The first advisory meeting for Special Needs Ministries was held at the Northern Asia-Pacific Division headquarters from April 26 to 28, 2016. This Special Needs Ministries was started in 2015 after the 60th General Conference (GC) Session held in San Antonio, Texas.
Until last year, the General Conference had been serving the deaf, but a necessity for working with other types of disabilities had been emerging. For this reason, the GC made a decision to start the Special Needs Ministries across the board by combining ministries for the deaf with ministries for the blind, for those who are impaired physically and mentally, and even orphans. In that sense, the first Special Needs Ministries advisory was meaningful and timely.
Pastor Im JongMin from the Korean Union Conference, Pastor Hiroshi Yamaji from Japan Union Conference, and Mrs. Audrey Folkenberg from Chinese Union Mission attended the advisory meeting with the directors of the five Korean conferences, the Taiwan Conference director, and Hong Kong–Macau Conference director.
In addition, some local pastors were also invited to attend the advisory meeting to strengthen their current Special Needs Ministries in their respective fields. Pastor Jung ChulMin working for the deaf and Pastor Oh GyuSub working for the blind also attended the advisory to learn more and share their ideas with other attendees.
The Special Needs Ministries is important because it provides helping hands for people with disabilities, such as the deaf and the blind. The disabled may be our family members, friends, relatives, neighbors, and church members. So far Adventist mission has been focused primarily on people without disabilities. While we are bent on doing ministries to the majority, we have been indifferent to the disabled because of several reasons.
First of all, the number of people with disabilities is less than the number of people without disabilities. It seems we have ignored their silent cries for help. Also, the thought that physical disabilities result from punishment by gods is still prevalent in our societies.
Even Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus who sinned against the Lord when they saw a man who was blind (John 9:2). This is another reason churches have not approached people with disabilities. However, Jesus proclaimed that he came to this world to give freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, and to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18).
He touched and healed the lepers, opened the eyes of the blind and ears of the deaf, and made the crippled to walk. Instead of condemning them, Jesus’ hands were always ready to minister to them with their disabilities. Another reason we have been so indifferent to this ministry is that we have no training and no facilities. We have not been trained on how to help and treat them properly. Though we may be willing, there are no developed facilities to welcome them.
On judgment day, God will divide everyone into two groups: the sheep and the goats. The sheep will inherit the kingdom of God. They practiced the principle of God’s law, which is loving God and loving people. They did it though nobody noticed and recognized their service. The goats did the same but with no love. Their acts of mercy were to show. They did it when people noticed their service and praised them with complimentary words. Unselfish help from the bottom of our hearts is what is acceptable to God.
In the Advisory meeting, Dr. Larry Evans, GC coordinator of the Special Needs Ministries,was the key note speaker and shared some ideas on this ministry and emphasized its significance. He also presented the progress that has been made in these ministries and lectured about how we can make the ministries more effective to seek and save the disabled. His passionate lecture contributed to opening the eyes of attendees on Special Needs Ministries.
Dr. Yoon JaeYoung, Sahmyook University professor, was invited to present about the past history, direction, and challenges of Special Needs Ministries. In addition, reports from the Unions and Conferences helped all attendees realize the reality of this ministry in the fields.
The Special Needs Ministries advisory provided the chance for all to see its possibilities, challenges, and issues. Dr. Joo Minho, NSD Special Needs Ministries coordinator, stressed that the starting point of this ministry is to help our local church members to have different eyes when they see the disabled and to open their hearts to embrace them as they are.