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ShareBeyond Suffering Now Available in iBook Format
The groundbreaking curriculum Beyond Suffering: A Christian View on Disability Ministry is now available as an interactive multi-touch book for the iPad! Originally introduced as a course for the Christian Institute on Disability to transform the way Christians view God’s plan for disability and suffering, Beyond Suffering has since been released as a curriculum textbook for educational institutions, as well as in Spanish and Braille editions. The latest edition for iBooks combines the Study and Leader’s Guides into a seamless, multimedia experience for today’s students, featuring videos from the award-winning Joni and Friends TV series. The Beyond Suffering iBook also takes advantage of all the iPad’s accessibility features for students with visual and hearing impairments, including adaptive screen...
Training a New Generation of Christian Leaders
Joni and Friends’ Christian Institute on Disability has been established to promote a biblical approach to human dignity and the value of all individuals, no matter what the disabling condition. With your faithful support, our Christian Institute on Disability is offering exciting new opportunities for hands-on training and biblical education – to build up a new generation of disability ministry leaders. The Christian Institute on Disability now offers a dynamic internship program, aptly named Cause 4 Life. The purpose of the internship program is to educate, train, and activate today’s young Christian leaders for the work of ministry, global missions, justice, and advocacy for children and families affected by disability around the world. Joni and Friends’ 8-week internship program is for college students...
Beyond Suffering Curriculum in Braille and Spanish Editions
Beyond Suffering: A Christian View on Disability Ministry by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steve Bundy, a groundbreaking course of study created to transform the way Christians view God’s plan for disability and suffering, is now available in Spanish and Braille Editions.
“Joni and Friends International Disability Center strives to anticipate the needs of the disability community and provide user-friendly resources for those looking to equip churches for disability ministry,” explained Bundy, Tada’s co-author on the project and Vice President of the Christian Institute on Disability at Joni and Friends. “To reach our Spanish-speaking audience, the complete Study Guide and the Leader’s Guide have been fully translated, with Spanish subtitles now included for each of the video case studies from the award-winning Joni and Friends Television Series.” The Braille Edition includes the Study Guide with the Course Reader, as well as the Leader’s Manual translated into a .brf format for use with Braille reading software and printers...
Beyond Suffering Pastor's Conference
Your faithfulness is reaping a harvest throughout China! This year, over 300 Chinese pastors and church leaders attended Joni and Friends’ disability ministry conference, Beyond Suffering, where a detailed study of Scripture revealed a biblical view of suffering and disability. “This training is helping us to bring many disabled people into the Church,” said one disability ministry leader. “Joni and Friends has helped us to understand God’s heart and empowered us to extend His love in...
Beyond Suffering Online Courses
Have you ever suffered physically, emotionally or spiritually and wondered why? Do you have family members or friends with disabilities and struggle to know what to say or how to act around them? People with disabilities are considered one of the world's largest under-represented groups and the church is largely unprepared for the burgeoning disabled population. One of the primary goals of the Beyond Suffering Course is to address this issue by preparing leaders in ministry, education, medicine and science to become involved in this life-changing ministry. Beyond Suffering is now being offered online in three formats through the Christian Institute on Disability: 1. A 16 Week Certificate Course (starting September 4, 2012), 2. An Independent Study Program, and 3. A 5 Day Training Seminar for students who have completed the Certificate Course and seek to become Certified Leaders of Beyond Suffering. Register today and become a beacon of hope for the disability community!
Joni and Friends Honors First Master’s Graduates in Disability Studies
As Master’s Degree graduates at California Baptist University received their degrees this month, 12 of the graduates were honored by the Joni and Friends Christian Institute on Disability for completing the first-ever master’s level program in Disability Studies. Through a course done entirely online, master’s degrees have been awarded in disability ministry as well as disabilities studies from Bible-based curriculum for the first time. Although...
Beyond Suffering Course at Joni and Friends
You have the vision for disability ministry—now let us give you the tools! Join the Christian Institute on Disability for a one-week, intensive certificate program in disability ministry July 10-14, 2012 at the Joni and Friends International Disability Center in Agoura Hills, CA. Recognized as one of the most in-depth and dynamic courses on disability ministry, Beyond Suffering brings together the voices of over 30 recognized experts to give you a biblical and evangelical perspective on suffering and disability. Learn how to help your...
Joni and Friends Joins the Lausanne Global Conversation
Beginning today, Joni and Friends will be initiating a month-long conversation on the website of The Lausanne Movement – an organization dedicated to international evangelization – focusing on evangelism to people with disabilities. The Global Conversation Project is designed to spur the local church into action and to emphasize selected portions of the Cape Town Commitment, which resulted from the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010. “We at Joni and Friends are passionate about...
Teaching Beyond Suffering in Peru
Over the last week, James Rene of our Joni and Friends' Christian Institute on Disability was in Lima, Peru teaching at the Christian Missionary Alliance Seminary (CMA). He led our disability ministry course of study called "Beyond Suffering" to 60 key CMA Peruvian pastors -- these men represented more than 400 CMA churches (the largest denomination in Peru). Says James, "These men are serious and committed and it was so exciting to see hearts and minds changed. Most of them never realized how much the Bible talks about God's heart for people with disabilities -- their eyes were opened!"
These CMA pastors signed a covenant to apply what they learned among Peruvians with disabilities. Many expressed immediate plans to make their churches accessible, train their ministry leaders, teach their congregations and begin outreach! Plans are set for a national pastor's conference in Peru in March with over 300 pastors and 2,000 ministry leaders. "Beyond Suffering" and the Luke 14 mandate will be a major theme. President of the CMA, Mario Perez, announced, "We must get the Luke 14 mandate into the DNA of our ministry leaders. Viva Peru!!! Gloria Dios!!!" To find out more about teaching opportunities in other ...
News from Joni and Friends' Christian Institute on Disability!
People with disabilities continue to be greatly encouraged by the many new treatments using adult stem cell therapies. For instance, Christopher Lyles, a Baltimore cancer patient, now has a new trachea -- and scientists say the approach shows great promise for the future. The 30-year-old man was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in his windpipe and the patient was out of options. "They tried chemotherapy and radiation, but they just couldn't get rid of this tumor," Dr. David Prentice of Family Research Council reported. "They couldn't take it out because they had nothing to put back in in terms of his windpipe, and it was slowly going to choke him to death."
But Christopher Lyles found Dr. Paolo Macchiarini who had developed a technique using the patient's own bone marrow adult stem cells to build new tissue and save many lives. In this case, adult stem cells were used on a sort of scaffold. "The cells grew a whole new windpipe for him." The case adds to the more than 70 different ways in which adult stem cells have successfully been used in a medical treatment, while embryonic stem cell research continues to yield no results. Read more ...
