DISABILITY
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Moses resisted God ’ s call because of his stutter and stammer [ Exodus 4:10 ].
Pre-conceived ideas !
As someone who was born with a permanent disability and uses a wheelchair , people ’ s expectations of me as an ordained church leader and preacher often come with preconceptions . On one occasion when I was a missionary in Malawi , I was being introduced to a group of pastors . My then 8-year-old son was introduced , and then my tall , blonde and blue-eyed late wife was introduced . I could see the pastors looking at me and thinking ‘ who is this guy in a wheelchair , and what on earth does he have to offer ?’ Finally , the missionary leader introduced me as ‘ Pastor John ’. You could see the pastors ’ image of me move from nothing to sudden elevation – from 0 to 10 . I was feeling like I didn ’ t want to be viewed as ‘ 0 ’ but at the same time , as a ‘ white pastor ’, I also didn ’ t want to be a ‘ 10 ’!
Once , when attending a global church leaders conference in Brazil where I decided to wear my clerical collar , someone came up to me and asked whether I was a church leader . I
replied ‘ yes ’, he then asked if I was paid and again , I replied ‘ yes ’. He then went on to ask me if the church was just for disabled people , and was it very small ? I was amazed at the assumptions and said that the church was for everyone , and within the diocese it was a reasonably large church of around 200 + people . Years earlier , when I did my curacy , one of the members of the congregation asked me how long I had been an invalid , I replied I hadn ’ t been ‘ in-valid ’ for many years … She didn ’ t get the joke !
A part to play in God ’ s church
When we look at the passage from 1 Corinthians 12 about the body of Christ , it clearly states that ‘ we cannot say that I don ’ t need you ’, and that those who are marginalized can ’ t say ‘ I don ’ t belong to the body ’. Sadly , the church has communicated both messages over the years , i . e . that people with disabilities are not needed in the church . This is demonstrated by the lack of motivation we have to make our churches accessible to people with a whole range of disabilities , whether visible or invisible . We can rather naively think of disability as just people who use wheelchairs , and that sticking a ramp into a building is all that needs to be done , and when we can ’ t , we think that ’ s it . I have heard so many church leaders saying to me that they don ’ t have any people with disabilities attending their church , so there is no need to make any adaptations .
Secondly , we communicate that disabled people don ’ t belong to the church through our lack of inclusion . I have spoken to many disabled people who feel they have gifts to offer God ’ s church but get the message that they have nothing to offer . They are there to be recipients only . Therefore , the impression that the disabled person receives is one of not belonging . I wrote an article for the World Council of Churches inspired by Professor John Swinton , Chair of Divinity at Aberdeen University . He spoke at Lambeth Palace in July 2018 on the theme ‘ In Order to Belong , they need to be missed .’ My article in the