I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, and my family attended First Baptist Church every week. It may sound like a common story, but the reason my family continued to attend church was because I had a younger sister, Syble, who has Down Syndrome. A 2013 study found that families with members of a disability are less likely to attend church than families in general. And when these families did attend church, more than two-thirds reported negative experiences.
Thankfully, my experiences growing up in church with a sibling with a disability were mostly positive. Sible attended mainstream children’s ministry classes with helpers who made sure she was safe and included. When she transitioned to youth group, our church created classes for her and other teens with disabilities tailored to their spiritual and social development. Sible always had options, so our whole family attended regularly.
Fast forward to 2010, the year our son James was diagnosed with autism. After his diagnosis, we looked around our rural church and realized that there were no families with special needs there. If the church hadn’t taken steps toward inclusion, an inclusive church (something I took for granted as a child and teen) would not have been a reality for my son.
Again, God’s people took action. Our leaders found allies in our Sunday School class to support James. They purchased sensory toys (such as an indoor trampoline) to address his extrasensory quest. Before long, other children with disabilities were attending church, and the church reached out to parents with special needs, offering Rest Nights and fully inclusive Vacation Bible School.
Churches like this are becoming increasingly rare. I have never been more optimistic about evangelical work with disabilities. Here are four reasons why.
1. Church leaders see a need and want to accommodate children and teens with disabilities.
Megachurches often design ministry programs and facilities specifically for children with disabilities, but research has found that people with disabilities who don’t need the level of support these self-contained ministries provide often struggle to attend church.
Many children with diagnoses such as autism, anxiety, or ADHD are not placed in special education classes in public schools. However, they are given support so they can thrive in regular classrooms. When these children come to church, that support is not readily available. As a result, they may struggle to succeed in a regular children’s or youth ministry environment.
Through my work with the Southern Baptist Convention of Texas (SBTC), I help churches across the state learn to welcome such families. Conversations with church leaders often begin like this: “We have children in our church who have special needs, and we would like to support them more, but we don’t know what to do.” I have seen this situation many times in churches. Most of the time, when special needs families have a hard time connecting with the church, it’s because church leaders don’t know how to support children with disabilities, not because they don’t want to welcome them into their churches.
Research supports my personal observations: Parents and pastoral leaders alike acknowledge that while their churches want to welcome children with disabilities, they need more training in how to accommodate them. By God’s grace, the desire is there, and thankfully, the training is becoming more readily available.
2. Universities and seminaries are offering more classes (and even degrees) on the theology and ministry of people with disabilities.
Both parents and church leaders acknowledge that the church needs more education and training in ministering to people with disabilities.
According to the 2000 census, one in five U.S. households has a family member with a disability. Yet, Bible college and seminary leaders surveyed in a 2014 study believe that their graduates are “unprepared (3.4%) or only marginally (70.7%) to answer spiritual and theological questions that arise from the human experience related to disability.” This lack of training impacts pastors’ pastoral care, guidance, and ability to address the needs of families in various pastoral settings.
To address this shortcoming, some evangelical institutions have innovated. This fall, Liberty University (where I teach online) will add a minor in disability services to its undergraduate options. Other schools, such as Wheaton College and Moody Bible Institute, offer similar opportunities, and I hope to see such programs expand in the future.
3. Denominational groups and non-church organizations provide more resources and support.
Not only are Bible schools expanding training. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has a strong denominational disability ministry that provides discipleship resources and guidance to churches that want to accommodate people with disabilities. In the Southern Baptist Church, state conventions such as the Maryland/Delaware Baptist Convention and my SBTC provide church counseling, educational resources, and even financial grants to churches that want to expand their disability ministries. In addition, organizations outside the church, such as Joni and Friends and Guidelight, provide counseling and resources to help churches start and expand disability ministries.
4. Jesus loved people with disabilities and set an example of inclusion.
My greatest hope for the future of disability ministry is not the expansion of our work, my confidence lies in the love of Jesus.
My greatest hope for the future of disability service is not expansion. My confidence lies in the love of Jesus.
There is an often overlooked passage near the end of Jesus’ life in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 21, Jesus drove the money changers and those who sold and bought out of the temple. As a result, “the blind and the lame came into the temple, and Jesus healed them” (verse 14). Under the Levitical law, people with disabilities were considered unclean. They could only enter the market parts of the temple grounds. When Jesus cleansed the temple, He removed the barriers that blocked the way for people with disabilities. He made a way for people with disabilities to approach Him.
Because Jesus paved the way for us, the church today can follow His example. We can look for barriers that may be preventing families from coming to church and work to remove them. With more training and growth in denominational and outside church support for ministry leaders, families like mine will have more opportunities to hear and experience the good news of Jesus.