"A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’" Luke 14:16-24 1
Jesus told this parable whereby he described the Kingdom of God as a great banquet. People normally enjoy and consider it a privilege to be invited to a good banquet, but in this parable those who were first on the invitation list had other priorities and declined the invitation. This was an unacceptable outcome for the one providing the feast. His remedy was to invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame so that his food and beverage would not be wasted, and the banquet would be a joy-filled feast. When all these newly invited guests were gathered into the banquet hall, it was not full; there was room for still more. The master instructed his servants to go to the streets and compel even more to come into his house. It was his supreme desire that his banquet be full.
Gospel-centered churches should, in part, be an experience of this Kingdom of God banquet. But, according to Jesus, many invited simply will not attend. There will always be room for more to come to the banquet, and it is the general duty of churches to do what they can to fill it up. According to this parable, the servants tasked with filling up the banquet hall were to go first to the disabled, neglected, and marginalized. Not only did Jesus indicate that these would respond positively to the banquet invitation, but it is plausible that churches who apply this teaching and reach out to these people will not only be “fuller,” they will be better for it. It is also likely that the people who participate in these kinds of churches will gain a better understanding of the Kingdom of God, experience deeper spiritual growth, and participate in greater missional impact.
Public interest in accommodating, serving, and including those with disabilities has been rapidly growing since the early 1970s in the United States, and disability ministries are on the rise in North American churches. However, the research concerning how ministering to and including those with disabilities positively or negatively impacts these churches is missing. Church-growth researcher and author Ed Stetzer states, “I was not able to find any substantial research on how churches are ministering to persons with disabilities . . . other than word-of-mouth and such connections, I cannot definitively say what is, and what is not, happening and what we can learn from it—so I am a bit disappointed.” 2 Author Jennie Weiss Block confirms this as one who has worked specifically with those with disabilities as well as the church. She writes,
While there is extensive material on disability in the medical, psychological, sociological, and clinical fields, there is surprisingly little on religion and disability. Considering the fact that there are approximately 54 million people in the United States with some type of physical or mental disability, this is significant and telling. 3
It is a well-known fact that those with disabilities benefit from being a part of a church so long as the church is welcoming and generally accommodating. In much the same way, it is likely that churches benefit when those with disabilities are present and included in the life of the church. But, this simply is not on the radar of most churches. In Jesus’ parable, the poor, crippled, blind, and lame were a part of making the banquet full and festive. Inviting those with disabilities and including them in the life of the church should make the church more of the Kingdom of God banquet experience that Jesus described. In other words, if the Kingdom of God is supposed to be like the celebratory banquet described by Jesus, and the church is supposed to be a tangible experience of this Kingdom of God banquet, churches will never be what they are supposed to be when those with disabilities are absent.
Disability ministry and the health of the church is of great personal concern for me. While the researcher has always had a general sensitivity for those with disabilities, concern for this community became even more personal sixteen years ago when my youngest son was fourteen months old and had his first epileptic seizure. This resulted in significant medical interventions such as brain surgery, experience in the field of special education, and experimentation with disability ministry. My son currently lives with multiple disabilities. Each member of my family has been deeply impacted by this reality, and we know first-hand what it is like to be uncomfortable in church settings because of our own child’s disabilities.
I have pastored Journey Church for over thirteen years and have attempted to catalyze gospel fruitfulness by leading this church in new church-growth and outreach initiatives. This has proven to be quite difficult, but the challenge has kept this church open to new opportunities for ministry. So, when the co-directors of Tucson’s Young Life Capernaum ministry approached Journey Church with their vision of a new ministry for adults who had aged out of Young Life Capernaum, it was an instant “yes.” 4 As a result, Journey Church is widely known in Southern Arizona as the church that loves, welcomes, honors, and includes people with special needs and those who love them. Journey Church has experienced church health and revitalization due in part to its outreach to the disability community.
It is my hypothesis that inclusive disability ministry is not only good for those with disabilities, it is also good for the health and vitality of the churches who engage them. It is my desire that more churches will engage in disability ministry and, as a result, more people with and without disabilities will find life in Christ. I also desire that more churches will experience the health and vitality that comes from being on mission with Jesus Christ.
Statement of the Problem While the theme of disability and disability ministry is ubiquitous in Scripture and present in Christian literature throughout the centuries, there is a significant gap in the research on the relationship between disability ministry and church health.
People with disabilities are everywhere. They are in every town and village of every nation on earth. They fall on a broad spectrum of all who are physically, cognitively, emotionally, or socially atypical. Many of them are obvious because of visible physical irregularities, the use of ambulatory devices such as wheelchairs, or the way in which they present socially, such as their speech or behavior. Some with disabilities are hidden in plain sight, meaning they have a disability but are able to mask it or compensate for it to such a degree that it is not noticeable. There are still others with disabilities who are hidden away in our neighborhoods or in group homes who are rarely out in public. The reality is, “Around 15 per cent of the world’s population, or estimated 1 billion people, live with disabilities. They are the world’s largest minority.” 5 Author and founder of Young Life Capernaum Nick Palermo states, “If that group were a nation it would be the world’s third largest and would lead the world in both homelessness and poverty.” 6 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50 million American adults live with some form of mental or physical disability. 7
People with disabilities are loved by God. God loves all people but he has a special concern for the downtrodden, disenfranchised, and marginalized of society. This includes those with disabilities. Throughout the pages of Scripture, God is characterized as one committed to defending and redeeming them. Consider the words of the prophet Zephaniah as he spoke the words of God concerning the future glory of Israel: “Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth” (Zeph. 3:19). This prophecy was partially fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, who demonstrated a special concern for those with disabilities. Perhaps this was driven by his compassion. Perhaps it was the fact that he personally lived their experience of being marginalized and rejected. Perhaps it was because he knew they were needy, which opened them up to his grace. Regardless, Jesus modeled ministry to the hopeless and helpless, and he instructed his followers to do the same.
The early Church modeled the Old Testament Scriptures, followed Jesus’ example, and obeyed his command to take a special interest in serving those rejected by society. George Hunter states,
The very earliest Christian movement began this way. Jesus of Nazareth engaged a range of people that included lepers and people who are blind, deaf, possessed, or mentally ill, as well as prostitutes, tax collectors, Samaritans, Gentiles, and zealots. What did all of these groups have in common? None of these groups were permitted in the temple. 8
Michael Beates, a father of a child with disabilities and professor, further explains,
We have seen that the ministry of Jesus was inordinately focused on just such marginalized men, women, and children. As we press ahead to consider the growth of the early church in Acts and the letters, we will see this focus remain steady. 9
The early Church followed the example of Jesus in pursuing those on the margins of society and, because of this, the gospel prospered.
When Christians befriend and include those who are marginalized, ostracized, and disenfranchised, it is Jesus to whom they minister. In fact, Jesus identified with the plight of the needy so closely that he said that he is they and they are he.
Then I, the King, shall say to those at my right, “Come, blessed of my Father, into the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; 36 naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me.” 40 “ . . . When you did it to these my brothers, you were doing it to me (Matt. 25:34-36, 40).
When believers serve and befriend those on the margins of society, Jesus is pleased and promises to bless them in this life or in the life to come.
Jesus teaches us that we should be merciful and generous to the weak, needy, and marginalized, but most people naturally ignore or avoid these kinds of people because they make them feel uncomfortable and offer them no apparent advantage. This is certainly true regarding those with cognitive or physical disabilities. Unfortunately, Christians are no different. We are naturally drawn toward those who give us some kind of status, advantage, or boost to our egos. Even pastors and church leaders can be drawn toward and prioritize ministering to the rich, beautiful, and powerful. Consider, once again, the words of Beates:
The absence of people with disabilities in the church indicates that the church has not yet grasped deeply enough the essence of the gospel; and conversely, God's people have drunk too deeply from the well of cultural ideology with regard to wholeness and brokenness. If people with disabilities are not welcomed by the church, much less aggressively pursued by the church, it may be because, like the world around us, we would rather think we are on the way to recovery, that we are strong in Christ and healthy. We would rather not be bothered by the care that those who live with brokenness require. We don’t wish to be reminded by their very presence how much like them we really are. 10
This, however, is not the way of Jesus, and in the end it does not advance the progress of the gospel. Pastor Steve Sjogren said it well in a statement to church planters: “Don’t go to start a church . . . go to serve a city. Serve them with love, and if you go after the people nobody wants, you’ll end up with the people everybody wants.” 11
People with disabilities are indispensable to the Church. The Apostle Paul made this claim in 1 Corinthians 12, in which he gave a lesson on the nature of the Church and compared it to a physical body. Not only are the weaker parts indispensable, but the less honorable parts are given greater honor and the more unpresentable parts are given greater modesty. If this is in fact true, then the Church must make special arrangements in order to accommodate these weaker and less honorable parts because the body is not complete without all of its members present. This, by necessity, must include those who are cognitively and physically disabled. Professor of special education and disability studies, Jeff McNair, states, “Paul says that in reality, people who seem weaker are indispensable. They must not be labeled and dismissed. . . . They are powerful in that they are needed by all for something critical to the whole body.” 12 A significant part of this project will be an inquiry into the ways in which those with disabilities are indispensable to the body of Christ.
People with disabilities are receptive to Jesus and his people. This is in part because most of them have been left out or left behind for most of their lives. This enormous segment of the global population has been significantly underserved by governments, social institutions, society, and churches. Author Wilton H. Bunch states, “People with disabilities are five times more likely to say that they are dissatisfied with their lives, primarily because of social isolation.” 13 Wolf Wolfensberger writes, “Given the predominant values of our contemporary culture, children and adults with significant physical and/or intellectual impairments tend to be societally devalued, negatively perceived and mistreated, cut off from these good things, which we all want.” 14 This lack of inclusion creates a relational vacuum which makes them vulnerable to exploitation, but it can also be a golden opportunity for churches to include and befriend them with the life-giving love of Jesus.
Missing Members, Failing Churches
People with disabilities are mostly missing from our churches. According to Barrett Shaw, approximately one in five Americans has some kind of disability, yet people with disabilities are not represented to any significant degree in most of our churches. 15 If Jesus loves those with disabilities and is deeply committed to them, if the Scriptures teach that they are indispensable to his body the Church, if many of them are open to the friendship that churches have to offer, then why are they missing from our churches?
Churches do not normally target those with disabilities or make an effort to include them. In 2013, Palermo stated that only 10% of churches were engaged in or were planning a ministry for those with disabilities. 16 Professor of ethics and mental disability Hans Reinders states,
Christian communities are usually not on the front line when it comes to matters of inclusion. For many people with disabilities, it is still true that it is easier to enter a pub or a cinema than the sanctuary of a church. 17
Theologian and ethicist Stanley Hauerwas writes,
While it is indisputable the Christians throughout the ages have sought to serve their retarded brethren in some manner or other, there has never been a cohesive or explicit moral notion as to how they should be cared for or how aggressively we should address the issue of their presence among us. 18
It would appear that the church has not seen those with disabilities as being valuable enough to pursue.
Churches have not been as welcoming or accommodating of those with disabilities as Jesus or the ancient Church was, and people with disabilities have taken note. The overwhelming majority of churches are unavailable, unwelcoming, or inaccessible to them. In speaking about the church’s approach to ministering to those with disabilities, disability rights advocate Nancy Eiesland writes,
Rather than being a structure for empowerment, the church has more often supported the societal structures and attitudes that have treated people with disabilities as objects of pity and paternalism. For many disabled persons the church has been a “city on a hill”—physically inaccessible and socially inhospitable. 19
The church simply does not have a good recent track record when it comes to reaching out to and including those with disabilities.
Most churches are missing the opportunity that is all around them for disability ministry. Those with disabilities have needs that churches can meet. According to professor Erik Carter, churches often exclude these very people. He asserts, “Unfortunately, too many people with disabilities do not experience the same opportunities as others to grow spiritually, enjoy community, and experience relationships.” 20 Deborah Creamer states, “People with disabilities are constantly confronted by barriers that deny their access to many areas of life. People with disabilities are barred from full participation in the church, theological education and ministry and theology as professions.” 21 They surround us and our churches, but we either overlook them or intentionally avoid them.
Pastor Phil C. Zylla addresses how churches miss the mark in meeting the needs of families with disabled children when he says,
After years of trying to fit in and explain their situation, families resign themselves to misunderstanding and even neglect. The common response to children with disabilities is one of sympathy but not necessarily understanding. There is some effort to demonstrate care, but this care does not necessarily reshape our practices and our responses to those who present themselves to us in all of their neediness. 22
The research indicates that the needs of children with disabilities and their families only increase as they reach their 21st birthday. John Donvan and Caren Zucker warn,
Just as that future arrives, the cliff happens. School-funded support—all that work and investment—ceases on every student’s 21st birthday. That is when many of these same individuals find themselves, as in earlier generations, once again invisible. They’re home with their parents, with nothing to do; or bivouacked in small group homes, watching TV, with no say in who they live with, when they go out, or what they eat. All the aspirations for something better than that—employment, independent living, self-determination—would require continuing support for many of these adults, at or near the same level of intensity delivered during the school years. But funding for that level of support—and it would be billions—is missing. 23
Those with disabilities have needs that churches can tangibly address. There is a huge gap in support that churches can step into and help remedy without spending billions of dollars doing so. They are open to the gospel as a viable mission field. Yet, for the most part, churches are missing the opportunity to serve, reach, and include them.
It is my opinion that just as the disabled need churches, churches need the disabled. Consider these statistics from 2003:
percent of our churches are stagnant or declining. Of the 20 percent that are growing, 19 out of 20 are growing primarily by transfer growth and/or biological growth. Less than 1 percent of all the churches in North America grow substantially from conversion growth. 24
Most churches in North America are languishing. Ed Stetzer states that 340,000 American churches are in need of revitalization. In addition to this ugly fact is the reality that between 3,500 and 4,000 churches close each year in the U.S. 25 Why are things so dire for churches here in the U.S., and what can be done about it?
According to research done on over 300 churches by Stetzer in Comeback Churches, one of the reasons that unhealthy churches struggle is because they lack a clear and compelling vision and a true sense of biblical mission. He asserts, “Comeback leaders agreed that having a clear and compelling vision was foundational in the transformation of their churches.” 26 Again he writes, “People will follow vision because they are interested in committing to something worthwhile. Yet, so often our churches do not call people to life-changing visions and are surprised that the commitment level is so low.” 27 Serving marginalized populations can provide a true sense of biblical mission and vision. Reaching out to, serving, and including those with disabilities is not only the right thing to do, it potentially represents an opportunity to bring life and health to our churches.
Dignifying, serving, and including those with disabilities in the church has been addressed on a limited basis by pastors and theologians going all the way back to the early Church fathers. The last fifty years have seen a proliferation of political activity, institutional change, academic inquiry, and theological writing in the arena of disability issues here in the U.S. and abroad. Many Christian theologians have made statements concerning the benefits that come from the inclusion and presence of those with disabilities in our lives and churches. Some of them may include one or two guesses about what these benefits might be, but as mentioned earlier, there is little to no research demonstrating if these benefits actually exist and what these benefits actually are.
Disability ministry may include commitment and sacrifice, but if it can be demonstrated that there are natural and supernatural benefits that come from such an endeavor, perhaps more churches and church leaders will consider making this investment. If disability ministry has a positive influence on church health, then church leaders should be made aware of the opportunity to bless those with disabilities and be blessed by them in return.
Summary
The church has not arrived in its understanding of or its ministry to those with disabilities. Those with disabilities, even the profoundly disabled, are fully human, intrinsically valuable, and worthy of love and friendship with or without any reciprocal benefits. God loves them and wants his churches to love and include them. They are a gospel-receptive people group who, for the most part, are ready to respond to an invitation to the church. Those with disabilities have much to offer, and God will bless churches who love them well. Churches in North America desperately need the gifts that come from, with, and through them. The church’s witness to the world is on the line.
Jim Roden, Pastor of The Journey Church, Tucson AZ.
Footnotes:
Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced employ the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008).
Ed Stetzer, “Special Needs Ministries and the Church: Research, Ministries, Links, Leaders, and More,” Christianity Today, January 18, 2013, https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/january/special-needs-ministries-and-church-research-ministries.html.
Jennie Weiss Block, Copious Hosting: A Theology of Access for People with Disabilities (New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2002), 16.
Young Life is a parachurch organization that exists to reach unchurched teenagers with the gospel of Christ. Young Life Capernaum is a branch of that organization that specifically targets and serves teenagers with cognitive and physical disabilities.
United Nations Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs, Disability, accessed November 5, 2020, https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/resources/factsheet-on-persons-with-disabilities.html.
Nick Palermo, Missing Stars, Fallen Sparrows (San Jose, CA: Goehner Publications, 2013), 51.
Dr. Stephen Grcevich, “What Are the Stats on Disability and Church?,” February 9, 2016, https://church4everychild.org/2016/02/09/what-are-the-stats-on-disability-and-church/.
George G. Hunter, The Apostolic Congregation (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009), 34.
Michael S. Beates, Disability and The Gospel: How God Uses Our Brokenness to Display His Grace (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 60.
Michael Beates, Disability and the Gospel: How God Uses Our Brokenness to Display His Grace (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 79.
Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church (Loveland, CO: Group, 2004), 29.
Jeff McNair, “The Power of Those Who Seem Weaker: People with Disabilities in the Church,” Journal of the Christian Institute on Disability 3, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2014): 97.
Wilton H. Bunch, “Toward a Theology of Inclusion for Those with Disabilities: A Christian Response,” Journal of Religion, Disability and Health 5, no. 4 (2001): 38.
Wolf Wolfensberger, “A Brief Introduction to Social Role Valorization: A High-Order Concept for Addressing the Plight of Societally Devalued People, and for Structuring Human Services” (Syracuse, NY: Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership and Change Agentry, Syracuse University, 1998), 7-11.
Barrett Shaw, ed., The Ragged Edge: The Disability Experience from the Pages of the First Fifteen Years of the Disability Rag (Louisville, KY: Avocado Press, 1994), xii.
Palermo, Missing Stars, Fallen Sparrows, 52.
Hans Reinders, Receiving the Gift of Friendship: Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology, and Ethics (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 40.
Stanley Hauerwas, Suffering Presence; Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986), 182.
Nancy L. Eiesland, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1994), 20.
Erik W. Carter, Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities: A Guide for Service Providers, Families, and Congregations (Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes, 2007), 2.
Deborah Creamer, “Finding God in Our Bodies: Theology from the Perspective of People with Disabilities, Part I,” Journal of Religion in Disability and Rehabilitation 2, no. 1 (1995): 34.
Phil C. Zylla, “Practices of Acceptance, Understanding and Reciprocity: Caring for Children with Disabilities and their Families,” Pastoral Psychology 65 (2016): 708.
John Donvan and Caren Zucker, “We Love Autistic Children—Until They Grow Up,” AZCentral, February 19, 2016, accessed July 25, 2019, https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2016/02/19/autism-adults/80528874/.
George G. Hunter, Radical Outreach (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2003), 25-26.
Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2007), 37-38.
Stetzer and Dodson, Comeback Churches, 69.
Stetzer and Dodson, Comeback Churches, 70.
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