“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” James 2:1
I am a special needs pastor with special needs.
I have spent the last two years cultivating relationships with churches to show them the value of disability ministry and how to do it. Churches have been frustratingly less than favorable as I discuss God’s calling on my life to ask if they would be interested in learning more.
Without an statistical model, let me give you an educated guess on the different responses I get:
About 5% of responders are offended that this kind of ministry exists.
About 10% say, “Let us pray through this and get back to you.”
About 20% say, “We do not have the volunteers.”
About 20% respond, “We do not want to make our members uncomfortable.”
About 40% say, “We do not stop them from coming. If they wanted to be here, they would.”
Maybe—and I stress, maybe—5% of churches I have contacted take some step toward special-needs ministry.
Photo by Cosmic Timetraveler on Unsplash
I praise God for that 5% who are taking steps!
They are beginning to talk openly and positively about disability from the pulpit. They utilize buddy bags. They interact with special-needs people and their families to learn more about them. And some of them are even beginning outreaches to this community. Praise the Lord for the 5% and each tiny step they take!
Now to the other 95%, as we look forward to a new year, I feel called to admonish you in love.
I see you working with people, loving people, and celebrating people. I truly am thankful for your love of God. I love the Church. Please hear me—I love Christ’s Church. But families like mine are not coming to church. Even more heartbreaking, churches are not making a place for them. We must fix this, but to do that, we need to know why.
James 2 introduces the sin of partiality. In this scripture, being partial to people of higher income is highlighted. We do not give rich people better seats because they have money. We welcome everyone equally.
However, that is not the only way we lean toward being partial.
We are partial to the comfortable, the easy, the same, and the safe. It is for this reason that I interact better with neurodivergent people than I do with neurotypical folks. And this is one of the main reasons why the church does not seek the disabled community when they go to make disciples.
We want to be comfortable in church. And so we exclude those who are uncomfortable. This is a sin we are all guilty of from time to time. What terrifies me as I speak to churches in our area, the sin of partiality has become a culture. A culture that has become so deeply ingrained, that I will literally cry after talking to churches about what I do because they are so deeply uninterested.
So how do we address this? By reframing our thinking.
Here is a letter to each group.
Group number one, the first 5%,
You are the hardest for me. I would be lying if I told you that, as a person with multiple disabilities, it does not hurt me when you become angry that this is necessary. It hurts when you say that we should just “believe and be healed”. It hurts when you tell me my life “is made less by my disability.”
I ask you, Church, do you realize that the disabled people group is one of the only subsets of society that anyone can join at any time? The only thing stopping you from being disabled is one event. And maybe God is protecting you from that happening, but that does not mean He loves those who are affected any less. I challenge you to consider the Scriptures and how God lifted those with disabilities to importance. And I remind you what God reminds me all the time “When I am weak, then I am strong. Because He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world.”
Jacob’s God-given disability humbled him enough to seek God. Paul’s thorn in the flesh increased his dependence on God. Disability can, and often is, a gift that brings us closer to God.
I love you, Church. I am praying for you.
To the 10% group,
I recognize that you need to pray about how to reach those with disabilities. I also caution you that you do not need to pray about whether or not to reach those with disabilities. The mandate is clear: to go, therefore, and make disciples of all people.
I love you, Church. I am praying for you.
To the first 20%,
I understand this feeling all too well. And when I feel like this, God takes me to scripture. The harvest is great, but the workers are few, so pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers. -Luke 10:2
This can be applied to every area of ministry. Fervently pray.
I love you, Church. I am praying for you.
To the next 20%,
I understand. You want the church to be a safe place, a happy place, a comfortable place. And in so many ways it should be, but in so many other ways, it should not. The Church is meant to stretch and grow us.
God has never placed the comfort of His people over the growth of His people.
Our brothers and sisters with disabilities will—absolutely will—grow your congregation. Not only in numbers, but in grace, in acceptance of the gifts of the Spirit, and in faith.
Let's, value growth over comfort. Let's value souls over sameness.
I love you, Church, and I am praying for you.
To the 40%, Church,
May our mark of a welcoming church never be “We do not stop them from coming.” I recognize it is a very “American church” view. We have fancy buildings and nice signs. We believe that the people who want God will come. But this is not true. They will not come.
In fact, people are leaving churches in droves because "the church" is not being The Church. We are not doing what God designed us to do. We are called to go, therefore, and make disciples—because God so loved the world.
And right now, so many churches are seeking a few, permitting some, but not unabashedly speaking and sharing the gospel, ensuring its access to everyone.
People who naturally default to comfort will not come somewhere they ascertain they will not be wanted or comfortable. Celebrate your brothers and sisters with disabilities and their loved ones; then they will come. Just like we must do with so many others who have been relegated to the sidelines as lesser. May The Church never treat anyone like they are Untouchables.
We have been partial toward what is easy and comfortable. Because of this, we have missed a mission field in our backyard.
I love you, Church, and I am praying for you.
To the individual reading this,
If your church is not willing to start a special-needs ministry, that is okay. You can. You are The Church, not the building. You can become accessible to people with disabilities. And if enough individuals do, The Church will too.
I love you, and I am praying for you.
To the combined Church,
I ask you to be open to conversation. To be willing to learn from the calling God has placed on my life and the lives of those like me.
In the words of Disney’s Pocahontas, “When you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you learn things you never knew you never knew.”
I love you, Church, and I am praying for you.
God bless you, sweet, beautiful Church of God, as you do this great mission and seek His view on all people.
Joanna French is the special needs pastor at Flint Hills Church, Junction City, KS. Joanna and her husband Jairmie have two boys with autism. In 2017, Joanna started Flint Hills Embrace, with the goal to make Flint Hills Church a place where everyone belongs. Why? Because we all have a place in God's plan.
