Welcome to "On The Level" the blog for Jabez Ministries!

Greetings!

As the title suggests, this is a blog of Jabez Ministries. Jabez Ministries, to put it simply, is a ministry to persons with disabilities. 

Currently this ministry is focusing its efforts towards the pastoral care of students with disabilities as they realize goals in higher education.

Theologically, Jabez Ministries has it sights on going beyond the college or university campus and addressing the broader issues of disabilities and theology, disabilities and the Church, and what does the Scripture say about disabilities and the people who have them.

This blog is a forum intended  for that discussion.

I suppose the first question should be: "Why the name 'Jabez Ministries'?"

Here is a brief answer to that question, starting with a reference from God's Word:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez saying

“I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh that you would

bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm

so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. I Chronicles 4: 9-10 (NIV)

The Biblical account of Jabez is the story of a person who wants to live with honor and

dignity as a child of God not according to the preconceptions or the circumstances of

life, nor to be a burden to others, but to have a meaningful existence in God’s kingdom.

To persons with disabilities who are living lives of faith, the goal is to live that life and

worship God on the same terms as persons who are temporarily able bodied, a “level

playing field” if you will. This is no less true for students with disabilities, in colleges and

universities, as it is for people with disabilities of faith who are in society at large,

working towards having a meaningful life and worshipping God. God gives us each

other, in community with Christ, to live, work, and worship as one body.

Please read the next two blogs, as further introduction to Jabez Ministries, and see how God has defined this ministry in the lives of people involved.