜的时期，更是应当利用探访做好针对残障信徒的关怀，一方面是加强信徒与团契、教会之间的联合，另一方面则是为他们带去来自神的安慰与鼓励，带领他们加深靠主的信心，保守自身信仰，不跌入异端邪教的试探网罗。
而在关怀、参与以外，“平等相待”也是备受残障群体关注的主题，而在圣经当中也处处体现着神向着人类的平等、无差别的爱，就这一主题，王帅传道邀请张长老结合圣经向大家进行了劝勉。
张长老表示，在耶稣在地上传道的过程中，祂对无数残疾人施行了赦罪与拯救，让他们在主里得到了恩典与祝福。而圣经教导我们“神就是爱”，从耶稣的生平可以显明，不论身体是否残缺，祂都平等地爱着我们每一个人。
同时，张长老也提醒大家，身体的残疾并不是神的惩罚、抛弃或是轻看，恰恰相反，神预备的一切都有着祂的美意，对于残疾人自身而言，不应自暴自弃怨天尤人；而对于健全人而言，则更要对残障肢体平等对待，效仿基督，用爱去迎接拥抱这些独特的生命。
讲到这里，张长老回顾起自己的成长经历，不禁发出感慨：“我身为一个残疾人能走到今天，蒙了神对我无数的爱与恩典。如果我没有残疾的话，可能还不能与主相遇，可能会沉沦在世俗中，生命又将会是另一番景象。”借此，张长老在镜头前向大家指出：无论境况如何，都当凡事谢恩，凡是神临到我们身上的，都有着神的美意，患难过后必定是神更大的祝福。
在最后的环节中，张长老也对于残障团契日后发展进行了展望，他希望能够在疫情常态化的大环境下，探索更多小组牧养内容，进一步提升大家的灵命水平；其次，除了对于肢体残疾的信徒保持关注以外，团契还希望进一步拓展对于听障、视障信徒的关怀牧养；第三，则是基于当前团契的服务范围进行进一步的细化，诸如接送行动不便的残疾信徒到教堂参加礼拜、圣餐日为残疾信徒上门送圣餐等实际性的服务工作；第四，除老年人、残疾人等弱势群体之外，进一步关怀更多社会上的弱势群体；第五，团契的同工肢体们通过学习，进行心理辅导方面的装备，带领更多“身体健全，心灵残缺”的灵魂回到主的面前。
山西临汾尧都区基督教会举行助残日线上访谈活动
The third Sunday of May every year is the National Day for Helping the Disabled. On May 12, the Christian Church of Yaodu District in Linfen, Shanxi Province, invited three fellow workers from the Disabled Fellowship for an online interview with the theme of Join Hands for the Spiritual Journey.
In this interview, Elder Zhang Xiaohua, responsible fellow worker of the Disabled Fellowship of the downtown church, and Cui Wenxiang and Deacon Wu Zexin were invited. Wang Shuai, the pastor of the Urban Church, led this activity.
At the beginning of the interview, Pastor Wang Shuai first asked Elder Zhang to briefly introduce the original intention of establishing the Disabled Fellowship based on his personal experience. Zhang said that he himself is physically disabled, so he can empathize with the experience and psychological state of the disabled community. Secondly, his work and service experience are related to the cause of services for the disabled, so he really wanted to help the disabled Christians in the church, and hoped to provide a harbor for them to study the Bible and communicate with each other. With the support of the church, the Disabled Fellowship was officially established in 2011.
Then, Elder Zhang recalled the witness stories of several mutilated or visually impaired Christians in the fellowship who, after their lives were changed, embarked on the path of serving the Lord, showing the beauty of disabled believers after their lives were transformed. He felt that the life of the disabled has been renewed and changed through the love of God, and the disabled Christians should share this love with more vulnerable groups, and use their lives to influence and change other lives.
In his presentation, Cui also shared the story of an elderly sister who was disabled due to hemiplegia: although she can not walk because of illness, she loved God as much as anyone else. She did not miss any of the Sunday services when the church meeting was not suspended, nor did she miss even the evening prayers, which almost always ended at midnight. The hardship of her life, and the incomprehension and irony of others, did not hinder her longing to seek God’s Word.
Brother Cui said that in the disabled fellowship, touching testimonies such as this sister are many, which shows that it is because of the setbacks and pains experienced by disabled believers that they value god’s eternal beauty more and their desire for God’s Word would be stronger and stronger.
In addition to the witness of love, another manifestation of “love each other” in the Disabled Fellowship is visiting. Elder Zhang also presented his own experience of visits to the Disabled Fellowship.
He believes that at a time when churches cannot offer physical services due to the epidemic, they should use visits to better care for disabled believers. On the one hand, it could strengthen the union between believers, fellowship, and church; on the other hand, it could bring comfort and encouragement from God to them, lead them to deepen their faith in God, keep their faith in God and avoid falling into the trap of heresy and cult.
In addition to caring and participation, “equal treatment” is also the theme of concern by the disabled community, and the Bible also embodies God’s equal and undifferentiated love for human beings. On this theme, Pastor Wang Shuai invited Elder Zhang to exhort everyone based on the Bible.
Elder Zhang said that in the process of Jesus’ preaching on earth, he gave forgiveness and salvation to countless disabled people, enabling them to receive grace and blessing from God. The Bible teaches us that “God is love.” The life of Jesus shows that he loves us all equally, whether we’re disabled or not.
At the same time, Elder Zhang also reminded everyone that physical disability is not God’s punishment, abandonment, or despisement. On the contrary, God has his good will for everything prepared for the disabled. The disabled themselves should not abandon themselves and blame the world; For the healthy people, it is more important to treat the disabled as equals, like Christ, and embrace these unique lives with love.
At this point, Elder Zhang looked back on his own growth experience and exclaimed with emotion: “Thanks to God’s countless love and grace, or I would never have helped so many people when I’m just a disabled person. If I had not been disabled, I would not have met the Lord, I would have been lost in the world, and my life would have been different.” In this way, Elder Zhang said earnestly in front of the camera: No matter what the situation is, we should give thanks in everything. Whatever God granted us, it is God’s good will. After suffering, there must be god’s greater blessing.
At the end of the interview, Elder Zhang talked about the future development of the Disabled Fellowship. He hoped to explore more group pastoral care and further improve the spiritual level of everyone in the context of the normalized pandemic situation. Secondly, apart from paying attention to believers with physical disabilities, the Disabled Fellowship should also further expand the caring and pastoral care for believers with hearing and visual impairments. Thirdly, based on the current service scope of the Disabled Fellowship, practical services such as picking up disabled believers with mobility difficulties to attend church services and delivering Holy Communion to disabled believers on Holy Communion days should be further refined. Fourthly, in addition to the elderly and the disabled, further care should be provided to more vulnerable groups in society. Fifthly, the fellow members of the Disabled Fellowship will lead more “physically sound but mentally disabled” souls back to the Lord by learning about psychological counseling.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Shanxi Church Holds Online Interview for Helping the Disabled
