Disability and the Church: Why Inclusion Is Essential to the Gospel
Adopting our son with Down syndrome remains one of the greatest blessings my husband and I have known. My son ushered us into a personal experience with disability, and in ways I couldn’t have anticipated. He has brought us face-to-face with God and expanded our understanding of the fullness and power of God’s kingdom.
I have no doubt God’s invitation to new life includes my son. Doing life with him has convinced me that God’s kingdom includes people with disabilities. And not just as people for whom others care, but as people who, in their disability, have divine calling, empowerment and means for participating in the work and witness of the church.
Such a bold proclamation is both complex and not without genuine concerns. Let’s take a deeper look.
The Church and Disability
“Disability” is a broad label that attempts to capture the range of ways a person’s physical, mental and/or social means of functioning are judged “abnormal” compared to socially and medically constructed norms. Disabilities may be temporary or permanent, congenital or acquired, and—depending on the situation—more or less disabling. Some disabilities seem easier to accommodate and accept than others. Responding to this diversity requires a multifaceted approach; there is no one-size-fits-all.
Christians often magnify disability’s complexity by adding theological layers. Attempts to explain disability in light of God’s story can lead us to:
- Equate disability unequivocally with sin and the fall, either directly or causally
- Encourage (unwanted) prayers for healing
- Turn disability into spiritual lessons for the disabled person and others
- Intertwine faith and repentance with healing
- Assume that God will inherently eliminate disability in new creation, thus separating disability from the person
How we account for disability in God’s story impacts how churches welcome and reach people with disabilities and then incorporate, equip and release them to participate in kingdom work.
When I share my convictions that churches should prioritize reaching people with disabilities and including them in the work and witness of the church, I’m often met with genuine concerns. How will this be practical, feasible and effective, especially when encountering intellectual and developmental disabilities? How should the church allocate money, time, physical space and people? When stretched to the limit, what is the best use of church resources?
RELATED “THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH”
These are real struggles. As Brian Brock correctly surmises in his book Disability, “There is no single ‘solution’ or ‘answer’ to the ecclesial dilemmas and pastoral questions raised by the many types of life experiences today labeled disabilities.” If this is true, how is my proposition even possible and why is it necessary? Let me answer these in reverse order.
Reaching people with disabilities is necessary because they (and their families) remain one of the most unreached people groups in the world. An estimated 90–95% of the nearly 1 billion people with disabilities globally have no gospel witness. Erik Carter, executive director of the Baylor Center for Disability and Flourishing, conducted research that showed 59% of people with disabilities in the U.S. (over 58 million) don’t attend any religious service. Those that do come don’t always receive welcome, and many don’t experience belonging. With more than 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 6 children living with a disability, no church is exempt from disability or the need to prioritize ministry that includes people with disabilities and their families.
Reaching people with disabilities is also necessary because without their work and witness, the church’s gospel witness becomes truncated and distorted. If our communal witness only displays whole bodies and minds, people with disabilities may not find themselves represented in God’s story. And the God story we do tell can become one that expects healing, perfection, wholeness, autonomy, independence and particular abilities as prerequisites for participation, usefulness and witness. But God’s kingdom does not depend on our abilities. Rather, his story showcases a kingdom that is open to all, and one where our weaknesses become a conduit for his strength, power and majesty to be known.
