November 25, 2003
by Carol J. Fouke-Mpoyo

Yaounde, Cameroon - "No one can say that someone missing one organ of the body isn't part of the image of God," asserted Samuel Kabue, a Presbyterian from Kenya who is a consultant to the Ecumenical Disabilities Network, a program of the World Council of Churches, today (Nov. 25).

Kabue, who is blind, addressed the more than 500 delegates who came here from across Africa to the 8th Assembly of the All Africa Conference of Churches, meeting in Yaounde Nov. 22-27.

We are all created in the image of God, he said, and "it's not the body or the intellect that reflects the image of God. Each of us has talents and gifts without which the church of Christ is not whole."

He reminded his audience that "Christ's body was broken on the cross for our salvation." He continued, "People with disabilities are not a homogeneous group. We are men, women and children with unique stories, and not just a group with medical conditions to be fixed."

Healing, Kabue said, is not so much about having the disability removed as "restoration to society. When the sight of blind Bartimaeus was restored, he joined the procession and came under Jesus' protection."

Kabue described the work of the Ecumenical Disabilities Network (EDAN) to press churches for the inclusion of people with disabilities, whether from birth or as a result of disease, accidents, violence or war, as full and active players in all aspects of church life - spiritual, social and political."

Among the network's resources is the statement "A Church of All and for All," available in English and French. Copies were distributed to all AACC Assembly delegates to take home and use in their churches.

The WCC Central Committee has asked member churches to support EDAN and promote it at all levels, lobby their governments to ensure that the U.N. frame a convention on disability as agreed in June 2003 and to make churches part of drafting of the convention.

He challenged churches to break down the walls that shut people out … walls of shame of fear, of ignorance and prejudice, of anger and misunderstanding." He urged congregations to set an example for the wider society by "creating an inviting environment and space for all," making their buildings and their sanctuaries accessible to people with disabilities.

"Just as we provide French-English interpretation at this meeting, we should provide access so that people with disabilities can become participants in worship," he said. Such elements as adequate light and appropriate seating arrangements opens churches to "all the gifts and challenges everyone brings."

Churches can take many other actions, he said, among them including training on disabilities in seminaries, campaigning against discrimination against people with disabilities, including people with disabilities when allocating scholarships, training suited persons with disabilities for the ministry, fostering economic empowerment of people with disabilities, and more.

Committees and official delegations also should include persons with disabilities, he said. Noting that he is at the AACC Assembly as a resource person and not as a delegate, he said the requirement that delegations include "a head of the church, a woman and a youth" gave no room for him. "I don't seem to fit any of those categories," he said, drawing the Assembly's laughter and scattered applause.

Kabue concluded by saying that "when God looked at Creation, God said it was good, not that it was perfect. In our fragile world, we are all part of the whole that reflects God's image."

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