MISSING MISSION?: THE MISSIONAL POSSIBILITIES OF SPECIAL NEEDS MINISTRY

Greg BaughmanWM310-God’s World Mission

December 15, 2013

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Ministry to persons with disability1 can be difficult.

Special needs ministries will rarely be successful from a

financial or social perspective.2 They are complex as questions

such as how we should define disability and how (or if) we should

hold together “such diverse human experiences as autism,

schizophrenia, paraplegia, Alzheimer’s, attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis and

Down’s syndrome”? 3 In spite of these complexities and

challenges, it is my contention that special needs4 ministry not

only should be embraced as an aspect of the church’s mission, but

that there are untapped missiological benefits in doing so.

MISSION, THE BIBLE, AND DISABILITY

1 In this paper, I will follow Nancy L. Eiesland in using the terminology“person/persons/people with disability.” See Nancy L. Eiesland, The DisabledGod: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 25-29.2 Michael S. Beates, Disability and the Gospel: How God Uses Our Brokenness to Display HisGrace (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 136.3 John Swinton, “From Inclusion to Belonging: A Practical Theology ofCommunity, Disability and Humanness,” Journal of Religion, Disability & Health 16, no. 2(May 2012): 173.4 For the purposes of this paper, the definition of “disability” and “specialneeds” will follow the definition as found in the Americans with DisabilitiesAct, namely “The term ‘disability’ means, with respect to an individual (A) aphysical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major lifeactivities of such individual; (B) a record of such an impairment; or (C)being regarded as having such an impairment (as described in paragraph (3)).”Americans with Disabilities Act, ada.gov,http://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm#12102 (Accessed December 14, 2013).To be sure, this is not a definition which has not been criticized. See e.g.Eiesland and Swinton.

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David Bosch defines mission as “the proclamation and

manifestation of Jesus’ all-embracing reign, which is not yet

recognized and acknowledged by all but is nevertheless already a

reality.”5 This mission is at the heart of the Scriptures.

Richard Bauckham argues that we must “read the Bible in a way

that takes seriously its missionary direction.”6 Anthony

Hoekema, in speaking of the time between Christ’s ascension and

return, asserts that the “characteristic activity of the present

age is missions.”7 Indeed, the center of the Bible is a historic

rescue. “As the Israelites did at Passover, so Christians can

look back to the cross as God’s historic rescue mission and look

forward to final redemption of ourselves and all creation.”8

This mission is not merely proclamation, nor is a Christian

one who only believes that Jesus is Lord while their life does

not change. The Bible is clear that our faith must be worked out

in practice.9 This has been held by Christians from the early5 David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, Twentiethed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011), 27.6 Richard Bauckham, Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World. (GrandRapids: Baker Book House Company, 2003), 11.7 Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. EerdmansPublishing Company, 1994), 33.8 Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God's People: a Biblical Theology of the Church'sMission (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 103.9 See e.g. James 2:18-26

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days of the church. “The early church ‘practice(d) love and

service to all’ sick, widow, orphan, poor, slaves. This was a

‘social gospel’ in the very best sense of the word and was

practiced not as a stratagem to lure outsiders to the church but

simply as a natural expression of faith in Christ.”10

This marriage of faith and practice should inform the

church’s attitude toward person with disability. In the early

church, many pagans would leave sick and ill infants exposed so

that they would die. The church, though, practicing their faith,

rescued these infants.11 The Letter to Diognetus gives us insight

into those early days in the church:

Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country,language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own,nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice aneccentric way of life…They live in their own countries, but only asnonresidents…(they) have children, but they do not expose theiroffspring…They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven…”12

Our faith cannot be divorced from our practice.

We are called to not only believe, but to live as those who

believe. Part of living faithfully is upholding the Biblical

10 Bosch, 49.11 Brian Brock and John Swinton, eds., Disability in the Christian Tradition: aReader (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 27.12 Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd rev. ed.(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 702-703.

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view of persons with disability.

As we consider how our faith should be worked out in

practice among persons with disability, it is important to

briefly observe what the Scriptures teach us about disability.

There is not room here to engage a full Biblical or Systematic

theology of disability, but there are key points we must keep in

mind.13

When seeking to understand disability in light of the Bible,

we must begin in Genesis. It is here that we learn that we are

creatures created by God. We were made in His image and as His

image bearers; we represent God in the world.14 We bear this

image as we function as mediators between God and creation.15

This is true of every human person. We are valuable because God

created us. Indeed, “there was no part of man, not even the body

itself, in which some sparks [of God’s image] did not glow.”16

The Bible is clear, however, that humanity rebelled against

13 For a fuller treatment from an evangelical and Presbyterian perspective,see Beates, 25-82 for Biblical theology and Stephanie O. Hubach, Same Lake,Different Boat: Coming Alongside People Touched by Disability (Phillipsburg: P & RPublishing, 2006), 21-76 for a more theological and philosophical approach.14 C. John Collins, Genesis 1-4: a Linguistic, Literary, and TheologicalCommentary (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2006), 61-67.15 Michael D. Williams, Far as the Curse Is Found: the Covenant Story ofRedemption (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2005), 60.16 Calvin, 188.

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God. Because of our rebellion against God every aspect of

creation is affected. As Hubach says, “Our world became an

abnoramal world. For the first time in human experience,

brokenness and difficulty were introduced. This marring of

creation permeated not only the spiritual, but also the physical,

the intellectual, the emotional, the psychological, and the

social.”17 We are now, as Calvin says, a “sad ruin.”18

The fall affected all of us, but not in the same way. In

much of the history of Christian thought, theologians have seen

the intellect as an aspect of the image of God in man.19 The

question is thus asked if this means that people with

intellectual disabilities are more fallen and bear God’s image

less fruitfully than those whose intellect is not affected in the

clinical sense. Of course not. We must assert that intellect is

affected by the fall, but while we are quick to notice this when

it comes to those who have intellectual disabilities but we must

acknowledge that the fall affects the intellect of those who do

17 Hubach, 28.18 John Calvin,  Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1. (Philadelphia: Westminster,1960), 183.19 See e.g. John Calvin, Calvin's Commentaries, 500th anniversary ed. (Grand Rapids:Baker Books, 2009), 1: 94-95. (n.b. for Calvin, the image is not limited tointellect, but does include it)

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not have any sort of clinically recognizable disability. The form

of brokenness in those with an intellectual disability is more

visible,20 yet any society that can be intellectually supportive

of abortion is sufficient proof of the fact that even an able-

bodied person’s intellect is affected by the fall. What we see

in persons with disability is not a more severe effect of the

fall, a more severe brokenness, but a more visible effect of our

rebellion and sin. Thus, we must at the same time recognize that

all humanity bears God’s image and thus has worth while

simultaneously holding that all humanity fell with Adam and is

need of redemption, disabled or not.

Often, when we think of persons of disability, we think of

weakness. While some of these preconceptions need to be

challenged, we must affirm that weakness is not bad in and of

itself. Indeed, God’s mission is accomplished through weakness.

It was in Jesus brokenness in his state of humiliation that

redemption came to the world. “This is the real scandal of

particularity—not just that God’s universal purpose pivots on one

particular human being…, but, much worse, that God’s universal

20 Hubach, 29.

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purpose pivots on this particular human being, the crucified

one.”21

As we move through the Bible’s story, we see that God, far

from ignoring and rejecting persons with disability, cares for

and affirms them. In the prophets we look forward to the coming

day of the Lord, when all that is broken is renewed. In Micah

4:6-7, God promises to gather the lame and wounded and to make

them his people, his remnant, and rule over them.22 In Messiah’s

coming, the last day has come, and, in Jesus, this new day has

dawned. Indeed, when John the Baptists servants ask if Jesus is

the one whom the prophets foretold, he tells them “Go and tell

John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight,

the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead

are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”23

Jesus’ healings of physical disability in the pages of the

Gospels are “a picture of the renewal that is to come in the new

creation…Jesus’ miracles provide pictures of the renewal that is

to come to creation and humanity. In them God gives a foretaste

21 Bauckham, 52.22 Beates, 41. See also Zephaniah 3:19-20.23 Jesus here quotes Isaiah 29:18; 35:5-6.

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of the future now.”24

The church, as part of God’s kingdom, must become servants of

her Lord and must take part in embracing this eschatological

hope. Just as the Spirit worked through the fellowship25 of the

church in Acts to remove the curse and make the dry ground

fertile through the sharing of material prosperity,26 so must the

church today work to alleviate the effects of sin in our world

today. In the context of persons with disability that means

affirming the imago Dei, creating a caring community, and working

to ensure that the financial, physical, social, and other

difficulties that our disabled brothers and sisters experience

are combated. We must embrace them (and allow them to embrace

us) so that we can all flourish in union with Christ as citizens

of His kingdom.

Our hope is ultimately eschatological. While we must serve

our Lord in faithful practice and fight against sin and the

effects of the fall, the cry of the church remains “come, Lord

Jesus!” Our participation in Christ final victory is in the24 Dan C. Barber and Robert A. Peterson, Life Everlasting: the Unfolding Story ofHeaven (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2012), 30-31.25 κοινωνια26 Dennis E. Johnson, The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption (Phillipsburg: P &R Publishing, 1997), 79.

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resurrection. We do not know what our resurrection bodies will

be like, but we do know that they will be both continuity and

difference with our bodies now.27 We look forward to the hope of

resurrection as we struggle with sin and brokenness in our

lives.28

The church’s mission is faith and practice, evangelization

and care, body and spirit. God’s mission does not avoid persons

with disability, but embraces them. The church must follow her

Lord and be instruments of restored humanity, participating in

resurrection life through our union with our Lord.

ASSESSING THE CHURCH’S PRACTICE

The question we must ask is “are we engaged in special needs

ministry? As medical advances continue to multiply, our church

and society engages more persons with disability who live longer

than at any other stage in history.29 In considering this

situation, Beates says, “I began to realize by simple observation

that people with disabilities are almost universally absent from

27 Barber, 41-42. 28 n.b. We must be careful in using the able-bodied as the model for theresurrection bodies of persons with disabilities. To be sure, it is Christ’sresurrection body which is our best model, a body that was able to eat and betouched, but that could also appear and disappear and pass through walls!29 Beates, 17.

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the congregations of most American churches.”30 The 2010 census

showed that some 18.7% of Americans have some form of disability,

while 12.6% of our population have a “severe disability.”31 We

may ask, are persons with a disability making up 12% of our

congregations? Ten percent? Five?

Our own denomination seems to be lacking in this area as

well. While the statistics we have are self-reported, and while

some of the terms are ambiguous, 32 the statistics we do have seem

to show that this is an area in which our denomination has much

room to grow. Of the 1,778 churches in the Presbyterian Church

in America (PCA), 59 (or 3.3%) self-report that they have some

form of disability ministry. There are nine paid leaders of

disability ministries in our denomination. There are two

teaching elders who identify as having a disability, and fifteen

30 Beates, 17.31 United States Census Bureau, census.gov, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/cspan/disability/20120726_cspan_disability_slides_5.pdf (Accessed December 14, 2013). The definition of disability from theSocial Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §423(d)(1) is as follows: “As a demographiccategory, disability is an attribute with which individuals may broadlyidentify, similar to race or gender. In contrast, certain federal programsnarrowly define disability as the impairment or limitation that leads to theneed for the program’s benefit—such as the Social Security DisabilityInsurance program’s income support for individuals who are not able “to engagein any substantial gainful activity.” (The severity of the disability is basedon answers to questions regarding the ability to perform certain task andfollow-up questions given based on the participant’s responses).32 such as what comprises a “special needs ministry”

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teaching elders who report having a family member with a

disability.33 This leads us to conclude that persons with

disability are severely underrepresented in our church. 34

The PCA is not alone in the extent of her disability

ministry. Eiesland asserts that churches seem to have made

little effort to include persons with disability in the church.35

Beates postulates that:

The absence of people with disabilities in the church indicates that thechurch has not yet grasped deeply enough the essence of the gospel; andconversely, God’s people have drunk too deeply from the well of culturalideology with regard to wholeness and brokenness. If people withdisabilities are not welcomed by the church, much less aggressivelypursued by the church, it may be because, like the world around us, wewould rather think we are on the way to recovery, that we are strong inChrist and healthy. We would rather not be bothered by the care thatthose who live with brokenness require. We don’t wish to be reminded bytheir very presence how much like them we really are.36

Rather than acting as the place and institution wherein persons

with disability are able to flourish as members, the church has

rather been for them “a ‘city on a hill’—physically inaccessible

33 Joel Wallace, e-mail message to author, September 30, 2013.34 The picture for the PCA is not entirely bleak. In 2007, the denominationlaunched Mission to North America’s (MNA) Special Needs Ministries. Thisgroup, with two staff members and eight volunteer facilitators, works with PCAcongregations to lend denominational support in the area of special needs.The stated purpose of MNA Special Needs Ministries is “Making the gospel—thegood news of the coming of the kingdom—accessible to all, in word and deed.”(http://pcamna.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/MNA-SNM-Who-What-Why.pdf)35 Eiesland, 20.36 Beates, 79.

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and socially inhospitable.”37

But this is not the way that things should work. Bocsh

notes that “People are…never isolated individuals. They are

social beings, who can never be severed from the network of

relationships in which they exist.”38 This is true of all of us,

for those who are able-bodied as well as persons with disability,

and yet, we often segregate and marginalize persons with

disability, often unintentionally. Because of this, we must be

engaged in contextualization. Our faith is concrete, but it is

“always an expression of the transcendent and universal God

working in specific contexts.”39 Persons with disability are a

people group whose context is rarely engaged by the church, but

the powerful presence of God in His mission can be profoundly

experienced in special needs ministry.

It is not, of course, only persons with disability who do

not attend our churches when we do not actively try to

accommodate those with disabilities. Many persons with

disability are young or require a caretaker. When we fail to

37 Eiesland, 20.38 Bosch, 427.39 J. Nelson Jennings, God the Real Superpower: Rethinking Our Role inMissions (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2007), 135.

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make room for those under their care, the caretaker or family of

the disabled family member may find attending church impossible.

Many families are not able to come because there is no way for

their children to come. Beates quotes a survey respondent on

this issue who says, “Most of the families [with disabilities]

are not coming, because life is just too hard…and we are not

reaching them because we do not yet see.”40

POSSIBILITIES AND PROPOSALS

We have seen that we should be involved in disability

ministry and are not doing so effectively. There are many

reasons for this. For instance, special needs ministry is

complex and can be expensive. Yet our failure to engage in this

particular form of ministry causes the church to miss out on many

missiological benefits. Special needs ministry is uniquely

beneficial theologically, culturally, and evangelically.

Special needs ministry is effective in helping us to be

aware of some theological blind spots. As we saw earlier,

disability is part of living in a fallen world. There is a

tendency among some to see this as a dangerous idea. Some say

40 Beates, 151.

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that seeing physical disability as a part of the fall is to see

the person with disability as somehow inferior, perhaps

spiritually, to the able-bodied person. Eiesland is one such

example. As a theologian with a disability, she says that

“Injustice against persons with disabilities is surely sin; our

bodies, however, are not artifacts of sin, original or otherwise.

Our bodies participate in the imago Dei, not in spite of our

impairments and contingencies, but through them.”41

While I fully agree that we must avoid those things Eiesland

warns against, I think it is dangerous to neglect the effects of

the fall, even on our bodies. This fallenness, though, leads us

to one of the wonderful and surprising benefits of special needs

ministry. It reminds us that we are connected to each other and

need each other. From personal experience as a parent, I know

that caring for and loving people with disabilities can be

difficult, and this difficulty is due to the fact that this world

does not function as it was created to function. This does not

mean my son is more evil or more sinful, or even more profoundly

affected by the fall. As Hubach says, “we are essentially the

41 Eiesland, 101.

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same but experientially different.”42 To deny the effects of the

fall is to fail to realize that we need each other.

This is not a one way street. To say that the able-bodied

is the one who “helps” the other may sound patronizing, but for

persons with disability to deny others the opportunity to help is

equally a failure to live as a body. The church, when rightly

functioning, lives as a body where we not only help, but seek and

expect help.

We all need each other. I need my brothers and sisters with

disability as much as (and often more than) they need me. We

need each other, and we must willingly proclaim that we are

needy. Nancy Mairs puts a fine point on this when she says, “All

I can say is that, in learning to give whenever I can and receive

care whenever I must, I’ve grown more attentive to the personal

dimension of the works of mercy.”43 When disability, physical

and otherwise, is in our midst, it is hard to forget this.

This is one of the theological benefits of special needs

ministry. It reminds us, because it is a “more visible form of

brokenness,” that we need redemption. But persons with

42 Hubach, 37.43 Eiesland, 45.

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disability do not just remind us of what we lack due to the fall

and what we hope for in the resurrection, they remind us of who

we are. Persons with disability are profoundly aware of their

embodied-ness. They do not take their physical embodiment for

granted, but are always cognizant of it.44 This recognition is a

constant and much needed reminder that we are embodied. Having a

special needs ministry helps the church to confront and overcome

the Platonic dualism that is ubiquitous in too many churches.

Not only does special needs ministry remind us that we are

embodied, it also has the potential to further the fellowship we

share in Christ. God equips his people in many ways. Not all

Christians are called to focus on all aspects of God’s mission.

We are gifted differently and must work together.45 Not every

person, or even every church, is equipped to minister to people

with disabilities. Thus, we must work together. We must remember

that the mission is God’s mission (mission Dei) and because “God

alone is the Superpower in carrying out his world mission…[we] should

temper and shape our instincts about our missions efforts—

44 Eiesland, 43.45 Jennings, 38.

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especially including our instincts as American evangelicals.”46

Bosch says that “words interpret deeds and deeds validate

words.”47 We must seek to let our praxis match our theology.

Yet, this is much too much for anyone person, or even church to

accomplish. We will more effectively be able to accomplish

special needs ministry when we work in networks, local

initiatives, specialized networks, and global networks.48 In our

context, that means working not just as a local church, but

working intra-presbytery and inter-denominationally. Because

special needs ministry requires a diversity of skills and

potentially significant financial resources, churches who take

this aspect of ministry seriously will necessarily work with

other churches.

Not only does special needs ministry help us theologicaly,

it is also a powerful cultural tool. The church’s counter-

cultural message is important in a society in which abortion is

so prevelant. “[The secularists] do not ask whether it is

possible to believe that concern for minorities, for the poor,

46 Jennings, 136.47 Bosch, 430.48 Jennings, 153.

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for the disabled is important if the fact is that human life is

the result of the success of the strong in eliminating the

weak.”49 The church, though, has a different message and our

practice must match this.

Many churches actively support pro-life campaigns. Our

practice must match this message. How many churches that support

pro-life campaigns seek to provide support and care for

individuals and families who suffer most from the terrors of

abortion? The abortion rate for a prenatal diagnosis of Downs

Syndrome in the United States is above 90%.50 As Beates asserts,

“We should expect a growing cultural divide in this area, as the

naturalistic worldview says we are merely highly developed

animals. Those who cannot contribute, or who do not show an

ability to control their circumstances in some arbitrarily

meaningful way, should be denied care and even eventually

life.”51 While we can (and should!) challenge the secularist

notion of what it means to “contribute” we must concurrently make49 Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989), 17.50 David W. Britt, Samantha T. Risinger, Virginia Miller, Mary K. Mans, EricL. Krivchenia, and Mark I. Evans, “Determinants of Parental Decisions afterthe Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome: Bringing in Context,” American Journal ofMedical Genetics 93, no. 5 (August 2000): 410-416.51 Beates, 111.

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every effort to support and care for, in highly visible ways,

families affected by disability. Not until abortion becomes the

least desirable option will this trend change. The church,

through offering love, support, care, and community can go a long

way toward making abortion much less desirable.52

These commitments extend to the end of life as well. Some

hold that, at some point, people become a drain on society and

their care is futile. But:

From a Christian perspective, of course, ‘futile care’ is an oxymoron.Care is never futile. Rather, it is an eminently human response and toa crucial degree defines our own humanity. Historic Christian faith,responsible for the advent of hospitals, has always held that theappropriate, godly, and Christian response to suffering, injury, anddeprivation, is to care. Right up to the final seconds of a person’slife, care displays God’s love through the human touch, the human voiceto one in need.53

Our mission must mirror the mission of our Lord. Jesus

mission was inclusive of all people, rich, poor, oppressed,

oppressor, sinners, and devote.54 Our culture does not see the

world in this way. Our culture tries to hide any imperfection,

including disability.55 We must treat persons with disabilities

as persons. Scazzero, expanding on the ideas of Martin Buber,52 See http://noahsdad.com/ for an example of trying to give hope to those whoreceive a prenatal Down Syndrome diagnosis53 Beates, 112.54 Bosch, 2855 Beates, 71.

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expresses the need for “I-Thou” relationships. “In such a

relationship” he says, “I recognize that I am made in the image

of God and so is every other person on the face of the earth.

This makes them a ‘Thou’ to me. Because of that reality, every

person deserves respect—that is, I treat them with dignity and

worth. I do not dehumanize or objectify them. I affirm them as

having a unique and separate existence apart from me.”56

Special needs ministry not only challenges the evils of our

society, but it can be a tool to mend cultural and social

divides. Disability affects people of every race, culture,

socio-economic standing, education level, language, and nation.

Disability does affect the poor of society more frequently than

the wealthy,57 but there is no amount of money, power, or

prestige which makes one immune to disability. It is therefore

the case that if our churches engage seriously in ministering to

disabled families, many of the societal barriers that separate

56 Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life in Christ,(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 181.57 Eiesland notes that among whites, disability affects about 12.8% of thepopulation, 16.3% of African Americans. These statistics double for familiesmaking less than $20,000 per annum, and for those who live in rural areas, therate is between 26 and 33%. “Thus the likelihood of becoming disabled in oursociety is closely related to other experiences of social marginalization”(64-65).

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the body of Christ will melt away.

Special needs ministry challenges our theological

conceptions and is a powerful cultural tool. Finally, special

needs ministry enhances our witness in the world. To be sure,

mission is wider than evangelism, but it is “impossible to

dissociate it from the church’s wider mission…Evangelism is

integral to mission.”58 If, as was shown above, persons with

disability make up a small percentage of our congregation

compared to the numbers in society, this is a vast field ready

for the harvest. While this is a complex issue,59 we must spread

the good news of the coming of the Kingdom to all. When we take

into account the caretakers and other members of their families,

there are a great many people in our own neighborhoods who need

to hear the Gospel but cannot because they are unable to come to

our churches. In many ways, people and families of people with

58 Bosch, 422.59 How, for instance, does a person with an intellectual disability professfaith in Christ? Leonard VanderZee may give the beginning of an answer(though speaking to a different context) when he says, “[Hippolytus] calls itan ‘unquestioned rule’ that ‘first, you should baptize little ones. All whocan speak for themselves should speak, but for those who cannot speak, theirparents should speak, or another who belongs to their family.” In LeonardVander Zee, Christ, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper: Recovering the Sacraments for EvangelicalWorship (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2004), 127. See also Ronald C.Vredeveld, Expressing Faith in Jesus: Church Membership for People with Intellectual Disabilities.Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Friendship Ministries, 1991.

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disabilities are an unreached people group60 who live next door.

The church is the only society in the world which exists for

the sake of those who are not members of I,61 yet we often reach

out to a select few. We do not seek the poor and oppressed as

often as we should, but “the church needs to be the place where

all people, no matter their situation, can come to find help,

mercy, grace, and hope.”62

Persons with disability are not only people who receive our

witness. Instead, persons with disability in our churches become

an integral part of sharing that witness. Wright expresses a

similar idea in his exegesis of Deuteronomy 4:5-8. He shows that

Israel was to serve a stage on which the world would see that

God’s people are different from the world.63 One of the most

effective ways to do this is through a ministry to the disabled.

In our society that values perfection and strength, a

community that embraces those who are marginalized in society,

60 Stephanie Hubach, “Disability Ministry,” (Lecture, Covenant TheologicalSeminary, St. Louis, MO, April 5, 2013).61 Bosch, 384 quoting Archbishop William Temple from Neill 1968:7662 Beates, 128. To do this, we must begin with people with disabilitiesthemselves. We must not begin just by asking what we can do to serve them, asif we are in a position to look down on persons with disability, or are insome way superior, rather, we must ask how persons with disability can serveus and contribute in unique and creative ways. (See Eiesland, 23). 63 Wright, 129.

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those who seem to be unable to contribute, will stand out. The

church, when ministering to people with disability effectively

does not just include them. Instead, they are members who

belong, who are missed when they are absent.64 Such a community

will loudly proclaim that the church is a different kind of

institution and that our God is unique. Indeed, “The world may

hear our countercultural proclamation of the gospel, but how much

more powerful it would be were they to see it being demonstrated

in churches that fulfill Luke 14 mandate by bringing in the

blind, the lame, the deaf, the leper, and any other culturally

disenfranchised and rejected, broken people.”65

CONCLUSION

Special needs ministry is something in which we are to be

engaged and which will benefit the church. All of this, though,

must be done not merely for the potential benefit, but as

faithful servants of our Lord. Our mission is Christocentric.

As Bosch says, “Christians find their identity in the cross of

Christ…they find their relevance in the hope for the reign of the

Crucified One by taking their stand resolutely with those who

64 Swinton, 183.65 Beates, 82.

Baughman, 26

suffer and are oppressed and by mediating hope for liberation and

salvation to them.”66

When Sarah’s67 face lights up as she recognizes me, when I

see Bill worshiping in his wheel chair, when Thomas

enthusiastically (though a bit forcefully) tries to pat my son,

his friend, on the head, when Christine, a mom whose child has

profound disabilities, says that she comes to church every week

completely broken and looking to God’s grace, then all of this

theoretical discussion of the benefits disability ministry

becomes tangible and real. The benefits of special needs

ministry, like all ministry, are felt as God works in His people

by the power of the Spirit. As we are more fully and faithfully

involved with persons with disability, we will realize that they

“are far more like us than they are unlike us. In fact, they are

us!”68 They are, like us, people who need a community which

proclaims, in word and deed, God’s love and grace.

66 Bosch, 437.67 The names of these individuals have been changed.68 Beates, 132.

Baughman, 27

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