Sharing Session: Indonesia and People with Disabilities

The World Communion of Reformed Churches’ “COVID & Beyond” discernment process held a sharing session focused on worshiping with and listening to people living with disabilities and representatives from churches in Indonesia.

People with disabilities will explored how the pandemic—and the recommendations and restrictions coming along with it—have more severely impacted people with disabilities. Apart from simply exposing and exacerbating existing conditions, the pandemic has thrown open a whole new level of issues. We now know that people with disabilities are being disproportionately affected by the virus. Yet they are not being taken into account when it comes to the roll out and accessibility of the vaccine. The situation is unjust, and the church is called upon to reflect on and correct its own theologies and practices as well as advocate for just and full participation of people with disabilities.

Member churches from Indonesia focused on local challenges with a special presentation on eco-theology vs. anthropocentric theology—a perspective from West Papua. There were presentations from the following experts: Fransina Yoteni (Indonesian Christian Church in Tanah Papua), Elifas Maspaitela (Maluku Protestant Church), Rosmalia Barus (Batak Karo Protestant Church), and John Simon (Protestant Church in Western Indonesia).