Any of us who are involved in disability ministry know that prayer is essential. We have a vision—to see people with disabilities living out their divine vocation amongst God’s people—but that vision often feels fraught with all kinds of barriers.
How do I get to know people with disabilities in my community? How do I share Jesus with them? They have never been to church before—how will it go? My church has never had someone with a disability attend—how will they respond? Are they understanding the message? I know they will be welcomed, but will they be allowed to serve? To lead?
On account of these things, and a hundred others, we need to pray. We also need to ask our fellow church members to pray on your behalf. But what should we ask them to pray for?
Recently, as I have been reading through Paul’s letters, I have been struck by the regularity with which Paul asks for prayer. I want to reflect with you on what we can glean from Paul’s prayer requests and how that should shape our own, particularly as we carry out our disability ministries.
I probably missed some, but I was able to track down six occasions where Paul explicitly asks for prayer to be made on behalf of him and his ministry. By way of summary I will note his requests:
Romans 15:30-32
Requests:
1. That Paul would be delivered from harm that he anticipates unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem will inflict upon him, once he comes to Jerusalem to deliver the collection funds.
2. That the church in Jerusalem would accept the funds Paul had collected on their behalf.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11
Request: For comfort and blessing as Paul and his co-laborers recover from severe affliction while doing ministry in Asia.
Ephesians 6:18-20
Request: That God will give the imprisoned Paul words to boldly declare gospel.
Colossians 4:3
Request: That God will grant Paul and co. (the apostle seemingly imprisoned again) an open door to declare the gospel.
1 Thessalonians 5:25
Request: “Brothers, pray for us.” I like this—no further details here, he just wants them to pray.
2 Thessalonians 3:1
Request: That the word of the Lord would spread rapidly and be believed.
Photo credit: Samuel Martins on Unsplash.com.
What do we take away from all of this? I suggest a few things:
First, Paul doesn’t come off as a self-centered prayer requester. Despite spending his fair share of time in prison, and facing a legion of other difficulties, the most common theme of his prayer requests is for the spread of the gospel. So, we too should ask for prayer that God would help us to declare the gospel boldly to people with disabilities, that He would give us open doors to do so, and that the message would be believed by many. Our prayer requests should probably be more outward-focused than inward.
But! And this is my second point, it’s okay to be self-focused in our prayer requests sometimes, too. On several occasions, things got really tough for Paul. Whatever happened to him in Asia was especially devastating. And his concerns about his collection delivery trip to Jerusalem were about more than bad traffic or rainy weather—they were for deeply significant issues. He sought prayer for these things. We don’t have to always have everything under control. We don’t have to always be unphased. We don’t have to always feel up to the challenge. We can and should pray for our despair.
Third, we should probably stock up on prayer even when nothing specific is jumping to the page. Paul told the Thessalonians to pray for him without giving further detail. We too can ask for non-specific prayer. If nothing comes to mind, we can simply echo Paul: “Beloved, pray for us.”
My final reflection, which is a bit of an open-ended one, is to consider the impact that Paul’s prayer requests had upon the recipients of his letters. These requests surely tuned his readers into Paul’s heart. These prayers must have changed the people who prayed them. Think about what our prayer requests might be able to do in others too. If we want to see our churches change—to grow them in love and inclusion of people with disabilities—we will do well to rope as many people as we can into our prayer requests. Get people praying our heart to God. And God might just grow the same heart in them, too.
Hunter and Amberle Brown help lead an organization called The Banquet Network that is based in Baltimore, MD. The Banquet Network primarily works with church plants to inspire, equip, and resource them to reach people with disabilities who are on the margins of their communities. Hunter works full time at Goucher College and is a part-time Masters of Theology student at St. Mary’s Ecumenical Institute in Baltimore. Amberle works full-time for World Relief, an international health and development NGO, and is passionate about helping churches include and reach people with disabilities based on her own experience of becoming visually impaired and her encounters with people with disabilities in her work in developing countries.
