The Works of God

As I wander about I get to meet quite a few pastors and leaders of churches.  You won’t be shocked to learn that I manage to work in this question: do you have a disability ministry?

I would get three responses:

1. A description of what they are doing.
2. A description of what they hope they would do in the future.
3. Looking at their shoes and saying they didn’t do anything.

Number 3 happened more than 1 and 2 combined.  Frankly, that wasn’t very encouraging!  It was also something of a conversation killer.

But I stumbled across a different way to phrase it which has given me more insight into churches that is far more encouraging:

Tell me about your members with disabilities.

Sometimes they still look at their shoes and admit they don’t have any members with disabilities.  But more often will come a grin (at the delight they have in their members with disabilities) or a sigh (at the tremendous burdens and suffering they see in their members with disabilities), and then a story or two or three.

People are being served in many churches without any sort of formal disability ministry, and because it isn’t formal it often isn’t recognized as ministry.  But when I hear about individuals or families experiencing disability being served or having their gifts being used by the church, I am encouraged and hopefully speak encouragement into those pastors and leaders!

These individual efforts are worth pointing out and honoring because it is valuable in itself and it might be the beginning of something much larger. Most churches that have a recognized disability ministry began with a few people just doing what needed to be done for other people in the congregation.  In fact, I can’t think of any that didn’t start that way.

And some pastors don’t even know what service is happening in their churches!  I had an experience where a pastor looked at his shoes after I asked about members with disabilities, then later in the evening one of his own members talked about how happy they were that a child with a disability was welcome at that same church. That pastor may not have known the specifics of all his people, but he’s obviously creating a culture that is welcoming for that family.  And that’s something to encourage and to be encouraged about!

So, what do you think of my change in phrasing?  Is there an even better way to ask about what is happening in churches?

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I do believe that deeply rooted in every human heart is a longing for beauty. Why do we go to the Grand Canyon, the Boundary Waters, art exhibits, gardens? Why do we plant trees and flower beds? Why do we paint our inside walls? Why is it man and not the monkeys who decorated cave walls with pictures? Why is it that in every tribe of humans ever known there has always been some form of art and craftsmanship that goes beyond mere utility? Is it not because we long to behold and be a part of beauty? We crave to be moved by some rare glimpse of greatness. We yearn for a vision of glory.

John Piper, Jesus Is Precious Because We Yearn for Beauty, March 28, 1982

I would agree!  And we found some while we were away.

Paul wouldn’t have enjoyed all the hiking that required.  But we had different ways for him to enjoy our time away from home, like a second celebration of his birthday with his other grandma.

I finished three books and made good progress on a fourth while we were away.

One of those books is being released at the end of this month.  When I finished it and turned off my iPad, I praised God for the man and the book.  I’ll have more to say about that book later in the month.

And then I thought about Joni & Friends and The Elisha Foundation (among others) and books by Greg Lucas, Nancy Guthrie, Paul Wolfe, and Paul Miller (among others) and the churches that have done disability ministry long before Bethlehem like Grace Church in Eden Prairie and College Church in Wheaton and McLean Bible Church in Virginia (among others) and the good pastor-fathers of disabled children I know like Kempton and Paul and Steve (among others).

And Desiring God’s conference on disability and the bible this fall.

God is up to something big. I don’t know exactly what, but let’s keep praying for more!

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Dr.Linda Treloar, writer of the the article, Disability, spiritual  beliefs and the church: the experiences of adults with disabilities and family members, presents a refreshingly positive view of Christian belief with some findings that pastors should find helpful.  Unfortunately the article is owned by a journal that only provides libraries and subscribers access, so I cannot link to it here.

She makes great attempts to be fair in her descriptions.  For example, here is how she describes Evangelical Christians:

Evangelical Christians recognize the Bible as the inerrant, inspired word of God in its original writings. Biblical scriptures, the active living word of God, provide direction for living (see National Association of Evangelicals 2002, Scottsdale Bible Church 2002).

No political references and no pejorative language.  The entire article is written the same way, through the description of the study itself to the recruiting process through the findings.  I do not believe that Dr. Treloar has any particular connection with or affection for Christian beliefs, but she is certainly sympathetic to her study participants.  Frequently she lets them tell their own stories:

One person said to me, ‘Don’t you hate God if He would do this to you?  That He chose you to have a child with a disability?’ Very strong words. Why, who am I? I don’t have a right to say to God, ‘Who are you to do that to me?’ I’m His child, so is Michelle. He’s doing what He sees best for us, even though we don’t necessarily see the big picture. Most of us have a limited perspective of who we are in relation to God, even people that go to church regularly.

Dr. Treloar appears to be most interested in what actually helped people put their experience of disability into perspective, so there is very little interpretting of whether the study participants are ‘right’ in their beliefs or not.  I believe that to be a weakness of the study, but it also allows her to go where the study participants take her rather than to pre-determined conclusions.

And she presents some very helpful advice for churches:

Several religious factors positively influenced the participants’ responses to challenges associated with disability. God was at the centre of the participants’ ultimate concerns. They used the Bible and their faith to provide meaning for their lives (emphasis mine). They experienced decreased spiritual distress for disability when their life circumstances were congruent with their spiritual beliefs. While high religious support by the church promoted positive adaptation to disability, it was not as important as the participants’ personal relationship with Jesus Christ (emphasis mine).

In other words, encourage the study of the Bible and a right understanding of Jesus Christ!  And a common outcome of such an understanding?

What the participants’ believed influenced their response to life. The participants chose to live with joy and thankfulness despite stresses associated with disability. This reflected their belief in God’s greater purpose and plan for their lives.

The study participants also made recommendations:

The participants emphasized the need for increased assistance by the church in establishing theological meaning for disability (emphasis mine). Lack of a biblical foundation for achieving meaning in disability promoted spiritual distress and movement away from God and the church for a few participants.

There are weaknesses to this study:

1. It focused on Evangelical Christians, who would more naturally be oriented toward trusting in and granting authority to the Bible.  People who do not share these beliefs can easily dismiss the study conclusions as irrelevant to their experiences.
2. The study was very small – less than 30 participants.
3. Christianity is still presented as a means of coping, providing understanding and/or meaning for disability.  While sympathetic to the positive benefits for believing in Jesus Christ, there is no case made for him being the central authority in all the universe as he is described in the Bible: All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3).

And maybe I give this study too much credit because it reflects my own experience. As I have written before, God-centered people were very helpful in pointing me to Jesus, but it was God’s word that has proven decisive over and over again, exactly where she is pointing.

But I find it very encouraging that a secular, peer-reviewed journal would seriously consider the positive benefits of Christian belief.  And the findings did not end on a note of developing new programs or counseling methods, but on providing a right theological framework.

And that is something everyone, disabled or non-disabled, should be pursuing in the church.

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And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

My apologies for the quality of the video.

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Actually, I’m not sure what round we’re on. There have been several.

Yesterday we received Paul’s test scores in the mail from last spring’s Minnesota Test of Academic Skills. The Saint Paul schools always send these scores about this time of year.

His score:  zero.  

And that was on the alternate achievement standards test for kids in special education.

After a few of these I expected it, but the stark reality of the score still makes me pause, because I have a decision to make in that moment:

• Do I consider all the assets Paul has and brings to our house to balance off this rotten score?  Do I think about how loving and happy he is?  Do I add in how happy his sister is to serve him?  Do I consider how he has helped me view the world differently?  Do I hope in his innocence?

All of these are good things, but I’m back to me trying to give him some value that can justify his existence.  And eventually it just makes me think about all the things he can’t do.

• Or do I obliterate my desire to find comfort in temporal, earthly things, even good things, and remember what God has to say about his creation and his elect?  Things like:

Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you, declares theLord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Isaiah 43:1-2 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

2 Timothy 1:8-12 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,which is why I suffer as I do.

I do not need to justify my son’s existence to the world. I may and do have to defend him, but God has already confirmed his value because God gave him life.  And God created Paul for God’s own purposes, which do not include high test scores. All the other joyful things, like Paul’s generally happy disposition, are just benefits.

So, the score came, and the pause came, and I did not succumb to the temptation to make much of the earthly gifts Paul has. That is a grace from God as I have frequently failed at that first moment.  But not this time.  Lord willing, not the next time, either.

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