Jabez Ministries
Name
Peter Gordon
Address
844 Merrifield St SE, Grand Rapids MI 49507 USA
Phone
6164527499
Denomination
Category
Pastor and Director
A ministry by and with persons with disabilities Our Name: “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.” 1 Chronicles 4: 9-10 (NIV) This ministry takes it’s name from the biblical account of Jabez. His 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 purpose in God’s kingdom. Our Mission: Our mission statement is expressed by the one line in the letterhead: “A ministry by and with persons with disabilities”. As disability ministry, we seek to encourage those with disabilities to become ministers and leaders for Christ. We’re also a campus ministry because that’s is where God has led this ministry to so that we can offer pastoral care, emotional support and discipleship to those brothers and sisters with disabilities, who are in the process of learning, adapting and maturing, as living in the Kingdom of Heaven requires towards God’s glory. Our vision: This ministry seeks to develop the God-given gifts of persons with disabilities for kingdom service in their churches and communities. We see the word “disabled” as a secondary descriptive term that, while part of our being, it does not, ultimately, define us. We define ourselves, as we all should, by our identity as brothers and sisters in Christ. In others words, in Christ we have our identities. Not in labels. We believe the God calls us not because our abilities, nor does he not call us because because of our inabilities. He will equip and gift us for the work he calls us to do. It is, perhaps, best summed up in these words by Joni Erickson-Tada: “A disability of ministry is not a disability ministry until the disabled are ministering”.