“I shared my family’s hurt and pain of feeling excluded and unaccepted by the very church that I, as its pastor, am called to love and serve. I shared offensive words shared with me regarding my autistic son’s needs. I shared how these actions created a wall between our family and the church. We felt unwelcome.” Shannon Blosser shares about church hurt, and where the church can grow.
Beth Golik and Sandra Peoples give a Disability & the Church 2024 Conference Recap that happened this past week in Orlando, FL.
Dr. Steve Grcevich sits down and interviews Dr. Lamar Hardwick on his new book How Ableism Fuels Racism. This is Part 1 of a 3-part series! Dr. Lamar Hardwick will be speaking at Disability & the Church 2024 Conference in Orlando, FL May 1-3. Go to www.keyministry.org/datc2024 to register now!
Recently, Catherine had a conversation with Dr. Jim and Heather Sells, authors of the new book “Beyond the Clinical Hour: How Counselors Can Partner with the Church to Address the Mental Health Crisis.” Jim, Heather and their co-author Dr. Amy Trout offer a valuable resource to both mental health professionals and ministry leaders as a way to meet the heartfelt mental health needs impacting both churches and our culture. Take a listen to this thought-provoking conversation.
“I am disabled. For years that was so hard to admit. I couldn’t mention out loud my neurodivergence. I whispered about my post-traumatic stress disorder, insisting ‘I’m better now.’ I was a champion for the disabled who didn’t want to talk about her own disabilities. It was disingenuous, but I didn’t know how to come to terms with the fact that I was disabled. I was still scared that admitting my disability publicly would convince people I was not able to do anything.” Joanna French writes on her experience with disability.
In this week’s podcast episode, Catherine interviewed Kristin and Todd Evans about their experiences with mental health and marriage challenges, while parenting a child with disabilities. Kristin and Todd share how they were able to move from an incredibly challenging time to a deep, rich relationship with Christ and renewed connection with each other—with application for any couple parenting a child with disabilities.
We are living in times ripe for the history books. Most of us have been weighing questions on topics ranging from the effects of isolation to medical vulnerability, racial equity and religious freedoms. Leaders in the disability movement are keenly aware of overlaps and similarities among the issues at hand. I’ve been praying that God would use this season to grow us into more compassionate and courageously engaged people, because we desperately need to start appreciating our uniquenesses and enjoying how interconnected we are.
Many people seem to believe they are too bad, broken, sad or worthless to be accepted by God. In our outrage culture, people who have been rejected or treated poorly often end up hating those who have hurt them, particularly when the hurt comes from a person who is supposed to represent God. But what might happen if your church explicitly communicated that mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and more are not a barrier to finding a shalom-building relationship with Christ?
Just a handful of weeks into the pandemic quarantine, I was already starting to take stock of lessons God was teaching me. In the course of time and in the newly emerging chaos of rushing back to “normal” life, I’m already struggling to remember, let alone walk out, the lessons I was so certain would not leave me! How about you? During meetings with disability leaders and a recent check-in call with a group of pastors who are navigating ministry in these times, I have heard valuable insights from varied fronts.
By now, disruption has become a familiar friend to each of us. But though coronavirus may be new, the concept of disruption—whether from a global pandemic, broken washing machines, or relational strife—is not. In much of scripture, it seems that God uses precisely the disruption that we hate to jolt his people out of negative patterns—whether it be their blatant worship of idols or their comfortable but self-serving career paths. God does not waste these disruptions.
With the spread of COVID-19, we have all found ourselves in the position of not being able to gather together for corporate worship. Christians all over the world have found themselves facing very serious “can’t.” So, what happens when there is a collision between practicing my faith and the reality of life with a disability? What do I do when I can’t?
