Indispensable People: Embracing Spiritual Development in Disability Ministry
Mar 08, 2024
Tracie Corll
When I first embarked on the journey of disability ministry, I never anticipated how profoundly it would expand my understanding of spiritual development. Join me, Tracie Corll, as I welcome you into a heartfelt conversation on "Indispensable People" about the essence of spiritual development in individuals with disabilities. With the wisdom gleaned from resources like Kelly Zhang's article, we'll navigate the often uncharted waters of spirituality as a fundamental need and right for everyone, ability notwithstanding. Our discussion will shed light on scriptural passages that advocate for an inclusive faith journey, as we dare to challenge traditional narratives and enable a deeper spiritual maturity for those with intellectual disabilities.
In our latest episode, we also confront the vital mission of making the gospel comprehensible and resonant for people with disabilities. Sharing personal stories from my time in disability ministry, I underscore the importance of embracing the fact that every person can experience and understand God in their own unique way. We touch on the necessity for the church to become a place of true spiritual growth, where each individual has the opportunity to nurture their faith and contribute their gifts in service. Listen in for an exploration of how we, as a faith community, can better support and celebrate the spiritual journeys of all our members, ensuring that no one is left behind.
When I first embarked on the journey of disability ministry, I never anticipated how profoundly it would expand my understanding of spiritual development. Join me, Tracie Corll, as I welcome you into a heartfelt conversation on "Indispensable People" about the essence of spiritual development in individuals with disabilities. With the wisdom gleaned from resources like Kelly Zhang's article, we'll navigate the often uncharted waters of spirituality as a fundamental need and right for everyone, ability notwithstanding. Our discussion will shed light on scriptural passages that advocate for an inclusive faith journey, as we dare to challenge traditional narratives and enable a deeper spiritual maturity for those with intellectual disabilities.
In our latest episode, we also confront the vital mission of making the gospel comprehensible and resonant for people with disabilities. Sharing personal stories from my time in disability ministry, I underscore the importance of embracing the fact that every person can experience and understand God in their own unique way. We touch on the necessity for the church to become a place of true spiritual growth, where each individual has the opportunity to nurture their faith and contribute their gifts in service. Listen in for an exploration of how we, as a faith community, can better support and celebrate the spiritual journeys of all our members, ensuring that no one is left behind.
Speaker 1:
Hi, my name is Tracy Coral and welcome to Indispensable People.
Speaker 2:
I'm a wife, mom, teacher, pastor and missionary, and I believe that every person should have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given, no matter their ability. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 25% of the population. However, over 80% of them are not inside the walls of our church. Let's dive into those hard topics biblical foundations, perceptions and world-changing ideas.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to episode 25 of Indispensable People. I'm so glad that you've joined me today. I don't know where you are or what's going on, but it is raining cats and dogs where I am, so I am happily inside recording, staying warm and listening to the rain hit the ceiling Well, not the ceiling the roof would be in a whole lot of trouble if it was hitting the ceiling but today I want to talk to you about spiritual development and disability. It seems like a very, very heavy concept, and, in my research of looking for things to share with you on it today, aside from my opinion and my thoughts, apparently it is somewhat of a heavy concept because there are lots of gigantic intellectual articles written about it, and so I wanted to start with an article that was written in 2010 by Kelly Zhang, and it's called Spirituality and Disabilities Implications for Special Education, and I'm only sharing this with you because there is one really cool thing that it said, and it says that health and social care professions have suggested that spirituality is a fundamental human need and human right, and it's a necessary component of both mental and physical health. That's really cool because, first of all, this article is not written with the direction to a church or to a ministry, or how to serve individuals with disabilities. It's understanding the intellectual disability and how it impacts their spiritual development. So the first thing off is it recognizes the need and the necessity that spirituality is a fundamental human need.
Speaker 1:
Now I know I've said this a million times on this podcast, but I'm going to say it again the Bible is written for everyone. There is no asterisk in the Bible that says except for a certain group of people. So if I'm reading it, a person somewhere across the world is reading it, a child is reading it, a teenager is reading it, anyone of any ability, of any age. The Bible applies to them. So I wanted to share with you scripture that supports spiritual development for all people. And at 2 Peter 3, it tells us grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. This isn't referring to physical growth, it is referring to spiritual growth and growing closer to God. Now it doesn't say at what depth, it doesn't say at the length that you're going to go in which to do. It says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. So at all times we're all growing. We're all developing our understanding. We are on a path of spiritual development. If we're believers and we choose to follow Christ, we are certainly on a path to grow in our knowledge of Him.
Speaker 1:
1 Timothy 4.15 says Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Okay, practice, immerse, see the progress. And another one from Philippians 1.9 that says and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. I love these scriptures. They are not setting a precedence except progress.
Speaker 1:
And we can even go on to looking at some more pretty direct scriptures from Hebrews, where Hebrews 6.1 says Therefore, let us lead the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works or faith toward God. I will go on further, but what it's saying is Don't stay where you started, continue to grow in your maturity and your faith. And again, it's all progress. We could go even a little earlier. In Hebrews 5.12-14 that says Though by this time you ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on, milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child, but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Again, it's progress. You're going from the early stages of your faith, you're continuing on in your maturity and you're doing it by constant practice. So here's the thing and the challenge that I would put forth toward you, whether you are a parent, whether you are a teacher, a volunteer in a church, a pastor, whatever, through this, it is challenging us, the scriptures are challenging us to make sure progress is being available.
Speaker 1:
So if I truly just believed that, you know, they just know that God told Noah to build an ark. Noah built an ark, it rained, it dried up, all the people were dead, except for Noah and his family because they obeyed. And now they start over. God put a rainbow in the sky and there's a promise. If we stop there and we don't ever explain and we don't ever talk about the obedience and we don't ever talk about the choices that Noah made even after, that's that spiritual milk that we're giving, right, and if the only thing we ever give is spiritual milk, then typically what you're going to get back is spiritual milk. So what I want to do is. I want to challenge you in your beliefs and understanding of what God can do through the barriers of disability especially we're really referring to intellectual disabilities. If I just believe that, the only thing that I can do is keep on those base of the story. Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he? Climbed up in a sycamore tree and the Lord you wanted to see like, if that's it, that's all I'm ever going to go. We're not going to talk about Zacchaeus and his personality and the choices and we talk about how God came to him and or Jesus came to him and whatever we don't grow, spiritual milk gives you spiritual milk.
Speaker 1:
Here's an example that I want to give to you, as I experienced this as a mom. So my son had heard our children's pastor talk to the kids about the opportunity to be baptized In the church that we attend. It is not something that's done as a child. They're dedicated as a baby and then later, whenever they're ready, they can choose when they want to be baptized. They can do it as a child, but not as an infant, when they can't make that choice. So, anyway, the only stipulations that we had ever put forth for our children was that, hey, you just need to be able to explain to me what this is and why you want to do it. Now, of course, my kids were baptized at age five and six, so it is a very elementary understanding, but I still need them to know what they're doing and why they're doing it. So I explain this.
Speaker 1:
Because my son, noah, who has multiple diagnoses his intellectual disability, he was diagnosed with epilepsy and ADHD. You've heard me talk about him on the podcast before. But he came home and he said mom, I want to be baptized. Okay, so let's talk about it. And he was able to somewhat explain to me about baptism and why he wanted to be baptized. But then fear crept in. Noah does not like crowds, he doesn't like crazy attention on him. That is all very fear-fier finding we're giving for him.
Speaker 1:
And so I had a conversation with our lead pastor and I said, hey, noah wants to be baptized, but here's the problem. Now, of course, baptism is a public expression of your faith, and so my pastor very much wanted him to be able to experience baptism in whatever way would work best for him. But he said but if it all possible, we would love for him to experience this through the church, at the church during service, and so he made all the other things possible, but we just kind of backed off of it. We let it be a Noah decision at this point, and so we just let it go. And I spoke with my husband and I said you know what, if he brings it up again, then we'll approach it, but for right now we're just going to let it be. And I really think that was from the Holy Spirit, because Noah just wasn't ready.
Speaker 1:
And so we go on a couple months later and we are attending a week long camp for individuals with disabilities and it's for the ministry that I serve under, and so I get the opportunity to go. My husband and I are actually training to be coordinators for the camp in Ohio, and so we're super excited. That particular week we had to take Noah with us, because leaving Noah at home just isn't an option. Well, it wasn't an option and so he went with us and one particular evening the evening speaker was sharing about baptism and he kind of gave the experience through making a batch of brownies and he talked about the liquid and the mixing and how the powder changed and all the things through that process. And at the end of the service, noah looked at me and he said mom, I wanna be baptized. And I know what it means. And at that particular time it was such a blessing because our lead pastor was serving at that camp with us and we were able to go to him and say listen, noah wants to be baptized, he's okay with the way that it's going to happen here, which is in front of the whole camp.
Speaker 1:
And so the next steps were kind of the scary steps for me, because I needed to decide if I was going to prepare him for the fact that there was going to be crowds of people or if I was going to just kind of let it play out. And what happened happened. So I actually I chose to prepare Noah, I chose to tell him and we're talking before while I'm putting him to bed and he says I know it's okay. Okay, like he was so bold and he was so sure and he's so understood what he was doing. And here's the thing we allowed him to grow in his knowledge. We allowed not only for him to take the initiative to learn, but also we allowed God to speak to him in only ways that God can, that God helped him to understand that God gave him a boldness in his faith to stand up in front of everyone and to do this. And so that day, that next day, noah was baptized in front of. He was baptized in Spencer Lake, wisconsin, and he was surrounded by boats and people in the lake and he had absolutely no fear. He spoke and said why he wanted to be baptized.
Speaker 1:
But I could have just assumed that he didn't understand it.
Speaker 1:
I could have just assumed that that was never going to happen.
Speaker 1:
I could have taken away that opportunity because I felt as if I understood what he didn't understand.
Speaker 1:
But what we need to know is that God speaks to our hearts.
Speaker 1:
He does not need our intellect, he does not need our know-how and our knowledge.
Speaker 1:
He provides it. He speaks through our barriers. To give that knowledge, that understanding that he requires, what do we have to do? We have to make the gospel of God a reality. We have to make the gospel accessible, we have to open the opportunity for it and then we have to allow God to do his work. And we also have to not be afraid to take it deeper, to offer it deeper, because, again, the understanding that the Lord brings you and I, he brings to people with disabilities, because you and I have sat and we've read scripture and we've not understood it and then all of a sudden we see it in a different light, or God shows us something that brings light to it, and he does that for all of his people. So let's make sure that we're making the gospel accessible, that we're choosing to take the steps of spiritual development and not leave people with intellectual disabilities with spiritual milk, but so that they can grow in their maturity and their knowledge of their Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:
Do I know everything about disability ministry? Do I have all the answers? Have I done everything perfectly? I've absolutely not, but we are going to continue this conversation so that people of all abilities can have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in him and serve him with the gifts that he has given.
