“Strength in Numbers” is a slogan that not only helped create a winning culture for an NBA team, but it also echoes the message from Scripture in Ecclesiastes 4 where a “cord of three strands is not easily broken.” In this week’s episode, Garett Wall examines how strength in numbers and the cord of three can serve as the foundation for helping your church build a pathway to belonging for adults with disabilities.
Listen now in your favorite podcast app!
Quick Links:
Erik Carter Message at Disability and the Church 2023
Erik Carter Presentation at Calvin College in 2019
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like:
048: God’s Plan for My Family and Lifelong Ministry for the Disability Community with Garett Wall
041: Reimagine with Beth Golik
040: A Message for Children's Ministers on Inclusion with Sandra Peoples
Transcript:
Hey everyone! Thanks for joining us for Key Ministry: The Podcast. I’m your co-host Garett Wall and I’m excited to be back with you this week as we continue exploring how our churches can become more equipped for lifelong family ministry for the disability community. This week, we’re going to look at what it means to have strength in numbers, why a cord of three isn’t easily broken and how all of that can help you and your church build a pathway to belonging for adults with disabilities.
As we begin, I’d like to take us on a little stroll into the world of basketball. If you’re not a basketball fan or a fan of any sports, just stay with me for a moment and I promise this won’t become a sports podcast. Join me as we travel in our DeLorean time machine back to May of 2014 when the NBA’s Golden State Warriors had just completed their 39th consecutive season without winning an NBA Championship. With a talented nucleus of players like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala, the Warriors had just made back-to-back playoff appearances the previous two seasons but the senior leadership for the franchise believed the ceiling was even higher for the team. Having earned just one playoff series win in those two seasons, the front office decided to make a head coaching change where they replaced Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr. Kerr had earned a reputation as a winner and a team guy during his playing career where he won five NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls playing alongside Michael Jordan. After his playing career, Kerr worked for a time in television as a broadcast analyst with TNT and he later moved into a front-office role as an executive with the Phoenix Suns before eventually accepting the offer to become the head coach of the Golden State Warriors in 2014.
During that first season leading the Warriors, Kerr brought with him a team slogan that he hoped would help communicate the culture and the foundation he wanted to build on for success. That slogan was “Strength in Numbers”, and it centered on the idea of every player on the team working together as one unit to become as strong as possible. Knowing that it was a team game with five players on the court at one time, Kerr wanted to create a culture of unity and collaboration so that the group could become as successful as possible.
With an emphasis on “Strength in Numbers” in that first season under Kerr’s guidance, the Warriors set a franchise record and led the NBA with 67 regular season wins before eventually winning their first NBA World Championship in 40 years. Two seasons later, they won their second NBA championship under Kerr, and they successfully defended that title with a third championship in four seasons in 2018. Four years later, they added to their dynasty with a fourth NBA title under Kerr’s leadership in 2022. And while it certainly requires great talent and tremendous leadership to experience the type of success the Warriors have enjoyed under Kerr, the “Strength in Numbers” culture that was set in motion in 2014 has permeated throughout the franchise as they’ve won those 4 NBA titles.
That “Strength in Numbers” slogan reminds me of a Scripture verse from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes where the author writes in chapter four and verse twelve “And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”
It’s a verse that is probably familiar to a lot of us who have been around church for many years. When I read that verse and think of the imagery of one person being overpowered by another person followed by the picture of two people working together to resist the aggression of one, I’m intrigued by the transition in symbolism from people to that of a cord or a rope of three strands. This verse certainly points to the importance of not being alone, but it also emphasizes the stability, fortitude, and toughness that come when the three are together. It suggests there is indeed great strength in numbers when two and especially when three are joined as one with the goal of withstanding the threat of brokenness.
“A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” Can you visualize the rope of three strands being pulled and strained from outside pressure from either end? As the pressure increases and the rope is pulled tighter and tighter, those three individual strands are pulled closer and closer to one another, which creates the strength needed to resist the stress and tension that would likely lead to brokenness in a single strand.
So, what do “strength in numbers” and “a cord of three strands” have to do with ministering to adults with disabilities? As we shared last month in episode 48 of this podcast, our friends and families impacted by disability have the same spiritual and social needs as anyone else, and our calling as the church is to assist them in finding a Christ-centered community where they can better access and experience the strength needed to withstand the assaults of this sinful, broken world. God didn’t design us to journey in this life alone but living with a disability can be an extremely isolating journey. And it’s in that kind of isolation where Satan can do some of his most evil and effective work against us.
However, we’re reminded in the Gospel of Matthew that one of the most important ways we can combat the attacks from Satan is through strength in numbers in the name of Jesus. While talking with his disciples, Jesus reminds them in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” Jesus is telling his disciples and he’s telling each of us that the schemes of the Enemy are defeated when we come together with others in His name.
For adults with disabilities, the options for gathering with others in the name of Jesus can be especially challenging. While some churches are more inviting than others for our friends in the disability community, finding pathways for connection and community through smaller, more personal groups is typically a daunting, if not impossible task for adults with disabilities. Though most pastors and church leaders will tell you they believe their church is welcoming to the disability community, the reality is likely the opposite of that because very few churches have an intentional plan for how to help someone with a disability assimilate into the life of their church.
While more and more churches are embracing the importance and the impact of intentional planning and programming for children with special needs, our churches don’t always have the same urgency or priority for helping adults with special needs experience the feeling of belonging in the church. The kids at your church and my church will eventually age out of your children’s programming. They’ll become teenagers and adults who may not experience personal connection and community by only attending your weekly worship service.
So, what can you and your church do to help create the cord of three and the strength in numbers needed for that adult with a disability?
One of the most important goals for the church should be to create ways to build relationships and friendships with adults with disabilities and to help them experience authentic belonging.
Erik Carter, formerly of Vanderbilt University and currently the Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities at Baylor University and the Executive Director of the Baylor Center on Developmental Disabilities, shared a presentation at Calvin College a few years ago where he focused on how the church is incomplete without the presence of individuals with disabilities. In that presentation, Erik talks about the 10 dimensions of belonging as well as the progression of the journey to belonging. We’ve provided a link to that presentation as well as a link to Erik’s message from Key Ministry’s 2023 Disability and the Church conference in our show notes at keyministry.org/podcast.
We know that our churches already create ways for people to experience belonging through Sunday school classes, weekend groups, home groups, community groups and many other smaller groups within the larger body. But are these groups inviting and welcoming to individuals with disabilities? Are they structured in such a way to meet the varying needs of someone with a disability and do they foster discipleship and spiritual growth so that the person experiences belonging? That may be the case in some groups within some churches and when that happens, it is a win for everyone. But in most churches, joining and connecting in a small group is not structured in a way that is easily navigated for someone with a disability.
To address that issue, our churches should be open to seeking new pathways for belonging for adults with disabilities.
And those new pathways will most often lead to the creation of groups and classes where our friends with disabilities can more easily build relationships, find community, experience discipleship, and expand their knowledge and understanding of God’s love and plan for their life. There are numerous ways to create these new groups where the goal is building relationships and community for adults with disabilities in your church.
One way to do it is through a weekly worship class or small group where church staff or volunteers meet with adults with disabilities for Bible study, worship, prayer, and encouragement. This type of group could meet before or after your church’s larger worship service as an additional pathway for community. Or this type of group could meet at the same time as your church’s worship service and serve as a type of hybrid worship experience for those with sensory needs or for anyone who prefers a smaller group setting.
Another way to help build relationships through weekend programming is by hosting more of an integrated small group that is intentionally structured in such a way that it meets a variety of sensory, social, intellectual, and physical needs of everyone who attends. This type of group will have a leader who facilitates the time together and focuses on connecting people in varying stages of life with one another while going deeper in their faith journey.
A third way to build relationships for adults with disabilities in your church is through social events on nights or weekends where activities like card games and table games, arts and crafts, sports like basketball, bowling, kickball and pickleball or even video games or book clubs allow for connection and community through shared interests.
One more highly effective way to build relationships and create Christ-centered community for adults with disabilities is through serving opportunities. Within the typical weekend worship setting, that serving opportunity could come as a door-greeter or serving in the children’s ministry or serving in any number or roles on the tech or production team or maybe serving coffee or drinks if your church has a café or perhaps it’s taking on a leadership role within a small group or weekend worship class.
Outside of the typical weekend worship setting, maybe it’s serving on a mission trip or through a community outreach event. It could be serving in your church’s sports ministry or even on your facilities team in preparing and maintaining your worship spaces. I know that many of these examples I’ve shared can be effective in creating a pathway to belonging in the church for adults with disabilities because we’ve seen the fruit of those examples in our church where I serve.
Ultimately, it’s not about doing it a certain way or following a specific set of guidelines but instead it’s about creating opportunities for Christ-centered community and spiritual growth. And like Erik Carter, I believe the programs in our churches should lead to relationships for the individuals participating in those programs. If your program in any area of ministry isn’t fostering relationships, then those programs should probably be reevaluated. I encourage you to set goals for your special needs ministries and programs and allow God to produce the fruit that will glorify Him.
As we seek to meet and minister to more of our friends in the disability community, we want to create programming and pathways that build relationships.
Our focus should be on caring for the spiritual and social needs of our friends and families so that they’re more equipped to glorify God by living out the Great Commission.
I believe programming should foster discipleship. Discipleship should inspire connection. Connection should produce friendship. And friendship should enhance belonging.
And when we encounter authentic belonging in the church, we experience the cord of three strands by being strengthened by the Christ-centered community around us. And that’s what strength in numbers really looks like.
Thank you for joining me for Key Ministry: The Podcast. You can find a transcript of this week’s episode as well as some helpful links and notes at keyministry.org/podcast. Have a blessed week and I hope to talk with you again very soon.
