At David’s Promise, family means more than relatives. It’s also the staff, volunteers, and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities who gather bi-weekly to learn, tend their garden, and experience community together.

The ministry is one of the many programs run through Compassionate Ministries of Jackson County (CMJC), a service of Jackson First Church of the Nazarene, or “JaxNaz,” in southern Michigan (USA).

A sprawling garden is, in many ways, the hub of the ministry. It covers more than 15 acres, which are owned by the church. There, David’s Promise participants, volunteers, and staff grow produce that ultimately goes to supply the CMJC food pantry — another large outreach — as well as a forthcoming organic store, which will be staffed by David’s Promise participants.

According to Dianne Kean, whose son Tim, is part of David’s Promise, the active nature of the ministry is part of what makes it ideal.

“Our son is 35 and he’s got multiple disabilities,” she says. “[But] he’s very upbeat and functioning, and he loves to get out in the world and do stuff.”

The garden is just one of the many ways that Tim and others are able to participate. David’s Promise purposefully incorporates projects that enable participants to use their gifts to serve others. They have hosted supply drives for a shelter for victims of domestic violence, created decorations for a Valentine’s Day party at a local nursing home, and made sensory blankets for children with autism or other sensory disorders. Participants also regularly serve at the CMJC food pantry.

“We always focus on ways we can give back to the community and use the gifts that our guys have,” says Rebekah Moilanen, director of David’s Promise. “When people think of special needs ministry they think what can we do for people, but they’re used to having things done for them, and we want to ask what they can do for others.”

Jackson County offers educational services for people with special needs through age 26, but after that, services end. That’s exactly the gap David’s Promise aims to fill. While their long-term goal is to provide housing for adults for with disabilities, for now they’re providing a space where friends can become family.

Moilanen shares an example of a David’s Promise participant who had just lost his father and was unsure about coming to the gathering. At the end of the day, he said, “You guys are my family now.”

Creating community

Word about the David’s Promise family is getting out in the community. To accommodate their waiting list, David’s Promise will soon start afternoon programming in addition to the bi-weekly morning services they have been running since May 2014. Moilanen estimates they will have 40 adults who regularly attend.

“As parents,” Kean says, “we have watched our children grow up with the pain and heartache of trying to fit in, and here there’s no pain to watch because they already fit in.”

Kean’s family has been involved in David’s Promise since its inception. They were new in town and found out about the program when they went to a Sunday service at JaxNaz. When they saw a David’s Promise table requesting volunteers, they jumped in with both feet.

“They have a camaraderie, these adults,” she says. “There’s no judgment. There’s friendship, there’s companionship, they help each other out and are teaching each other all the time.”

Along with time spent on the garden — and subsequent projects like making jam and salsa from the produce—David’s Promise also partners with organizations in the community.

“I never want our people with special needs to be tucked away to the side,” Moilanen says.

The program started with a Bible study and has now expanded to weekly activities, outreach programs, and support groups. Volunteers and team members also run support groups for parents of children with disabilities and hospital outreach programs for new parents.

“You have these adults all over the place that are sometimes just sitting and doing nothing — nothing — all day long,” Kean says. “And to get these adults involved in anything is just spectacular. They’re learning music, they’re learning sign language. It just goes on and on. It should be in every community, something like that.”

A way of life

David’s Promise is one of many programs under the church’s compassionate ministry center. Both stationary and mobile food pantries, fresh food initiatives, community meals, blood drives, and school supply collections are just a handful of the other services.

The sense of family within David’s Promise also permeates these other programs. Part of that is the commitment to what First Church calls “First-Century Christianity,” or viewing church as a way of life rather than a building.

The other part of it is the commitment of the church itself to ministries of compassion. Terry Williams, executive director of CMJC, estimates that nearly 70 percent of the church is involved in one of the ministries in some capacity, whether through volunteering or giving.

“You see church working the way it was meant to work,” Moilanen says, “with people loving each other so much that they would do anything for each other.”

David's Promise is named after a Bible story about King David and Mephibosheth, the son of his best friend, Jonathan. As a child, Mephibosheth’s feet were injured, and he lived the rest of his life unable to walk. After Jonathan died, David brought Mephiboseth to live with him and promised him, “[You] shall always eat at my table” (2 Samuel 9:11). 

Visit davidspromise.org to learn more, or visit ncm.org/mag/cmc to support the ministry.

--Republished with permission from the Winter 2016 edition of NCM Magazine