Image-bearers encountering Christ

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, 

how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace 

of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Romans 5:15 (NIV)

Grace and salvation overflows to the many, which includes those whose lives are touched by disability. In many books on special needs ministry, I see the focus on the truth that we were all created in the image of God. And that certainly is true, but it's incomplete.

That last remark might sound extreme, but let me explain. A friend of mine drew my attention to this news article last week, the story of  the bar mitzvah of a boy with multiple disabilities. From a disability advocacy perspective, it's encouraging, and it provides a model of a faith tradition welcoming those with special needs in another country.

The primary reason for Jewish children with special needs to be included in religious ceremonies, as stated in the article, was that they are made in the image of God, like each of us. And that is certainly true. But it is also true that they are each sinners in need of the Savior.

It may seem like I'm being picky here. After all, the passages Jews use to support the "image of God" reasoning includes some of the same verses we use, given that we share some scriptures. But as I've reviewed books about Christianity and disability, I have been surprised to see that many of those books stress only that these individuals are made in the image of God. Sin and salvation? Only mentioned in passing, if at all.

It would be wrong if I added the words "except people with disabilities" to verses about being made in the image of God. Likewise, it's wrong if we tack the same dismissive clause to the end of verses like Romans 3:23-24:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

and are justified by his grace as a gift, 

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

Have you ever heard someone say, "Oh, I love working with kids with special needs. They're just so cute, especially the ones with Down syndrome!" The problem with comments like those is that they can dismiss the truth that each of those kids is a kid first. The child has a disability; the disability does not have him. And I can vouch from experience that the five children with Down syndrome at our church are certainly precious ... but they are also mischievous and occasionally disobedient, just like any other children at our church.

Sometimes the true statement about people with special needs being made in the image of God is said in the same tone as "aren't they so cute?" It's almost said as if they have an exalted status, as if the image of God that they project is somehow more complete or less marred by sin than their non-disabled peers. My concern is that an overemphasis on "the image of God" could be motivating us to settle for accessibility without progressing to inclusion.

Yes, we need to ensure that individuals with special needs can enter churches and Sunday school classes. To be transparent about our past failures at my church, though, we used to do that well...but we didn't really aim to teach the kids with disabilities once they arrived. If someone walked by a class, they might have assumed we practiced real inclusion because kids with special needs were included in our typical classes. We included them in classes because it was easier than making a separate class and because, after all, they were created by God too; we just didn't try to figure out how to teach them in a meaningful way.

Did we think it was too hard? Yes, in part. Did we care more about appearing to be inclusive rather than actually being inclusive? Maybe a little of that. Did we feel like our aim was to make sure parents could go to church? A little of that too. Did we fall short because we weren't convinced that they needed to know Christ and be discipled as much as any other child? Yes, I think that was a big part of it although no one would have admitted that.

I began coordinating Access Ministry with my husband within a month of teaching a vacation Bible school class that included a little boy with Down syndrome. Over the course of the week, we kept him safe. I don't think we did a whole lot more than that, though, and his cognitive abilities were high enough for him to have learned a lot more than he did, even without significant modifications being made.

My point here isn't that we should stop talking about people with disabilities as being made in the image of God, just like you or me. My point is that we shouldn't stop there. As it says in the verse I began with, grace and salvation overflow to the many through Christ. The sin that has stained the image of God in each of us can only be made clean by Christ.

I would love for everyone to see people with disabilities as creations of our great God. And I would love for salvation and grace to overflow to every person - with or without special needs. I don't just want to recognize those I love as image bearers; I want them to be image bearers who encounter the God whose image they bear.

The YES

Several weeks ago, a guy I respect in disability ministry wrote a series of posts about an informal online survey he did with parents of kids with special needs. Michael Woods - who is also the dad of three boys with autism spectrum disorders - is skilled at fostering community, so he was in a good position to conduct that survey, yielding far more responses than I would have gotten if I attempted the same thing! Of the 136 who responded, 25% attended a church with a special needs ministry program, 20% attended a church without a formal or defined program, and 55% didn't attend at all. He commended the churches in that 20% group for welcoming families, even without a program, He also suggested in the next post that even if a church is finding ways to welcome people with special needs, it's still better to have a program than not to have one.

I respectfully disagree about that last opinion. (However, he raises good points, so I think it's a good idea to follow those links to see what he has to say!)

Before I get into why, though, let me share another post with you from another guy who I respect in disability ministry. What Dr. Grcevich wrote was a little different, though: a proposition that any church, even one who doesn't "do programs," can find a way to welcome families with special needs.

I'm going to chime in now with a couple thoughts. First, I think it may be healthier in some churches not to have a defined program. I've seen the definition of a program change the mindset of the church; sometimes the presence of a program makes the body of Christ in that church start thinking it's ________ program staff/volunteers' job to welcome those folks instead of it's on all of us to show love. Please don't get me wrong; it's not the program that causes the problem. It's the perception of the people. But it happens. Also, I've seen programs become a way of excluding people with special needs instead of including them. Once again, it's not the presence of the program that causes this division, but it happens.

Conversely, though, programs communicate something that a more organic model often doesn't. In the special needs world, lots of programs exist to coordinate health care and education and other aspects of life with a disability, so individuals with special needs (and, where applicable, their families and/or caregivers) may expect programs. Additionally, it defines a commitment and often communicates that commitment in a different way. For example, my husband and I found our current church through its website, and that site - like many church websites - has a place to click to find out about ministries offered there. If a special needs ministry is listed in that place or visibly integrated into pages for other ministries, that communicates something that a simple statement of welcome might not.

As for the churches who were somehow including children with special needs without having formal programs, maybe they're doing the simple church thing that was discussed in Dr. G's post. Maybe not. Maybe they're doing special needs ministry well without a program in place. Maybe they're not.

What I do know is that they are doing something right, whether or not they have a program. Those families showed up, and there was a place for their kid(s). In whatever way they did it, those churches said yes.

That's what special needs ministry is. It's not programs and policies and intake forms and respite nights and curriculum and modifications and all those trappings that support it. (Not to say, though, that those things aren't important. They are, but they only matter after the yes has been established.) As I've written previously in one of my all-time favorite posts, special needs ministry isn't just another program. Special needs ministry is, at its core, a willingness to say yes when that family calls or shows up and when that adult with a disability comes through your doors.

Most special needs ministry efforts are not elegant in the beginning. Actually, drop that last part: Most special needs ministry efforts are not elegant. (And maybe we should drop "most" as well?)

It's the yes. Yes, this is worth it. Yes, we want to share the love of Jesus with all people, regardless of disabilities and special needs. Yes, we care. Yes, we'll figure it out, even if it's a little scary and confusing.

The yes matters.

Monday round-up! {6/27/11}

No one commented at the end of last week's Monday round-up when I asked if you liked this sort of post or not, so if you have an opinion either way, let me know! I still haven't decided if this will be a regular thing or if I'll go back to writing a regular post for Mondays.

Do you look away from disability?: During both of my pregnancies, especially my second one during which I was in bed for a while, I camped out at BabyCenter. This is a thought-provoking article with even more interesting comments. There was also a related article in the NY Times this week.

This and this and this and this and this and this and this are all recent articles I came across about churches who are embracing people with special needs.

This dad of twin boys with autism does an excellent job describing autism in general and the joys and struggles of parents. (While he does describe his children as miracles, I don't know what his faith is.)

Focus on the Family posted this article from the Summer 2011 edition of their Thriving Family magazine about a mother's experience thinking that parents or kids with special needs were superhuman and then becoming one of those parents.

MassMutual graduated their first class of agents designated as Chartered Special Needs Consultants (ChSNC™). Read about it here.

Here's a press release about a study from Baylor indicating that church congregations are blind to mental illness.

And if you haven't seen this life-affirming commercial from Pampers, enjoy!

“But what if they can’t understand the teaching?”: How can they be saved? (Fridays from the Families)

Yesterday I broke this question into two separate ones: (1) But what am I supposed to do on Sunday morning if they can’t understand the teaching? (which I posted about yesterday) and (2) But how can I think and preach soteriologically if they can’t understand the teaching. In other words, can they be saved in the typical sense of how we consider salvation through faith?

This is the harder question. And, while I will post in more length at some point about this when I am able to take time to gather the words to do so, for now I’m going to pass the ball to Greg Lucas. He’s the guy who wrote the book I highly recommended a couple weeks ago, Wrestling with An Angel. As the dad of a child who has disabilities, he has wrestled with this question. And, finally, he answers it better than I can.

The reason I recommend his response is two-fold:

1. It’s scriptural. Most of the answers I’ve found in my searches on this topic are based on feelings rather than the Bible. When we make theological judgments from the gut instead of from the Word, we’re standing on the wrong foundation even if we deliver the right answer.
2. It acknowledges that God is God and we are not. I sometimes forget that when I’m searching for an answer to any question. I like answers. I like facts. I’m not comfortable, most of the time, with questions and mystery and empty blanks. But, as a believer, there are times when I have to rest in God’s sovereignty as I say, “I don’t know, but he does, and that’s good enough for me.” As we teach and preach, we need to be mindful that we are not the source of all answers. It is not our job to provide answers but to point to Christ. He is our answer. As Spurgeon preached in 1865, “If I might only have it to utter one sentence, it would be this one, ‘Your help is found in Christ.’” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Memory: The Handmaid of Hope)

 So check out Greg’s answer below (reprinted with permission, originally posted here). And rest in God’s sovereignty.

“For by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The more I try to comprehend the sovereignty of God in salvation, the more I am astounded by His grace. That even the faith to believe is a gift given to those who deserve only His just wrath.

So the sovereign Lord gives us faith in His Son and we believe that Jesus came, lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death for the payment of our sins. All the wrath of the Father justly reserved for us was cast upon His Son. All the righteousness of Jesus is transferred to us by grace through the work of the cross.

As one preacher so simply stated, “On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He had lived your life, so He could treat you as if you had lived His.” A profound paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 5:21

All of this is obtained by grace through faith. I understand that.

What I don’t understand is how this is applied, or better yet, how this works itself out in the life of an individual who cannot respond in faith, who cannot even speak, or who does not have the ability to comprehend the truth of the gospel.

I’m not thinking of the native in a far unreached part of the world that at least has a general revelation to point him towards more specific revelation.

I am thinking about my 17 year old son who has the mental capacity of a 2 year old.

I know Jake is a sinner—boy do I know. And I know that he is in desperate need of a Savior. I also know that salvation comes through repentance and faith, neither of which have I ever seen or could imagine seeing in my son’s life.

He does not understand the cross, or the sacrifice that was made. He knows nothing of his Adamic nature or fallen state. I’m not even sure that he treasures Christ above Jelly Belly’s or Santa Clause. So how can he be saved? How is the gift of faith applied to his lack of comprehension of the gospel?

I believe it all comes back to the main application of salvation for each of us—God’s undeserving grace. Yes, Jake is sinful. And yes, he is in desperate need of a savior. If he is saved from the just wrath of God, he will be saved by faith, but how that faith is gifted to him and in what capacity it is made manifest is still only through the mystery of God’s amazing grace.

I rest in that grace, not only for my own salvation, but for the salvation of my son.

I’m sure there is a lot of systematic theology that could be applied at this point, but I am not a theologian, I am a father. However, I do hope that no one mistakes my emotional parental response for a lack of searching the scriptures diligently for a solid answer to this important question.

I have poured over God’s promises like a doctor searching for a cure of the deadly disease in his own child, looking for hope and confidence in this grey area of my son’s life. There are many passages that give hints to the question I pose, but in the end I believe the passage in Ephesians 2 brings the most peace to my own soul—that Jake’s state is really no different from my own.

We are both separated from God by sin, in desperate need of a savior, and even if it is faith that appropriates our salvation, this faith is not our own doing—it is the gift of God. So that in the end our boast and our only hope is in the mysterious, amazing grace of God.

How will my son be saved?

“For by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

I rest hopeful in God’s promises.

“But what if they can’t understand the teaching?”: Teaching how-to

A few months ago, I was speaking with a woman I admire and respect, the wife of a seminary professor. She is a teaching assistant in a special education class, and as she and I talked about her students, she shared, “I agree that special needs ministry matters. But as I, for example, work with one of my girls who I love and who has autism and who can’t communicate in any way right now, I don’t know what it would look like to teach her about Jesus.”

At that point, our conversation was interrupted, and I wasn’t sure at the time how to answer her heartfelt comment. I’ve heard the question posed before, though, and it’s one that begs to be answered.

It’s actually two questions in one: (1) But what am I supposed to do on Sunday morning if they can’t understand the teaching? and (2) But how can I think and preach soteriologically if they can’t understand the teaching? In other words, can they be saved?

Today I’ll take the easier of the two, the first one. Tomorrow, though, I’ll wade into the deeper waters of question two. (Well, to be honest, I'll let a dad I highly respect wade into those waters for me.)

If you’ve read my blog much, you know that I like answering questions with other questions. So, here goes: Do you ask, “how do I show Jesus to the babies in our nursery?” I’m guessing not. I guessing you love them and rock them and push them in strollers and change their diapers and give bottles and all those other practical actions that are necessary for welcoming them into your congregation.

Why do those working in the nursery change diapers? Because the child needs that. Why are they held instead of just left in cribs to cry? Because that’s how you show love to a little one. How do you tell them about Jesus? By singing simple truths like “Jesus loves me.” By serving them. By reading Bible storybooks written at their levels. By reflecting Christ in your actions. By doing every developmentally appropriate thing you can to point them to Christ.

And so it is with those with significant special needs. You share truth at their level. You serve. You read Bible stories. You reflect Christ in word and deed. You do every developmentally appropriate thing you can to point them to Christ.

That’s what you do if you’re not sure they can understand. Because some day they might understand, just as the infants in the nursery grow up to be children who grasp the basic truths shared with them when they were still in the crib. And because 1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us that what we see is limited, but God's view of the heart is complete, so only he knows the extent to which his truth is penetrating there.

But the Lord said to Samuel, 

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, 

because I have rejected him. 

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, 

but the Lord looks on the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7