As an employee of Joni and Friends and a Sunday School teacher for my church’s disability ministry, I’m regularly around Christian disability ministry and people affected by disability. One of the most encouraging things about disability ministry is that the people I’m around who believe in disability ministry believe in the importance of the church. In particular, we cling to the truth that the church is the body of Christ, and as the analogy Paul lays out in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 shows, the body of Christ is composed of members–each needed by the others. Or in other words, the church needs people with disabilities!
Now as Christians we believe that the human body is designed, that God intentionally laid out the blueprints of our bodies. So to play with Paul’s analogy, imagine the body of Christ were somehow not intentionally designed. Somehow, God didn’t really put much intentionality into who was in the body and who was out. Somehow we could end up with 3 hands instead of two, and no tailbones because none of that kind of member joined the body. Suddenly, in that case, the doctrine of the body of Christ would not be an encouragement for disability ministry. In fact, as the church, we would want to strategize our evangelism. We’d want to choose the best possible members–the most able, the most rich, the most talented. If our evangelism did bring a wheelchair user into our congregation, would we accept him or her? Would we incorporate this believer fully into body life and service? Why would we?
But if we also believe in election, then the body of Christ is also intentionally designed. One of the founding professors of Westminster Theological Seminary said it this way:
In a body the members must be fitted to each other and are intended for each other. If the body of Christ originated accidentally by the free-will choice of individual men, then there would be no guarantee that it would become a properly proportioned body. God must decide in advance how many ought to belong to it, who those many shall be, and when they should be fitted into it.
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The right meaning [of election] is that the children of God are chosen in order to be in Christ for the purpose that in Christ they would be included as members of His body.
Geerhardus Vos
And in fact, God did! Through foreknowledge, through predestination, through election, through effectual calling, God ensures that every member of the body of Christ is there by decree of his will. Every member of the body of Christ is perfectly fitted for the needs of the church, because God laid out beforehand the very good works each of these people would perform. And these are performed in the context of the local church. So every person affected by disability brought into the family of God by faith is crucially needed by the local church.
If you, like me, believe in election, this should convict you. In the church, there are many ministries to people that fit the Old Testament categories of the “widow, fatherless, orphan, sojourner, poor, afflicted,” etc. We have homeless ministries, pregnancy crisis outreaches, urban ministries, ongoing discussions about how to do various ethnic and racial ministries, partnership with ministries to the poor and to orphans, ministries in various languages, etc. Churches need to participate to various degrees as God calls them in all of these different ministries. Disability ministry is one of these.
But when we do homeless ministry, very few of us have experienced homelessness. Many people who participate in church pregnancy crisis ministry have not personally struggled with the thought of having an abortion. But a very large percentage of people in church disability ministry are related to (or are themselves) a person with disability. I think this suggests we often forget that the gospel and election are for people with disabilities. A correct understanding of election motivates us to pursue disability ministry.
Do we really believe that people with disabilities–physical or intellectual–can be called by God to salvation through faith? This should influence our teaching and preaching! It encourages me any time I have to get up and give a lesson to people with special needs. Do we really believe that the church needs people with disabilities? I hope we do. So how do we make sure we benefit from their gifts? Are our churches and related ministries physically and socially accessible? When we advertise service opportunities, are we open to the idea of people with disabilities leading music on stage or ushering for service or organizing the spreadsheet for the meal distribution? Do we look to be mentored by people with disabilities? Or do we only look to teach people with disabilities? These things matter, because they reflect the consistency of our beliefs in the doctrines of election and the church. By looking at whom we truly respect as our equals before the Lord, we see what we really believe.
The doctrine of election encourages us in ministries like those to people affected by disabilities. I thank God for it, and I could never imagine putting together the lessons I put together or poring over the spreadsheets I work on if I didn’t believe it to be true.
Citizens & Sons 