Disability Ministry That Moves Past Good Intentions

We talk about what disability ministry actually requires, and why a church can’t rely on good intentions or generic “inclusion” language to make the gospel accessible. We lay out the non-negotiable scriptural foundation, then get practical about tools that help us disciple people with disabilities instead of simply supervising them. 
• the gap between what pastors believe and what families experience 
• why Scripture is the starting point for disability ministry 
• how theology shapes perspective, expectations, and welcome 
• why resources and training keep passion from fizzling out 
• the difference between respite care and real discipleship 
• practical supports like sensory tools, visual schedules, and adapted lessons 
• simple teaching strategies that help people engage and grow 
If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable-People blog or my books on Amazon: The Indispensable Kid, Gospel Accessibility, and Indispensable People.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Accessibility Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral, and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, a mom, a wife, and I believe that every person should have access to the gospel so that they can know Christ, grow in him, and serve him with the gifts that he has given.

The Church Disability Attendance Gap

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 15 to 20% of every community. And over 85% of those individuals do not attend church. 90% of pastors believe that they are a disability-friendly church, but only 20% of parents and families agree. Let's dive deep into hard topics, big questions, perceptions, stereotypes, and so much more.

What Ministry Really Requires

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Hey, hey, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People. Today we're talking ministry importance, requirements. Where do you start? What's the foundation and what's enough? As a missionary and serving in ministry, my primary responsibility is sharing the vision and the need and the necessity of ministering to individuals with disabilities. So, okay, I'm not a school. I'm not the medical profession. Do the things that occur in schools or medical professions or day hobs or group homes, the skills and the and the tools that are taught in those areas, do they apply to ministry? And what takes a primary role? Now, when I work in training churches, I always like to individualize what we're going to talk about. And I ask them like, what are their biggest concerns? What are their needs? What do they hope to achieve through the training? Now, no matter what they choose, there's always a foundational piece that is included.

Scripture First, Then Strategies

SPEAKER_00 2:13

And the number one thing that I'm going to include and make sure is understood is the scriptural foundation. Okay. As a church, as a volunteer, as a leader, a pastor, you cannot adequately serve individuals with disabilities unless you understand who they are and how God sees them and how the intention is that they fit into the body of Christ. I can give you tools. I can give you actual tangible items to use. I can give you adapted lessons. I can talk to you about accommodations. I can talk to you about the physicality of your building. However, if you don't have a scriptural foundation, then your ability to minister to these individuals is not going to be on par. I had the opportunity to have dinner with a friend who served in ministry just tonight. And I just listened to her ask me questions about ministry. And she asked me what I was most excited about and in the next steps of ministry. And to be honest, some of the things that I'm most excited about are the resources and tools that I have coming and or that I've been working on or ideas that have been just in my heart and in my mind for a long period of time. And she asked me a little bit more about those and I explained my thought process and what I was hoping for. And I said, a ministry suggesting that you do disability ministry without resources is lacking, right? I can walk into a church and I can say and preach a sermon on a Sunday morning and talk about these individuals and how the church should be reaching them. But if I don't give them tools and equip them to do it, that passion is likely going to struggle at the very least, if not fail. So here's here's the thing, right? We have to have the right heart. We have to have the right perspective. And I've shared scripture upon scripture in in podcasts before, starting with Genesis 127, you know, every that every person is made in the image of God, or Psalm 1139, where we were knitted together in our mother's womb and he knew us before. And I could tell you about Exodus 4.11, where God takes credit for his creation and he says, Who makes man blind, deaf, or mute? You know, is it not I the Lord? I could talk to you about John 9 and how, you know, the questioning of where's the lineage of this sin that equates into this disability. And it says that that not his parents sinned or or or anyone else. It was so that the works of God could be displayed in him. Those foundational pieces have to exist for the next piece of ministry, which is then ministering.

From Childcare To Discipleship

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Because in this conversation I was having with my friend, I was sharing about they sh actually she was asking about a particular child that had started to attend their church. And she was asking what different strategies and things in working with him. And the church was committed to to making sure that they were, that they were able to serve this child. And I asked her, was she asking for tools, you know, for sensory needs, for, you know, accommodations in the setting, the environment that he was in? Or was she referring to actual ministry tools in, you know, how are we teaching him about Jesus? And so her initial question was, well, what are the tools? You know, give me some tools that that you would suggest for him. And then the next piece was here are, I shared with her some actual, you know, here's different ways to teach Bible stories. Here's some resources for that. And then she said, and that's where it goes from babysitting to ministry. And I said, absolutely. You know, you can find respite and babysitting tools and, you know, utilize your school systems and all that kind of stuff for time away from your child, but they they came to the church for a different kind of respite. The only kind of respite and hope that can be provided by the church, and that is through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Simple Tools That Teach Jesus

SPEAKER_00 7:08

And so we have to have the ability to share not only the tangible tools, the you know, fidget tools and timers and transition strategies, visual schedules, adapted lessons, understanding that teaching through the five senses is going to be a great strategy. Strategies like keeping it simple, making it concrete, being repetitive, all of those kinds of things, all of those tools, right? All of those tangible tools help. But if we don't have the heart, we don't have the perspective and we don't have the direction, because again, like she said, and that's when babysitting becomes ministry, it's it's it's more than it's bait, it's more than babysitting, it's ministry. Right. Because anybody can manage hanging out with somebody for an hour in a room on a Sunday morning, which by the way, does do a lot, providing the opportunity for parents to be able to be a part of ministry and being able to sit in service and worship and grow, that is priceless for those parents. But also think about what it speaks into that individual when we take the next step in making sure that we're ministering, making sure we're discipling, that these people can be truly a part of the total body of the church to be able to participate in what God is doing in the church and whatever way that looks like, that changes everything. And what it speaks to those parents is beyond just hi, you can come here. But also we believe that God created each person for a purpose and he has a plan. And we do that by standing on foundational scriptures and then utilizing tools that are tangible that help making ministry possible and happen. And that's what we need to achieve and what we can get excited about when we have that scriptural foundation, but also the tools to do

Commitment To An Accessible Gospel

SPEAKER_00 9:33

it. And that's what makes the gospel accessible. I can't claim to have all the answers. I can't claim to know all the things, but here's what we are gonna do. We're gonna keep this conversation going. We're gonna make the accessible gospel available to individuals with disabilities in our churches and in our communities so that every person has the opportunity to know Christ, to grow in him, and disturb him. If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable People blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.