2.1 Location and identification of people with disabilities
2.2.3 Disability and church
Christianity is part of the everyday life of the people in the DRC, even though it is a secular state: 90% of the population are Christians of whom 40% are Catholic; 25%
Protestant; 15% Kimbanguist (African Independent Church); while 10% belong to Charismatic and Evangelical churches. Of the remaining 10% ,7% follow Islam and 3%
indigenous religion.
Nowadays the independent churches as well as many of the mainline churches let themselves be guided by the repetitive crusades of the so called “great world evangelists”.
117 In Kinshasa, people with disabilities are portrayed as “trouble-makers”. This is because, when they are begging for money in the shops in town, if people do not give money to them, they begin to plunder and steal from these shops.
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They focus on “miracles”, “healing” and “abundant life” and this approach has brought many people to their side. They use “wheelchairs”, “crutches” and “white canes” as tools for advertising their power. However, many people with disabilities have kept to themselves and avoided the church after experiencing failed healing sessions. Kabue states,
Many have felt it embarrassing to attend worship or crusades by the so-called great world evangelists because, when they do so, the ushers in such events cannot conceive the idea of one going to such an event purely for spiritual blessings and nourishment. They always assume that you have gone there for physical healing and will often coerce you to go to the front for divine healing prayers. If no healing takes place, one is presumed to have no faith and is told no less than that.118
The question is “Why do people with disabilities stay away from the church?” There are two major factors: accessibility and psycho-spiritual attitudes.
Accessibility of the church
The accessibility that this section refers to concerns the physical aspect. Churches in the DRC have not provided ramps, accessible restrooms, pulpits and chairs for people with disabilities.119 There is also the question of accessibility in terms of communication devices for people who have hearing and visual impairment: data projectors, sign language, good lighting and assistance during worship are non-existent in most churches in the DRC.
Psycho-spiritual attitudes
In mainstream churches (all the churches whose origins are found in Western mission work), people with disabilities are characterized as “poor people”, called “babola” (in Lingala, one of the DRC local languages); this word means “people who have nothing”.
Each church - especially Protestant churches - has a “diaconie” department. This department deals with orphans, widows, the sick, people living with HIV and people with disabilities. Their objective is to provide food, clothes, and other needs for these people.
118 Kabue, Interpreting Disability, 2003, 39.
119 I have noticed that in most churches, including Catholic churches, the pulpit and chairs are not easily accessible. The seating area and pulpit are raised and are usually reached via steps. I would interpret this as a lack of recognition that people with disabilities could become ministers or church leaders.
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Every month, on one Sunday a month, church members bring clothes, shoes, and food to support these people.
This “caste” of “”poor people” creates, firstly in its own mind, an image of people with disabilities as being merely “consumers” and not “producers”. In other words, they could begin to see themselves as having nothing to offer in exchange for what the able-bodied people provide. Secondly, church leaders and congregations, as well as disabled people themselves, will associate disability with a sense of inequality and inferiority. As one DRC proverb states “loboko oyo epesaka eza oyo nde emataka”, meaning, “a hand which gives is the one that is higher”, in other words, as long as people carry on receiving offerings and gifts from other people, they will still continue to feel inferior.
In addition, as I have stated above, socio-cultural beliefs about disability have alienated many people in the DRC and the negative image of disability is further emphasized by the
“great world evangelists” who, using the Bible, support the view that disability indicates the presence of the devil. Kabue states,
We have been marginalized by patronising and paternalistic attitudes, made the objects of ridicule and fear, or just ignored and left out. The negative view society has and the stigmas associated with disability make people with disabilities vulnerable to the manipulation of those who promote easy commercial cures or the religious zealots who offer miraculous healing in an atmosphere of superficial friendship.120
This implies that the presence of a person with a disability would seem to be merely a
“show”, and not a meaningful participation of that PWD in the community of the church.
The disabled member of the congregation only assists the minister in demonstrating his/her healing power. But, as Theo Schmidt says, “Too many people have been hurt in the healing ministry and not healed”.121
I personally experienced the hurt of participating in such a “healing prayer” with a well- known Western evangelist and the failure to be healed has deeply disturbed me. I attempted to commit suicide because the situation made me think that God did not love
120 Kabue, Interpreting Disability, 2003, 25.
121Theo Schmidt, Yes, You are Healed: A journey of Healing (South Africa: The Christ Healing Fellowship, 2007), 8.
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me. I revolted and I concluded that God was not real and the Holy Scriptures were not true. By God’s grace, God placed people on my path to help me to reconstruct myself.
They showed me that I am of value to God and in society. In that same context I have understood my vocation as that of encouraging others with disabilities, using the Bible as a tool for personal transformation.