Ramp Up - Leprosy Mission Southern Africa Newsletter

Published on March 25, 2024

Ramp Up by Leprosy Mission Southern Africa

  

Who will read this newsletter?

Will you kindly forward this newsletter to someone in your church who cares about the participation of persons with disability in your faith community?

  

Church, Easter, and persons with disabilities

What does Easter really mean to you?

  

Perhaps you’re fasting in some way to spend more time with God and meditate on the Cross of Jesus Christ. Would you consider sharing God’s heart to a person who may feel marginalised during this time? Is there a person with a disability in your vicinity who may appreciate your reaching out to him/her with God’s love? Listen to such conversation, it can be mutually enriching.



“Father God,
At this time of Lent, and preparing ourselves for Easter,
We want to meet you in the quietness of our soul.
We want to experience your grace at a deep level.
Help us then to share this grace with a fellow believer, who may need it desperately.
And may we meet closely on the shared journey of your grace.”
Amen.
 

The RampUp website –
a resource for churches
“So that His house may be filled”.

  

“There is room for more,” is the cry of the astonished servant in
Luke 14, to which his Master replies:

“Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.”

The RampUp website is a house with many rooms – each one offering specific help to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in the various aspects of being at church.

  

You are invited into each of the rooms to discover how the Father’s house can be filled with everyone, including persons with disabilities – who may need a little special accommodation.

What this house is about:
 
On entering the RampUp house, one will learn the first steps in opening the house to persons with disabilities. One can also learn about a metaphor for a healthy church.

Advocacy and Justice

RampUp wants to promote an approach of homeliness in the church, so that persons with disabilities will also be comfortable in the church.
Advocating for what is right:

God’s word tells us that we must speak up for those who suffer injustice in society. These are guidelines to do just that:

  • Developing a Biblical view of disability.
  • The full meaning of BELONGING in the faith community.
  • Healing in the context of disability.
  • Historical perceptions of disability.

Accessibility
 
This section is about making everything at church user-friendly for people who may walk, read or worship differently.
 
The church wants to be a place where there is ‘Room for Everyone’. Therefore, the buildings and facilities must be accessible for everybody, including those who may walk, read, or worship differently.
 

This section provides help in the following ways:

  • A checklist to ensure that facilities at church are accessible to persons with disabilities.
  • A framework that sets out the various aspects of accessibility:

- The internal and external environment.
- Doing fellowship together.
- Making information easily accessible.
- Transport for some persons with disability who may need it.
 

The role of persons
with disability
 
A well-known approach among persons with disability is
“Nothing about us, without us”
 
In this room one can hear the voices of persons with disabilities, their experiences in society and in the church, the different types of disability. There is also a way to teach children in Sunday school to understand disability better. 

Disability awareness Sunday
 
Once a year, have a special feast!
 
In following the example of the man in Luke 14 RampUp suggests an annual feast in the church to celebrate the dignity (or role) of persons with disability. For too long the church has missed out on their participation and belonging in the household.
 
  • Themes for the special feast.
  • Lots of ideas for creative interaction, including EVERYBODY.   
 

 The RampUp website will help you to enrich the community of believers in your church.

Walk around this house, make yourself comfortable, and ask us anything you may need to enhance the hospitality and warmth at your church.

Also have a look at the BOTTOM DRAWER in the HANDY STORE ROOM for useful ideas on dialogue on the topic of inclusion and participation.
 

We will be delighted to hear from you at
Erna Möller [email protected] or contact us 082 731 9857

RampUp is an initiative of the
Leprosy Mission Southern Africa:
Raising awareness for the participation
of persons with disabilities in churches.
Website: www.rampup.co.za / Facebook / YouTube
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