About
A Brief History of CEMIPREAs a ministry, CEMIPRE (Presbyterian Ministry Center) was inaugurated in October of 2004 and was established as a not-for-profit-foundation in 2013. Through various circumstances, God convinced Pastor John Rug, missionary with Mission to the World, of the necessity of a ministry that would take into account the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of people with disabilities. The Lord used visits to churches in Cuba to enable John to develop a clear vision for this work, to adapt its application to the Chilean context and to begin the ministry.
John began this ministry by offering free, private Braille and computer lessons to low-vision and blind people. In this way, he sought to address one of the serious consequences of blindness – illiteracy. But more and more people began to participate. When people started coming to CEMIPRE to practice what they had been learning, eat lunch together and benefit from group workshops, something special began to occur. CEMIPRE really began to take form then. continued below....... From the beginning, CEMIPRE has worked with blind people, asking God to enlighten their mind, heart and soul with the good news of Jesus Christ. CEMIPRE offers Bible studies, orientation and mobility (use of the white cane), Braille lessons, the use of the computer and cellular phones, crafts, music, daily life skills and other workshops. Evangelism and counseling are part of the day-to-day interaction.
On September 5, 2019, CEMIPRE inaugurated a new site in the city of Quilpué to reach out to people of that area that find it difficult to get to the original site in Viña del Mar. This was a significant step in the development of the CEMIPRE Foundation because of the greater sense of community among CEMIPRE, the local churches and government officials. Currently the CEMIPRE Foundation's participants are mostly recently blinded adults. We walk with them through the period of mourning and adjustment to blindness, teaching them from a Biblical perspective and Christian world view. |
Why CEMIPRE ExistsCEMIPRE (Presbyterian Ministry Center) is a special needs ministry of Mission to the World (MTW), the mission-sending agency of the Presbyterian Church in America, designed to address the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of those with disabilities. In the spirit of Jesus’ ministry to those with special needs and in keeping with the results of His miracles on behalf of such people, we seek to minister in Jesus’ name to the end that all may know that He is the Christ, that God has a heart of compassion and that the disabled may become differently enabled as the effects of disabilities are significantly reduced. At this point in time, the work is largely limited to blind and low-vision people until the Lord provides people capable of addressing the consequences of those with other disabilities.
The work among the blind is accomplished by addressing spiritual, emotional and physical needs: - Spiritual needs include the fact that God created humanity as image bearers, which lends dignity to who we are independent of abilities and disabilities; the fact that all of us are fallen, sinful creatures and need to be redeemed by His grace; and that all those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ for eternal life then need to actively participate (worship, use of gifts and talents) in a local expression of His body, the Church, of which He is the head......... continued below......... - Emotional needs include how to address the lack of comprehension by family, friends and society at large, with respect to those with disabilities; learning to see oneself as capable of addressing the challenges of a disability, having accepted it as a normal part of life in an abnormal world; etc. (It should be noted that spiritual and emotional needs typically are similar from one disability to another though some may be more accentuated. For example, a deaf person may have a greater sense of loneliness than someone with a different disability.) - The physical needs of a blind person include literacy and orientation/mobility. Among other things, these are specifically addressed with Braille lessons, adaptive computer science instructions and learning to use the white cane. It is necessary to interrelate the 3 aspects where needs arise. For example, it might be necessary to stress that a person should not be ashamed to use a cane because he or she is made in God’s image, thus lending dignity to its use (spiritual) and eliminating the unnecessary association of it with blind beggars, something likely to be uppermost in the mind of a recently blinded individual (emotional). What remains is to get the necessary instructions (physical). The need to move from disabled to differently enabled is in keeping with the greater need of all sinners to be transformed in Christ. The goal of integration of those with special needs into the church, society and the work force should not be divorced from the Lord’s overarching concern that the church, for example, should include people to whom Jesus ministered and that Mt. 28:19-20, Lk. 14:21b and Rev. 7:9 reflect His plan to include people of diverse backgrounds into His Church. It is our conviction that wherever there is church planting, this would be greatly enhanced as was Jesus' ministry by an emphasis upon these marginalized individuals. Jesus is the Christ and God has a heart of compassion! |