The Church’s Role in Supporting the Disability Community

By Jenny Smith

As someone with a physical disability, I want to address a vital issue: the church’s role in supporting the physical, emotional, social, and financial needs of the disability community. This support is rooted in Scripture, which consistently calls us to care for those in need and reflect Jesus’s love with compassionate action.

The Who and What of Disability

Between 13.4% and 28.7% of Americans have a disability, affecting mobility, self-care, cognition, hearing, vision, or independent living. Disabilities may be congenital (e.g., cerebral palsy, Down syndrome), acquired through injury, or linked to progressive diseases like multiple sclerosis. Many disabilities, such as autism or chronic pain, are invisible, while aging is the leading cause of disability.

People With Disabilities Belong in the Church

We have several biblical examples that set the precedent for welcoming people with disabilities in the church and serving alongside one another.

Welcome at the Table

Jesus sets an example for the Church in Luke 14 when he tells a parable about a man who invited guests for a large dinner party. The people he invited had excuses and didn’t come. So, the host told his servant: “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping” (Luke 14:21, New American Standard Bible).

Jesus teaches that the disability community should be welcome in our communities.

Examples Throughout the Bible

If people with disabilities aren’t involved in our church community or serving, we need to ask why, because God has used people with disabilities throughout the Bible.

• Moses had a speech disorder (Exodus 4:10).
• Jacob limped (Genesis 32:31).
• Elijah and David were prone to depression.
• Paul was … well, I’ll let the scholars debate that topic (Gal. 6:11).

There were varying disabilities, yet God used each of them.

The Church is a Body

The third reason people with disability belong in the church is that Paul clearly states that the church is a body in which even its “weaker” and “less honorable” parts are indispensable.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor (1 Cor. 12: 21-23, New International Version).

The Disability Community Doesn’t get an Exemption

Finally, people with disabilities shouldn’t just be recipients of ministry; we should also be involved in ministry, outreach, and leadership.

Matthew 28:19-20 states: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This passage doesn’t contain an exemption or allow people with disabilities to opt out of the Great Commission. Every believer—nondisabled or disabled—is invited to participate in various aspects of discipleship and ministry.

How Can the Church Meet the Needs of the Disability Community?

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus meets people’s needs. When Jesus heals a physical impairment, he also meets the spiritual, emotional, and social needs in a person’s life.

In Mark 5:25-45, a woman touched the edge of Jesus’s cloak, and she was healed of her chronic hemorrhaging. But Jesus didn’t stop with her physical needs. By curing her physically, he also did away with the shame and social isolation that her condition carried due to Levitical law.

In Matthew 8:1-4, we read of a man with leprosy who asks Jesus to “make me clean.” Jesus cures the leprosy and tells the man to present himself to the priest.

Jesus focuses on not only the physical but also the social, emotional, and spiritual needs. The church can follow his example.

Meeting the Physical and Social Needs of the Disability Community

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, New Living Translation).

How can the Church meet the physical and social needs of people with disabilities? Begin by asking disabled people in your community if they have access to:

• Public buildings and transportation.
• Adequate, accessible housing.
• Mobility aids.
• Education.
• Employment opportunities.
• Health care.
• Recreational activities.

You might assume the answer to these questions is, “Yes, of course, people with disabilities in the United States have access to all of this.” But ask with an openness to hear what life is like with a disability. And listen to people outside of your socioeconomic status, as well.

When the church helps people with disabilities to access the world around them, not only do people with disabilities notice, but the world does, too.

Meeting the Emotional Needs of the Disability Community

“Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words” (Job 2:13).

Rates of depression and anxiety are about four times higher among people with disabilities than in the nondisabled population. This is usually due not to the disability but to the lack of social interaction that people with disabilities often experience. My full-time ministry focus is on the emotional and spiritual impact of disability (read more here). The need is great.

The Church is the one place where people should experience belonging and where our emotional and spiritual needs can be met. For this to happen, the disability community requires accessibility (e.g., churches and small groups), access to transportation, and interpreters. We also need to consider if people with intellectual disabilities, autism, or learning differences (and their parents) have been considered.

Meeting the Financial Needs of the Disability Community

“If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?” (1 John 3:17).

Anyone with a disability or a loved one with a disability knows that finances are one of the most stressful parts of a disability.

Studies back this statement, showing that households that include an individual with a disability require—on average—about 29% more income to make ends meet (read here and here).

How can you, your church, or your community offset the financial burden of life with a disability? Consider the following expenses:

• Personal care for activities of daily living.
• Accessible housing and/or modifications.
• Modified vehicles.
• Service animals.
• Respite care for parents or caregivers.

I have a friend who needed assistance to take a shower and with housework for several years. Through fall after fall, it was apparent she was in danger of hurting herself. But she works full-time and, therefore, doesn’t qualify for benefits. The hefty monthly payment for her modified vehicle prevented her from hiring a caregiver a few times per week. When her church found out about this need, they paid off her vehicle, which allowed her to hire a caregiver. Now she is safe and has more time and energy for life.

The church can meet the very tangible needs of the disability community.

An Invitation to Be the Church

By uniting as a community, the church can address the unmet needs of the disability community. Reflecting on Galatians 3:28, we recognize that in Christ “We are neither Jews nor Gentiles, slave nor free, male nor female, disabled nor abled. For all of you are one in Christ.” I pray the church steps boldly into its calling and makes a meaningful difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

Jenny Smith serves with Paraclete Mission Group and shares about life with a disability at JennySmithRollsOn.com.