Disability Ministry Makes Life in The Body More Complete
“But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”
1 Corinthians 12:18
For years Pastor Ben McCardell can remember being unsure about what to say or do around someone living with a disability. But now, just one year after launching ministry in support of special needs families, the joy-filled youth pastor and Sunset Bible Church have seen God do a work in their hearts and strengthen their church.
“We have already had so much culture change that disability ministry isn’t just something that we do, but it’s become and it’s becoming more and more a part of who we are as a church,” says Pastor Ben.
Starting a Disability Ministry
Ever since Sunset Bible, a mid-sized church outside of Tacoma, WA intentionally pursued the disability community by hosting a respite event in March of 2023, God has continued to provide all that was needed for ministry to flourish and for more families living with disability to find their place in the body of Christ. Today Sunset not only offers respite nights, but also provides one-on-one “buddy” support for people with disabilities at church during the week. The church also just launched a caregiver support group.
Recounting his own struggle to embrace disability ministry, Ben shared some advice for leaders and congregation members of other churches:
“Just start to consider what these individuals and their families experience on a day-to-day basis in terms of the struggle, and allow your heart to be tugged to help. Do not let the logistics intimidate you in terms of the task you are called to do.”
Looking to Luke 14
“Go out quickly in the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame…. Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”
Luke 14:21, 23 (NIV)
Joni and Friends follows the call Jesus’s call to his followers found in Luke 14. This mandate did not always resonate for Ben as he worked as a youth pastor. Still, his wife, Jori, had many beautiful relationships form as she engaged the disability community growing up.
After they got married, Jori invited Ben to serve with her at a Joni and Friends Family Retreat.
But Ben had little interaction with disability growing up. So his unease around disability led him to believe that serving those with special needs wasn’t his “thing.” However, as he dropped off his wife that first year and witnessed a loving community unlike anything he experienced before, God immediately removed Ben’s fear..
Since then Ben has led several teams from his church to serve at Family Retreat, and this summer he will serve as Camp Pastor for Family Retreat in Washington.
If I could encourage pastors to really take hold of what God wants to do through his church in reaching those living with disability, I would say…the person in front of me—disability or otherwise—is a person whom Jesus loves and whom I’m called to serve. And you are going to be surprised about what the person in front of you will teach you about the love of Jesus. I look at friendship completely different. I love the name Joni and Friends because it really is that: Being a friend like Jesus. It requires laying down our fears and our cares for the good of the person in front of us.”
Ben
A Change in the Church
The work God was doing in Ben’s heart at Family Retreat didn’t immediately translate into ministry in the church. But with ongoing encouragement from his wife and passionate persistence from one of the church members, Pastor Ben eventually realized he didn’t need every single duck in a row to begin breaking down barriers and doing disability ministry.
“I remember having a conversation with our children’s director. And our goal was to have kids with disabilities partake in the ongoing children’s ministry. She was concerned about space. But God has asked all of us to do it. And if he’s asked us to fill his house, then he is going to give us what we need to see it through. And I’ve seen that time and time again since we started.”
As Sunset Bible Church, and the many churches Joni and Friends equips for disability ministry, the body of Christ is becoming more complete. As Ben says:
“It’s what we’re made for. As we read in 1 Corinthians 12, each of us has a place that God has perfectly designed for us to be in the body.”
Volunteer with Joni and Friends!
You can make immediate and eternal impact for people living with disability: Joni and Friends volunteers make 98% of our ministry programming happen! Join us to bring hands-on help and Gospel hope to people with disabilities, at home and across the globe.
