The church, by and large, looks like an able-bodied institution for able-bodied persons. In the thick of able-bodied, hands to plow ministry, nothing truly prepares families with disability for the immediate halt of frenzied ministry capacity, alongside the mass exodus of relationships which seemed impenetrable. For persons with disability, the churches disregard to make the gospel accessible and community life a place where all abilities may belong is an urgent matter. Authorial intent aims to discuss the inaccessible church and how to move toward a more accessible environment for all abilities. To do so readership will engage how the church marginalizes persons with disability and aids in their isolation, how the church often objectifies persons with disability by centering their identity around suffering, why accessibility and belonging are gospel issues, and concluding, disability theology and ministry are missional endeavors.
Isolation and Marginalization
The church as an institution exists in the heart of God as a house where all of God’s children belong. Meaning, regardless of physical and/or intellectual ability, the house of God by which all His children belong is meant to be accessible for all abilities. The unavoidable reality is this: where the church is structed for able-bodied persons, the lack of accessibility communicates to persons with disability, namely, you don’t belong. The inability of the church to consider the accessibility needs of persons of all abilities has devastating consequences. In a church where abilities mean everything, persons with disability and their families suffer unimaginable isolation and marginalization.
Families affected by disability move a little slower through life, they are a little more tired, and constantly anxious about the safety of their children. Imagine living in a house where special locks must be installed to prevent an eloping child with no fear of danger from running. Then imagine being lectured about helicopter-parenting at church, when all a parent wants to do is keep their child safe. Or imagine a woman who experiences anaphylaxis from synthetic chemicals in perfume, scented candles, and scented plug-ins, only to be met with eye-rolling annoyance from people who think it ridiculous to create an environment free from synthetic chemicals. Like a domino-effect, families affected by disability stop going to church. On the one hand, they don’t like feeling like a burden to others, on the other, they find that they do not belong among an able-bodied congregation which refuses to make its place of worship more accessible. These are merely surface-level examples of the challenges families affected by disability face in the church. And we haven’t even discussed limitations which prevent persons from accessing the Gospel itself.
The following represents various surveys of families with disability and their church experiences:
1. Dr. Steven Grcevich, president and founder of Key Ministry, reported, “More than 90% of church going special needs parents cited the most helpful support to be a “welcoming attitude toward people with disabilities” …Meanwhile, only about 80% of those parents said that welcoming attitude was present at their church… Almost 1/3 (32.3%) of special needs parents said that they had left at least one church because their child was not included or welcomed. Nearly 50% of special needs parents said they refrained from participating in a religious activity because their child was not included or welcomed… [and] 86.5% said that their church needs more education and training about disability.”[1]
2. In 2008, Wesley J. Smith wrote for the Weekly Standard, conveying, “Americans may heartily cheer participants in the Special Olympics, but we support some 90% of all gestating infants diagnosed with genetic disabilities such as Down syndrome, dwarfism, and Spina Bifida” (it may be more realistic to reduce this stat to 70%-85%).[2]
3. John Piper, in Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God, wrote, “One estimate is that 70% of the women who get abortions in America are professing Christians.”[3]
While the church at large celebrates the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, it would be a catastrophic mistake to assume the churches perception of persons with disability and the value of human life has magically changed. If the church wants to talk about the value of human life, the gospel must be preached and demonstrated with accessibility for persons of all abilities. Accessibility is the difference maker. Where persons with disability are not able to participate in the life of the church, that church declares that persons with disability do not belong. So much for that “on mission” phrase the church loves so much. It’s time to do better.
Objectifying Persons with disability as “Virtuous Sufferers”
Joni Eareckson Tada once said, “Suffering rips away the veneer so that we can be better bonded to the Savior.”[4]And this is true. And there is nothing inherently wrong for an able-bodied person to find inspiration by observing the efforts demonstrated by everyday people with disability who suffer and/or struggle. However, persons with disabilities are not to be solely identified by their sufferings. Simply, persons with disability are more than a trademark for good sufferers. Dr. Benjamin Conner suggests that “Romanticizing” disability in a way which generalizes disability as synonymous with “virtuous sufferers,” reduces persons as merely examples of hope for able-bodied observers.[5] When we romanticize persons with disability as “virtuous sufferers” we reduce their central existence to one part of a person’s life and experience.
This is not to say that a robust understanding of human suffering and God’s sovereignty are not important aspects of the journey. However, humans are not to be centrally defined by their so-called suffering, regardless of the manner of debilitation. When the church sees persons with disability and their families as more than “virtuous sufferers,” then the church moves beyond merely objectifying them, and thereby moves toward a mutual, belonging-centric, relationship. This begins with creating accessible church environments for all abilities.
Accessibility and Belonging
The greatest hindrance of the gospel going forth amongst persons with disability is access to the gospel. And where accessibility to the gospel is limited or nonexistent, it is impossible to expect the fruit of belonging. People with disability are among every demographic. Meaning, as a demographic, persons with disability represent the largest, most diverse, and wide-spread demographic. Disability community thereby, is the largest unreached people group. Well, one might rebuttal and suggest that persons with disability in America cannot be an unreached or even unengaged people group (though we do not reduce disabled persons to primarily a people group, it is more complex than that). However, the plain truth lies in how inaccessible the Gospel is amidst a church structured for able-bodied persons.
There is a two-dimensional risk at play for families with disability in their relationship with church and the world around them. Phinehas is a nine-year-old boy with Down syndrome, dwarfism, and autism. Everywhere he goes children and adults of all ages immediately notice his differences. Whether he is playing at the park or walking through the church lobby with his parents, he is met with awkward stares and the perpetual exodus of children too weirded out by his differences to play with him. Not to mention the worried faces of parents, as if they too could catch his differences… like a virus. Therefore, not only is Phinehas faced with intellectual challenges which require alternative approaches to learning and receiving the message of the Gospel, he is met with the tyranny of social indifference toward his differences. While the church buries its head in the sand, Phinehas and his fellow contemporaries are a demographic at risk of being left out from Gospel accessibility and participation in the life of the church.
Accessibility and belonging are Gospel issues. The whole “come as you are” does not produce transformation where the Gospel is inaccessible. And where the Gospel is inaccessible, true belonging within any given faith community will be limited and incomplete at best. The irony of inaccessibility is missional contextualization. The church, by and large, is all about contextualizing the Gospel within its own able-bodied framework, and yet the church often ignores and/or scoffs at the idea of contextualizing its structures to meet the needs of all abilities. Church planters on foreign soil know all too well that contextualizing the gospel within their respective host nations means humbly laying aside aspects of Westernized Christianity. It is not to say that Western minds do not have benefits within their own home cultural context, nevertheless, missionaries are tasked with appropriately contextualizing the gospel in a way which reaches persons from different cultures with different traditions. Missiologists such as Dr. Benjamin Conner are far too few. Simply put, disability ministry is nothing less than appropriately contextualizing the gospel by making the effort to create accessible environments for all abilities to receive the Gospel and participate in the life of the church. The church which invests in the tools required to aid persons of all abilities will inevitably produce a harvest.
Conclusion: Disability Theology and Ministry is Missional
Gospel accessibility and belonging are eternal matters. Are we as the church far too comfortable with our smooth-sailing, able-bodied structures to ignore and inadvertently leave these souls in the balance of eternity? The answer should be, no! The modern West, with all its pursuit of delaying age and defying the limits of human abilities, has made war with everything which appears limiting or outside the construct of strength and beauty. However, the sands of time and the inability to foresee what debilitating experiences may lie around the corner have built a façade. Furthermore, the strongest, most beautiful and capable people on earth are merely weak, broken vessels, borrowing time from the Creator. The sooner the church realizes how weak it truly is, the sooner the church will identify with the image of God in humankind as the only measure of a person’s worth and identity. Accessibility is not only about serving persons with disability today, but also laying a foundation for the day when age or accident or even death brings us face to face with the cold reality that we are all disabled in certain regards before God. We all need God’s help daily despite how strong, intellectual, or beautiful we perceive ourselves. The following are two helpful descriptions pertaining to the missional necessity of the church for disability theology and ministry:
1. The church is called to serve and preach the gospel contextually to all peoples. The disability community is the by far the largest sub-group in the world. No other community is as diverse. Disability affects young and aged, all skin-colors, all races, rich and poor, and male and female. The church which limits its accessibility of the gospel limits its ability to truly serve the disability community.
2. Persons with disability are also called to serve in their local churches. Paul Tautges, author of, When Disability Hits Home: How God Magnifies His Grace in Our Weakness and Suffering, wrote, “The church is not merely like a body, it is a body. It’s a living body made up of many parts, every one of which is indispensable to the overarching purpose of God.”[6] There is this almost unwritten law in many faith communities which insists that persons with disabilities outside of the normal idea of the church are somehow disqualified from gospel service. This is simply not biblical, and the church which recognizes that disability related limitations are not as limited where the gospel is accessible to all abilities will undoubtedly find that their hesitations and assumptions were misguided. The body truly is not complete when we neglect persons with disability for service in God’s kingdom.
Joni Eareckson Tada conveys wisely, writing, “Bureaucracies aren’t programmed to be compassionate, but Christians are.”[7] The church, amidst highly political cultural wars must look to God and depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance. Conservatives love to dismiss disability theology and ministry at the expense of souls in the balance. However, the call to serve and to train persons with disability for service is not merely a line between conservative or liberal contentions. Limitations are but challenges by which the church has an opportunity to grow and glorify God, together. Accessibility and belonging for persons with disability are no different in essence than it is for able-bodied persons. Though structures and methods must change in order to make the gospel accessible and the church a more belonging experience for all, it is worth the work required.
[1]Dr. Stephen Grcevich. “What Are the Stats on Disability and the Church?” Church4EveryChild, 9 Feb. 2016. Web. 29 June 2023.
[2]Wesley J. Smith. “Politically Correct Eugenics.” The Weekly Standard, 31 March 2008. Web. 29 June 2023.
[3]John Piper. Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God. Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God Foundation, 2012. Print.
[4]Paul Tautges and Joni Eareckson Tada. When Disability Hits Home: How God Magnifies His Grace in Our Weakness and Suffering. Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2020. P. 26. Print.
[5]Dr. Benjamin T. Conner. Disabling Mission, Enabling Witness: Exploring Missiology Through the Lens of Disability Studies. Downers Grove, ILL: InterVarsity Press, 2018. P. 62. Print.
[6]Paul Tautges and Joni Eareckson Tada. When Disability Hits Home: How God Magnifies His Grace in Our Weakness and Suffering. Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2020. P. 82. Print.
[7]Ibid., Tautges and Tada. P. 92.