Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
This is the talk that I gave at the recent Banquet of Belonging conference put on by A Deeper Communion. I was great to catch up with come of my colleagues in the disability theology and ministry world. Imagine you are visiting a certain landmark near your home. You happen to notice a group of … Read More “Preparing For the Banquet” »
In recent years, there has been a shift in my interests more to the area of disabilities. This was seen most dramatically when I did a last minute shift in my Doctor of Ministry thesis to write on disabilities and the church. I continue to look for opportunities to write and speak in this area. … Read More “Good News: Opportunities to Share” »
As a pastor, I know that there are many demands and different voices calling for attention. Everybody wants the pastor’s attention. Is disability ministry something that should be added to the list? What is Disability Ministry? First, let me talk about what I mean about disability ministry. Disability ministry may or may not include a … Read More “Should Pastors Care About Disability Ministry?” »
That all depends on how you define “disability ministry.” If you mean hiring a person on staff, gathering a dozen volunteers and investing in specific curriculum, you may need a fairly large church. But if you mean a place where people with disabilities can be ministered to and can minister alongside the rest of the … Read More “How Big Does a Congregation Need to Be to Have a Disability Ministry?” »
I’m in the process of working on some resources to help churches become more disability friendly. By that I mean more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities. But it should be asked why churches should even bother attempting to become disability friendly. It’s a lot of investment without a lot of obvious return (at … Read More “Why Should Your Church Be Disability Friendly?” »
Joy and research are not necessarily two words that you would put in the same sentence. But I am indeed enjoying my research for my Doctor of Ministry thesis. Let me be clear what I mean by research. I have done the chapters that look at the biblical and theological foundation for my topic, as … Read More “Good News: Enjoying the Research” »
Some churches want to jump right into Disability Ministry. Start programs, promote accessibility, invite people with disabilities. Let’s do ministry! I love that enthusiasm. But I think that churches also have to do the hard work of wrestling with Disability Theology. Yes there are some encouraging words about people with disabilities but there are some … Read More “The Relationship Between Disability Theology and Disability Ministry” »
As some of you may know, I am in the Doctor of Ministry program at Acadia Divinity College. I have been in this program for a long time. One of the reasons is that after writing all my chapters for my first thesis, I decided I wanted to completely change my research topic. That sounds … Read More “Good News: Made the Right Choice” »
One of the most important issues for me is to make sure that people with disabilities are welcomed into our churches. One person who has done a lot of work in this area is Erik Carter, author of Including People With Disabilities in Faith Communities. There are two things that I want you to know … Read More “Including People With Disabilities in Faith Communities – Review” »
When people find out that I’m interested in disabilities, I often get asked what we do at our church for disability ministry. Like myself, people are always look for ideas. So when I get asked what we do for disability ministry, this is what I tell them. Church. Yeah, that’s it. It is not because … Read More “What Our Church Does For Disability Ministry” »
Our church has a Bible study that takes place Sundays after the service. We were looking at Paul’s vision for the unity of the church in Ephesians 2. One of the participants asked a question about how this fits with disability ministries. The lady in our study (who happens to be blind), asked about the … Read More “An Important Question For Churches and Disabilities” »
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to teach a module as a part of the Certificate in Accessibility Ministry at Tyndale University College. I teach biblical studies regularly at Tyndale but topics related to disability ministry are something close to my heart. I really enjoyed teaching on this subject. My module was on Ministering with … Read More “Reflections on Teaching Accessibility Ministry” »
Disability ministry is extremely important. Churches must be reaching out to those with disabilities. But that should not be the only goal for disability ministry. While not taking away from the needs of those with a disability, disabilities affect the entire family. Much of the contact that I have is with parents of children … Read More “Disability Ministry is Not Just to Those With Disabilities” »
There are some large churches that have very organized and well staffed disability ministries. They have a sizeable budget and may have a specific pastor or other staff member overseeing it. These are the ministries that we often hear about. But what if you are at church like mine? We are a small church with … Read More “What If Your Church Can’t Start a Disability Ministry?” »
What is disability ministry? For some churches, that may be a formal ministry with their own budget, volunteers and pastor. For smaller churches that may look much different. I recently wrote a post for the Disability and Faith Forum (which is a resource you really need to check out) on this very subject. Here is … Read More “What is Disability Ministry?” »
