Those unfamiliar with the bright spirit and
diverse skills found in the disabled community will be surprised
at the breadth and depth of Joy Fellowship’s mission strategies.
After examination, it is clear that the church’s mission flows
easily from its central vision to do ministry together with people
who are disabled in order to make mature disciples of Jesus
Christ.
To begin with, the church’s location is
strategic in the sense that transportation is a major issue within
the disabled community. In fact, the difficulty of getting to
church alone has made the disabled an unreached people group in
North America. Since the church is located on a major bus route,
people who are not able to get a ride to church from a relative or
a friend can often come on the bus. Still, there are many who are
stranded at home.
Those who are unable to attend Joy
Fellowship can keep in touch with the church through the website:
www.joyfellowship.bc.ca. The website is well designed and contains
a wealth of information concerning the church’s history, weekly
events, a quarterly newsletter, and a prayer calendar.
Lay leaders abound at Joy Fellowship.
Opportunities for congregants include set up, worship team,
ushering, greeting, guest book signing, scripture reading,
praying, sign language choir, and ministry teams. Joy Gregory said
the only responsibilities she has in setting up for Sunday service
are opening the doors and turning on the heat. Everything that can
be done by congregants is done by congregants.
The praise of God in song is joyful,
beautiful, and honest, yet simple enough for most to sing along. A
sense of freedom and acceptance floods the room. Preaching is
always a difficult task, but especially so at Joy Fellowship. The
audience ranges from those with graduate degrees (even an Honorary
Doctorate) to those who don’t understand words. The philosophy
taken to address such diverse needs is to preach one point. This
one point is simple enough at its core for everyone to grasp the
scripture’s emphasis, but complex enough on the periphery to feed
those who desire deeper teaching. The strategies of teaching
through songs, visuals, and drama are also used effectively to
communicate the core message.
In addition to the Sunday service, over 100
people participate in teaching and fellowship provided at four
weekly Bible studies that are held in various locations around the
city. These studies provide another context for the body to
gather, and the people are hungry for fellowship. The Bible is
taught in a way specific to the audience at the Bible study,
allowing for deeper interaction with the text than is possible on
Sunday.
As a church committed to making mature
disciples, Joy Fellowship also engages in a range of activities
that reach out to others. Four ministry teams visit those in the
community with more profound disabilities.
Through its vision and mission strategies,
Joy Fellowship provides a much needed voice in the church at
large. The fundamental place where the Church needs to listen to
Joy Fellowship is in how they answer the following questions: Who
is in the kingdom of God, and What are the kingdom’s values? The
citizens of the kingdom include, and perhaps primarily include,
those who the world rejects but whom Christ accepts. Following on
the heels of this statement, the values of this kingdom are such
that those who seem less honourable are actually indispensable. In
living out its vision, Joy Fellowship has demonstrated the values
of the kingdom that are often forgotten or pushed aside in
contemporary churches.
Joy Fellowship reminds the Church why it
exists today. The Church is not an organization that permits only
a certain few to pass through its doors. The standards of the
Church must not be that of a worldly corporation, for if we enter
by merit, who will stand? The kingdom of God consists of all types
of people, both the wealthy and the poor, both the strong and the
weak, both the physically able and the disabled. In fact, the
kingdom of God the Church yearns for is the full reign of God that
will restore and redeem all creation.
