Last week I shared with you how God confirmed the work I am doing with TCI through a passage in 2 Corinthians 6. It started with verse three in the English Standard Version of the Bible:

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,

In the rest of the chapter, Paul goes on to talk about the things he and his team do to prevent themselves from being an obstacle or stumbling block to those God has called them to serve. You can check it out in verses four through twelve. As I read those verses, I thought of the ways I, the church as a body, and the actual church building could be an obstacle for people with disabilities.

1.    Patients not People. As a physical therapist, I went to school to learn how to work with patients. I learned how to perform an evaluation, assess patient problems, make an assessment, and come up with a plan to help the person do things they can’t currently do. That might be dressing, bending their knee, working without back pain or walking. However, if I take that same approach into my work around the world, I’m missing the opportunity to see the whole person. I fail to see anything beyond the physical and can easily miss the spiritual and emotional. I work with a patient, rather than relate to a person, a person made in the image of God with hopes and dreams far beyond what we will do in therapy, a person called by God for a purpose.

Okay, so that one may not relate to you as much, and some therapists have a wider perspective in their daily treatments with patients. I fear even in how this is written, I could be understand as could my feelings about our views and attitudes toward people with disability. We sometimes have to really stop and think about our perceptions and honestly assess them. Maybe I should as you this, as it might apply to you: Do you see people with disabilities as objects of your service or do you see them as serving you as well?

2.    Served out of pity not love.  Last year, after taking a Beyond Suffering course by Joni and Friends, Shesita and I developed a training for our staff on a Biblical view of suffering and effective ways to minister to people with disabilities. The activity proved a good heart check for us all. Some of our staff broke down in tears, saying they worked and served in CAF out of pity, instead of love. God touched their hearts and helped them to see people with disabilities in a different light, from His perspective. Does He need to do the same with you? Deep down, what do you think about people with disabilities? What is the cause of their disability? What value is there in a life for a person with a disability? Honest answers to these questions can lead to a thoughtful examination of our hearts and Scriptures to see how what we may believe lines up with what God says.

3.    Obstacles within the structure of the church. Here I am talking not about the people, but the actual church building and systems in the church. Think about the following:

a. If someone with a wheelchair came to your church could they get into the building? Could they then find a place to sit in their chair without feeling in the way or pointed out?

b. Could someone in a wheelchair use your bathrooms? Really? I’m sorry for asking really, but while my mom was in a wheelchair as she battled cancer I quickly learned that parking spots, bathrooms, and other things can appear to be accessible, but they really aren’t. Have you asked someone with a disability to assess your facilities to make them accessible to all?

c. Are there classes that people with disabilities can actively participate in without being treated as a child or patronized?

d. Are there people in the church that know how to share truth in a way that people with intellectual disabilities could understand?

e. Are there places for children, and their families, with autism or other disabilities to participate in worship?

4.    What else? I know I’ve missed some, what other ideas do you have?

Removing the obstacles isn’t easy. I don’t deny making these changes requires work on many levels and not everyone will agree with it, but I don’t think it was easy for Jesus to go to the cross either and not everyone understood why He did that either. He toiled and struggled until He agreed to God’s plan.  Am I, are we as the church, willing to do what it takes, no matter our personal cost, not to be a stumbling block or obstacle for others, specifically people with disabilities, so that they might find their place in Christ? Not as special angels or because of their disability, but because they, like you and me, have made a choice to follow Him.