THE BANQUET IS READY!

Mephibosheth: the name may not mean much to you at all! But in Spain we hope that the name will soon remind Christians of God's love for disabled people, as shown through David's mercy to Jonathan's crippled son. The boy who was heir to Israel's throne and a threat to national stability became a member of David's household. Someone who could not care properly for himself was suddenly surrounded by servants.

10% of Europeans are disabled, some like Mephibosheth through accidents, others from birth. Many have a particular limitation, but could easily serve in the church if given the chance. Even the most severely handicapped have the same basic spiritual need as all people, to know and accept the love of God through Jesus. He died for all, yet too often we are embarrassed by people who do not measure up to the health-and-wealth philosophy so prevalent in western Churches.

In Spain, there are barely any disabled people in the churches and, until recently, the only ministry to them came from one Brethren elder who, on starting to go blind, began to put the Bible into Braille and onto tape.

In Luke 14, Jesus spoke of a great banquet. We often quote the parable, since he told his servants to go into the streets. But whom did he talk about reaching in particular? "...the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame... so that my house will be full" (vv21,23).

Our evangelists work regularly on the streets all over the continent and indeed the world, but how often do we make a point of targeting those groups highlighted by Jesus in the parable? True, there are fewer on the streets now, as society has hidden them away in homes, but they nevertheless remain 'an unreached people group' worthy of our attention.

Ten years ago, I was door-knocking in Madrid and came across a family in which the woman was dying of cancer and the man was paralysed from the neck down. Before her death, she became a Christian and led a friend to the Lord. This friend, who cannot read, continues to be one of the most effective evangelists in the area.

Hilde and I are involved in the Mephibosheth group in Spain which aims to present the need to churches nationwide and to promote local initiatives aimed at disabled people. In Madrid after Easter we will help to open an office at the City Mission which will attend to and advise mentally disabled people or their families, and after the summer we hope to have a weekly Bible and activity group.