Everyone has a seat at God's table, but not every seat is for everyone

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What if we've been thinking about inclusion all wrong? While the world promotes the idea that inclusion means "I get to be wherever I want," genuine biblical inclusion offers something far more meaningful—the accessibility to serve exactly where God has called you.

This episode tackles the challenging terrain of what inclusion truly means within church communities, especially when it comes to disability ministry. Drawing from personal experience and biblical foundations, we explore how over 65 million Americans have disabilities (25% of the population), yet a staggering 80% remain outside church walls. This reality demands that we reconsider our approach to welcome, belonging, and purpose.

Through examining Scripture's guidance on welcoming others and utilizing spiritual gifts, we unpack the paradox that true inclusion isn't about erasing all boundaries, but rather creating the right spaces for people to thrive according to their divine design. Just as churches have youth ministries, women's groups, and other specialized communities, there's profound value in disability-specific ministries that provide understanding, connection, and equipping—all while maintaining pathways to full participation in the broader church body.

The heart of this message resonates beyond disability inclusion, challenging all of us to reconsider how we welcome, equip, and deploy every person according to their God-given gifts. Whether you're a ministry leader seeking practical wisdom or someone wondering about your own place in the body of Christ, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on what it means to create communities where everyone has the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him, and serve with their unique gifts. How might your church's approach to inclusion change if you embraced this understanding?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a wife, mom, teacher,pastor and missionary and I
believe that every person shouldhave the opportunity to know
Christ, grow in Him and serveHim with the gifts that he has
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans havea disability.
That's 25% of the population.

(00:26):
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics biblical foundations,
perceptions and world-changingideas.
Hey, hey, and welcome to thisepisode of Indispensable People.

(01:00):
Today we're chatting aboutinclusion and that might be kind
of like old news.
Why are we talking about this?
Maybe you're going, okay, we'veheard this, why, why?
And I have recently had someconversations that really impact
my thinking and my processingand inclusion overall the

(01:29):
definition, how it fits into ourchurches, all of those kinds of
things and inclusion, simple,right Included, and the idea of
inclusion is that everyone wouldbe included.
And here's the thing I don'tfit everywhere and that's okay,

(01:57):
but the idea of inclusion, theway that we are kind of walking
this through in the world, isthat everybody belongs wherever
they want to go, and that's notaccurate, it all that kind of
situation.
We've gone to some things whereyou know kids in school, like

(02:35):
controversial things, with kidsin school saying you know, I'm a
cat, I identify as this orwhatever.
That the identification is inall kinds of things, right.
We have men's sports, women'ssports and now we're having, you
know, the crossover of whobelongs in where and how is that

(02:56):
fair and all of that kind ofthing right?
So this idea of inclusion isalmost kind of like wherever I
want to be, that is consideredinclusion for me.
However, when we take this intothe context of church and we

(03:18):
look at the family of God Godwe're identifying what does
inclusion mean within the churchand how does that impact how we
serve people in general and howwe serve people with
disabilities.
And inclusion at its purestmeans that everyone has an

(03:39):
accessible seat at the table,right, worldly.
Inclusion means I fit whereverI want to.
True inclusion means that thereis accessibility to fit where
God wants me, and so the idea ofinclusion isn't the same as the
way the world looks at.
The world looks at inclusion asI get to be a part of.

(04:03):
I'm not excluded, I am welcomed, those types of things.
But the family of God, okay, andthe concept of inclusion in my
mind and in my understandings,actually very, very different.

(04:25):
Because, as a person created inthe image of God, god has
specific calling and purpose formy life.
Okay, and scripture says fromRomans 15, 7, therefore, welcome
one another, as Christ haswelcomed you for the glory of

(04:47):
God.
So our purposes of being a partof the family of God are to
glorify God.
And so then we go to morescriptures that speak about our
giftings, our talents, ourcallings giftings, our talents,

(05:13):
our callings and we know andneed to understand from that
that not everyone belongseverywhere.
Not every person is called todo certain things.
I do not have the talent ofleading worship, I do not sound
good, I don't know how to singon key, I don't understand all

(05:37):
the musicality of the thingsthat go along with it, and it's
not been one of my giftings.
However, prior to becoming apastor and missionary, one of
the things that I was very goodat and pastors who knew me and
that I worked under organizationand planning and prepping

(06:00):
things like that was a hugegifting for me.
Things like that was a hugegift thing for me, and so those
were areas of which I was used.
So here's the thing Inclusionin the church has to start with
accessible doors, to be welcomed, to be included as a part of
the family of God.

(06:20):
Inclusion from there means thatwe're identifying gifts and
talents within each person inthe body of Christ so that they
can serve him and glorify him.
So, also, in addition to thosevery it's honestly a very simple

(06:41):
way of thinking.
In doing that, we don't have tocomplicate it, we don't have to
cloud it.
Yes, some gifts are going to beevident and easy to see and
other gifts are going to besomething that we have to look
for more deeply and investigateand find placement and that kind

(07:04):
of stuff.
But beyond that, this is kind ofthe do we do inclusion only?
Do we have a separate learning,disability ministries, all of
that kind of thing?
And I think the answer is yes.

(07:31):
And tab, kids ministry, youthministry, women's ministry,
men's ministry, prison ministryyou know all the different
groupings of people that weminister to separately.
And why do we do that?
What is the core reasoningbehind that?
The core reasoning behind thatis you can be a part of a group

(07:55):
that fully understands you, thatgets you, that speaks
specifically to your place inlife, what you're dealing with,
where you're handling at um,they're also common
commonalities and people walkinglife out together um living,
living this life for Christthrough the story and the story

(08:20):
that you have been given in yourlife.
And so I feel the same exact wayabout people with disabilities.
I can tell you that I love achurch where people with
disabilities are everywhere andthey are a part of things and
they are serving and they areattending and they are included.

(08:43):
Okay, that's what my churchlooks like, but also we have a
specific disability ministry andwe do respite events and we
have support groups for parentsof children with disabilities.
We have a neurodiversity Biblestudy group.
We have all of those differentkinds of things that minister

(09:09):
specifically to the people wherethey're at, what they're
walking through, what they'redealing with so that we can
apply the scriptures to theirlife, and where they're walking
through, what they're dealingwith so that we can apply the
scriptures to their life, andwhere they're at, but also where
, when we minister to themspecifically in that space, it

(09:29):
allows them to fully participatein their giftings and callings
within the entire body of Christ.
So we equip them and build themup where they're at, in the
communities and with people whoget them, who understand them,
who are walking out a similarlife to them, but then also it's

(09:49):
not so just they can stay there, right, we don't minister to
women just in women's groups sothat they can only be with women
.
We don't minister to women justin women's groups so that they
can only be with women.
We don't do that with youth.
We don't do that with kids.
We are growing and disciplingkids and teens so that as they
grow into adults, they are ableto minister, glorify God and
live out their God-given talentsand gifts for Him.

(10:11):
So that is the ultimate goaland I can tell you, through the
ministry that I serve under that, when you come to one of our
summer getaway programs and youwatch people with disabilities
minister to one another have afair and level playing ground

(10:33):
where people who get them, whounderstand who they don't have
to explain themselves, theydon't have to kind of live in a
different.
I don't want to say they don'thave to mask or they don't have
to pretend, but it's kind oflike you know, you can shed all

(10:55):
of those worries, those extrabarriers that typically exist,
and I know that people are goingto say, well, full inclusion
means those barriers aren't athing.
Well, listen.
Just as men and women are notthe same human beings and God
created them and designed themdifferently for a purpose, that
means that men are not evergoing to fully get women and

(11:16):
women are not ever fully goingto get everything about men.
We can work to understand andgain understanding and
acceptance through that, butthat doesn't mean that we see
things the same, that we livethings out the same, that we'll
get full understanding.
And so to believe that peoplewho are not impacted by

(11:40):
disabilities will fullyunderstand and have full
compassion and be able to breakdown barriers and do all of that
kind of stuff, it's just that'sliving in a fairyland.
However, an expectation ofbuilding understanding, breaking
down some of those barrierswithin your church, that is

(12:03):
fully doable, fully accept you,who you go, you know it, you
understand it.
All of those kinds of thingsgives opportunities to minister

(12:24):
so that you can be deployed todo what God has called you to do
.
And it's the same thing inother groups and separations
that we do in other ministries,so that as we come together in
the body of Christ, we can befully equipped, we can be fully
understood, we can fill thatspace that God has created us

(12:50):
for, and we can't do that if wedon't have an understanding of
where we're from, what we'redealing with.
Have other people that we canrelate to, grow together as the
body of Christ?
There's so many components ofpositivity that come from
ministering to people wherethey're at, and so inclusion is

(13:13):
great.
Every person should have a seatat the table.
But inclusion doesn't mean Iget to do and I get to go
wherever I want to In the bodyof Christ.
It means going and doing as Godhas called me to do, and we can
do that by building one anotherup in inclusive spaces and in
separated spaces.

(13:33):
And in separated spaces Becausethe models of school, the
models of churches this is whathas worked for years and years
and years.
And having a disability doesn'tnegate your need to be
ministered to in ways that workspecifically for you.

(13:53):
And so we do that, so thatevery person can know Christ,
they can grow in Him and theycan serve Him with the gifts
that he has given.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I have absolutely not, but weare going to continue this

(14:14):
conversation so that people ofall abilities can have the
opportunity to know Christ, growin Him and serve Him with the
gifts that he has given them.
For deeper dives into thesetopics and more, check out
indispensablepeoplecom and visitAmazon to purchase the books

(14:35):
the Indispensable Kid and GospelAccessibility and the
Indispensable People.