Disability Awareness Sunday Can Reframe How Your Church Welcomes People

We talk about how Disability Awareness Sunday can move a church from good intentions to real inclusion. I share practical ways to make the gospel accessible by pairing honest stats with personal stories, simple audits, and a culture of welcome. 
• framing Disability Awareness Sunday as a launch point for disability ministry 
• sharing both statistics and testimonies to show the need and the impact 
• using Jesus’ heart for the one to shape church priorities 
• running an accessibility audit for buildings and events 
• asking practical questions about mobility, autism transitions, vision, and hearing 
• talking about people with disabilities as gifted disciples, not projects 
• including people with disabilities in worship through serving and leadership 
• equipping volunteers with buddy roles, training, and sensory-friendly tools 
• grounding ministry in disability theology and Scripture 
• focusing on the biggest need families report: a genuine welcome 
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

Why Disability Ministry 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. 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. Hey,

What Disability Awareness Sunday Is

SPEAKER_00 0:53

hey, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People. Today we're talking disability awareness and how you can bring it to a church near you. Okay, did that sound like a good commercial? Maybe, maybe not. But Disability Awareness Sunday is an actual thing. And depending upon the denomination, it's different times of the year that churches choose to see or to highlight disability ministry. And it can be a starting point, a launching point, a growth point, a readjusting of vision, or just an educational piece that can be used to help your congregation know the goals and the purposes and the just passion and purpose behind the ministry and why you do it. So if you're a church that does not have disability ministry at all, or you're a church that does, you can still do this every year. A church that does not have a disability ministry at all, this can be a great introduction to your congregation, a great launching point. And here's a couple of things that I want you to consider.

Use Statistics And Personal Stories

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Now, one of the things that I had come across in my own reading said to tell stories, not statistics, but I'm gonna actually challenge you to do both. The over 65 million Americans that I say every single time that you listen to one of these podcasts, that is 65 million Americans with a disability, is a staggering statistic. That's one in every five or one in every four, depending upon which statistic that you look at. One in every five or one in every four, that's a a crazy amount of people. If you it can be anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of people in every community are impacted by disability. And when we consider that 85% of them don't attend church, that's incredible. That's impactful, and that helps your church know the need. That's number one. However, I will always remind you that Jesus left the one for the 99 or left the 99 for the one. Sorry, I got that backwards. And why did he go get the 90, the the one to bring back to the 99? That's why. To bring them back, to join, to have fellowship, to be welcome, to be a part. He didn't leave the 99 and forget about them. He left the 99 to go get the one and to bring them back. So the statistics are important because it helps the church understand the vast need. However, it doesn't matter how many they are because everyone is worth it. However, when it said tell stories, not statistics, when I read that, again, I think you should definitely share the statistics, but it's so helpful when it's connected to a person. Whether it is helping people understand how they became connected to the church or what the difficulties in becoming connected were, what barriers existed, and how God may have worked through their lives. One of

A Testimony That Opens Doors

SPEAKER_00 4:25

my most favorite stories to share is the story of a gentleman who attended respite for years and years, but did not come to church. Mom did not come to church. Um, we invited them to a parent Bible study. She showed up, announced that, you know, it's not that she didn't believe that Jesus existed, but didn't know about him, didn't read the Bible, and that she was gonna need help. And by the end of the night, she had accepted Jesus into her life. And that was after loving on their family and showing them open doors for years. So personal testimonies really speak to the church showing them the lives that can be changed and impacted by an accessible gospel.

Run An Accessibility Audit

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Another thing to consider is an accessibility audit that can be done before that Sunday. And then it can be highlighted to what the needs are. Because here's the thing you have a congregation of people that are sitting there that have different skills and talents. And when you help them to see what might need to be done or changed into the church, you may have hands that are ready to get to work if they just know the need. So, you know, thinking about how someone who uses a wheelchair, how are they navigating the church, or a child with autism that that struggles with transitions from getting into the parking lot, into the church building, or someone who may have low vision or be blind, someone who might have, you know, difficulty hearing. How do they get in the building? How do they participate in worship? And can they find places to serve? Those are just very simple questions and things to think about. I also have an actual accessibility audit that I use for events as well as buildings that provides a great resource for churches to kind of look into what they uh are experiencing, what they may need, and how to go forward from there. The

See Gifts Not Just Needs

SPEAKER_00 6:37

next thing that you want to consider is not the in your presentation, being able to share about these families not as a need, not as a group of people that they need money or they need service or they need whatever. Yes, meeting felt needs are important no matter what people group that you're looking into. That's why we do church dinners, that's why we have outreaches with, you know, back to school backpacks, all those kinds of things. Meeting felt needs gives us points of connection and letting people know that we care. But individuals with disabilities are not just people that have needs to be met. They're also people who have gifts to give to the body of Christ that allow them to serve, that allow them to participate, and highlighting how they can participate in the body of Christ really is impactful and understanding that, again, it's not just a babysitting service, it's not just respite for the parents, but it's discipleship, it's ministry, it's allowing someone to develop the gifts and talents that God has given them.

Include People In The Service

SPEAKER_00 7:55

We also want to consider the potentials of including people with disabilities in the service. If you have people in your church that are already participating and serving, highlight their gifts and talents on that morning, whether it's through prayer, whether it's sharing their testimonies, whether it's reading the scripture, greeting on a Sunday morning. However, I would really, really encourage that if they're already in your church and they have these gifts and talents, they should be serving. And so it shouldn't actually be a surprise to your congregation when they participate in the in the service on that Sunday morning. But highlighting their gifts and talents on that day can be very impactful.

Equip Volunteers With Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Also, you can use the Disability Awareness Sunday to help equip your congregation. Whether you are offering some practical next steps, how to volunteer in disability ministry, or the opportunity to become a buddy, or to talk about different language or trainings that might be coming up that they can attend. Also, consider if you don't have a disability ministry or you do to set up kind of a mock sensory-friendly area that people can see and and and see how it works and highlight some of the tools like visual schedules or noise-canceling headphones or flexible seating that might be available to those who would need it. Definitely

Disability Theology And Real Welcome

SPEAKER_00 9:42

absolutely important to include on this disability awareness is disability theology. You know, what do the scriptures say? How does that impact the people that we serve? How does that impact our perspectives as we serve? Those are going to be really, really important. But also, we said don't only focus on the need, but also consider sharing the need that families do have. But highlight that a study that was recently done says that the biggest need that parents of parents and families impacted by disability that they're looking for is a welcome. And that doesn't cost us a thing. It doesn't require anything extra of us except to start with saying hello, building relationship, and offering a place to be. And then we can grow from there.

Use Sunday As A Launch Point

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Really consider thinking about making this a launching point, whether it is a brand new disability ministry, or if you are looking to start another arm of the ministry. Maybe you do Sunday mornings and have a buddy system or an adult class that you offer, but now you want to start respite nights, or you want to have a Bible study for individuals with disabilities, or a parent support group, something like that. Those are all really great opportunities that if you can bring before your congregation, allows you to recruit, to encourage, to also make aware those who are not participating in the disability ministry, how they can encourage and support it as the congregation. So just remember that you can use one of these ideas, you can use all of these ideas, but the goal is to highlight this ministry, let people know the need, but also the eternal impact and how there are simple, tangible things that can lead to a welcome that makes the gospel accessible and includes people with disabilities into the total life of the church. Because as God has created them, He intends for them to participate and be a part of the body of Christ. 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 to serve him.

Keep Learning And Go Deeper

SPEAKER_00 12:42

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.