Loving a “demon-possessed” child

Two weeks ago I was walking with co-workers through a village in the Ashanti region of Ghana. A mother appeared in the doorway of her mud brick house holding her very small daughter, who was much smaller than most other two-year-old children. It was immediately evident to us that the child was mentally handicapped. In addition, her tiny limbs indicated malnutrition. Wanting to build a relationship with the family, missionary nurse Lola Buchanan encouraged the mother to bring her daughter into the neighboring village of Ankaase, where the Mission Society for United Methodists operates a nutrition center.

Earlier in the week I had visited the nutrition center. A healthy food supplement called “Faith Weanimix,” made from locally available produce, is available. For those who cannot afford the mix, they can work at the center in exchange for the supplement. Nutritional counseling is also a huge part of the ministry. During my visit, dozens of women had gathered for the periodic weighing of their children. Many of the mothers, including several who have had other children die previously because of malnutrition, testified that their children’s lives have literally been saved by this ministry. In Lola’s words “we love them with the love of Jesus. We teach them and we give them the weanimix. When they see their children getting bigger and healthier, they know that we are helping them because of the love of Jesus. Even the Muslim women who come know this.” For some, this is a bridge to faith in Christ.

Missionaries who serve in certain parts of the world are often surprised when they encounter blatant manifestations of evil and “demon possession,” something often not addressed in western seminaries and training colleges. At the same time, circumstances involving handicapping conditions—especially in countries where animism and spiritism are extant—are often attributed to the devil, when in reality the situation may merely be a mental, psychological, or physical problem not directly precipitated by the evil one.

So, Lola was elated the next day when the mother actually showed up at the nutrition center, as it often takes time to build trust and introduce new ideas. In counseling with the mother, Lola learned that not only did members of the family see the child’s handicap as a sign of demonization, many in the village had told the mother that her child actually was a demon herself. “That is not a baby,” people would tell her, “that is an evil spirit.”

Indeed, when we served as missionaries in Ghana in the 1980s and 1990s, my wife Vicki, a special education teacher, often-encountered stories of handicapped infants being abandoned in the jungle by their parents because one tribal belief was that to do so would allow the “evil” child to transform into a snake. This was seen as more favorable than continuing life with a disability.

An average of two new mothers come with their children each week, seeking help from the nutrition center. Often it is necessary to challenge local superstitions with gospel truth. After one busy morning Lola said, “I spent the morning convincing two Muslim mothers that God loves their babies and wants them to grow.”

When we think of missions and evangelism, we often consider the spoken word as central to ministry; and it is. But if ministry is incarnational, it must enable people to experience the love of Jesus in addition to merely hearing about his love.

A mother learns that her stigmatized child is worthy of God’s love, and in the process she experiences his love herself. That’s because around the world there are people like Lola, missionaries and nationals alike, who serve in obscurity. And yet, they are performing the most significant work on the planet—loving people into the kingdom of God. They are faithfully facing the kingdom of darkness by  helping people to experience the love of Jesus.

Frank Decker is the Vice President for Mission Ministries of the Mission Society for United Methodists.

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