Night to Shine event in Resen
Updates from our partners working with people with disabilities in their communities.
Dragan Manev, Resen Evangelical Church, North Macedonia
One of the biggest influences that we as believers have in our town is our work with disabled people. If our Lord Jesus served those on the margins of his own culture, we should also serve in our place and culture. In February this year, for the first time in Resen we had the biggest event for local people with disabilities and the surrounding area. The event was called Night to Shine. There was so much excitement about it.
People were astonished that somebody remembered these people on the margins. Many non-Christian people from Resen, including atheists and Muslims, want to help and support this ministry. One couple with disabilities said to us: “If only we knew you before to work with you”. They see the grace and love that we have for them.
Tefik Musoski, Bitola Roma Evangelical Church, North Macedonia
My wife, Anita and I have served among the Roma for more than twenty years and also more recently, we serve the deaf community. We are no strangers to life on the margins.
Many Roma can’t access education, healthcare and other essential services due to not having legal documents. A lack of education hinders them from gaining stable employment to provide for themselves and their families.
Such issues are intensified for deaf people. There is little awareness and tolerance for disabled people. Most schools do not have the resources to provide for deaf students and there are a limited number of special educational needs schools, especially in regional towns. Many among the deaf remain illiterate or have low literacy.
There are also barriers to spiritual life. A deaf person struggles to participate in church as they can’t understand the sermon unless someone signs for them. If they struggle to read, the Bible remains a mystery.
We serve the deaf community by building relationships with them and their families. We work to make an impact with families through literacy classes and sharing of the Scriptures. They need God’s help to learn Macedonian sign language.
Please pray that our mighty God, who tore down the walls of Jericho, will also tear down these barriers so that many among the deaf can come to know Christ and live life to the full.
Dora Popa, Kingdom Kids, (A CASA Grace programme), Oradea, Romania
For over 23 years, I have worked with orphans, children with disabilities and institutionalised children. Over those years, I witnessed how children in the orphanage, later in special homes, developed a survival instinct. Around other people, they cried, yelled, became aggressive and self-harmed. Even if they got basic needs, love was still missing. A child who is denied love, affection and sensory stimulation grows up to become an adult with emotional and mental health conditions.
Kingdom Kids works with orphans, abandoned children and poor families with children who have severe disabilities. These people have always been forgotten and marginalised by society, but they are not forgotten by God.
At Kingdom Kids, we are professional, but we are human first. We show love through therapeutic activities, to decrease the effects of institutionalisation and to improve quality of life and recovery. Working with the children involves care, patience, love, repeating the same thing many times and long hours, making a small amount of progress. In the long term, therapy is life-changing for these children. Many of them have become part of foster families, special kindergarten and school programmes.
Jesus said true faith is to visit the orphans and widows, the marginalised and the unloved, to love them practically. Love brings hope, so let’s love those around us, seeing the beauty that God sees in all of us.
