Pastor urges churches to establish special-needs ministries

Pastor Laundale Munroe, the Sabbath school and personal ministries director of the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (SDA), is urging members of the congregation in Hanover to establish special-needs ministries within their respective churches.

Munroe was speaking at the Hanover SDA churches' parish convention at the Bioprist Knowledge Park in Haughton Court, Lucea, recently. According to Munroe, the special-needs ministry is part of the mission ACTS (Adventist Churches Transforming Society) programme.

"We cannot allow for the Government to be doing things for special needs and we are not doing anything," the pastor said. "Recently, the Disability Act was passed. If you are disabled, you won't pay income tax. The point I am making is that others are doing stuff for special needs, but what about us?"

"This morning I ask that we go back and think about those that need to be a part of the Gospel, who need to go into the fold but who can't walk as we walk," continued Munroe.

"The Gospel cannot be communicated to only those who are able-bodied, those who can walk and run and who can see and hear. We need to communicate the Gospel to everybody."

Munroe said that churches should make attempts to train persons to communicate with special-needs persons so as to enable the Church to be truly all-embracing.

"We need to train individuals so if the pastor is up here, preaching, if they can't hear they will see. There is a sign language component to what we are doing," continued Munroe. "We believe in principles, but we are not practising them ... . They (disabled) must not be an appendage; they must not be apart from; they must be included in what God has called us to do. Challenge the Church at convention. I challenge us to go back to our churches and establish special-needs coordinators."