November 21, 2025 • 10 mins
We answer common questions about preparing a team for disability ministry, from recruiting through Scripture and prayer to building sustainable volunteer rhythms and clear safety policies. We share practical training steps, event-based on-ramps, and resources that grow a culture of gospel accessibility.
• the scale of disability and the church attendance gap
• recruiting through a no‑commitment Bible study
• identifying gifts and building shared language
• protecting volunteers with sustainable rotations
• event on‑ramps like respite nights and Night to Shine
• clear policies that reassure parents and teams
• training from theology to de‑escalation skills
• resources for ongoing growth and culture change
• multiplying disciples through accessible ministry
If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable-People blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral, and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a pastor, a teacher, amissionary, a mom, a wife, and I
believe that every person shouldhave access to the gospel so
that they can know Christ, growin him, and serve him with the
gifts that he has given.
Over 65 million Americans have adisability.
(00:24):
That's 15 to 20% of everycommunity.
And over 85% of thoseindividuals do not attend
church.
90% of pastors believe that theyare a disability-friendly
church, but only 20% of parentsand families agree.
Let's dive deep into hardtopics, big questions,
(00:47):
perceptions, stereotypes, and somuch more.
Hey, welcome to today's episode.
We're talking about frequentlyasked questions when considering
a disability or special needsministry where blog readers,
(01:08):
listeners, and supporters haveshared some questions with us so
that we can answer.
Because if you have thequestion, most likely someone
else does too.
So today we're talking aboutpreparing a team.
How do you prepare a team to dodisability ministry, special
(01:29):
needs ministry?
And there are an abundance ofways to do this.
And any leader knows your firststep into a team building type
thing is to recruit, right?
You can't train people thatdon't exist.
You can't prepare people thataren't sold out for what you
(01:52):
have or have a passion and acalling to do the ministry that
you have.
So I will tell you, one of thefirst things that I did in
starting a disability ministrywas I did a Bible study and we
studied different um scripturesand ideas on the foundations of
what God said about disabilityministry or disabilities in
(02:14):
general.
And I invited a ton of peopleand I specifically prayed about
who those people would be, cameacross them, invited them to
this Bible study, and told themthat listen, I would love for
you to come and attend this.
There's no pressure, there is nocommitment.
I just want you to come, seewhat this is about, and see if
(02:36):
it's something that God has foryou to be a part of.
And so that was my firstapproach.
And it covered a couple ofthings.
First of all, it helped me tofind people, it helped me to
bring a topic of informationthat people otherwise might not
have been aware of.
It also gave me an opportunityto seek out individuals that I
(03:03):
saw that gifting in.
And again, that they may nothave even recognized in or
understood of themselves.
And so the next part, it being anon-commitment type thing really
helped people go, okay, I'mgonna come, I'll see.
It's probably not my thing, orit might be my thing.
(03:24):
And they could engage inconversations, learn more the
basis of the foundation.
Because here's the dealregardless of whether they are
hands-on in your disabilityministry, they're in your
congregation.
So that learning and experience,even if they choose not to
commit to the ministry, theyhave a foundation and
(03:48):
understanding that will benefitthem as a full congregation and
welcoming and engaging peoplewith disabilities in the church.
So that was number one.
Recruitment was number one,building a foundation and
understanding that came withthat.
The next thing is to beintentional, set expectations,
(04:12):
letting those volunteers knowwhat the different types of
commitments could be, whatevents are available, those kind
of things.
So they kind of know out thegate, like this is what my
commitment might look like.
This so I'll give you a coupleof examples of what that looks
like.
We have people who serve asbuddies on Sundays, and I truly
(04:35):
believe that an every Sundaybuddy is not the key.
And I want to always protect myvolunteers and not to overwork
them.
So we want to avoid volunteerburnout.
We want to make sure that theyhave breaks, they have chances
to be fed, and that oftentimes alot of those individuals want to
(04:57):
serve in more than one place.
And so giving them theopportunity to not have to serve
every single week is beneficialin a multitude of ways.
So my buddies in my home churchserve one Sunday a month.
And so that's their commitmenton that.
If they choose to serve in othercapacities, you know, sound
(05:20):
tech, worship, kids' church,whatever, that's their that's
their choice.
But so we try to protect that.
The other things is we haveindividuals who maybe
participate in other ministrythings on Sundays and
Wednesdays.
So being a buddy on a regularrotation might not be an option,
(05:41):
but participating in events thatwe hold as a church.
So for example, we do respitenights.
We have a lot of volunteers thatvolunteer at respite night that
do not regularly serve asbuddies.
We also do once a year TimTebow's Night to Shine.
So that's a one-time commitmenteach year.
And so some of those of likeevent type things, the outreach
(06:04):
things like Night to Shine andRespite, are great way to even
recruit buddies.
So they start with the thesmaller commitment and then
maybe build up because it allowsthem to see giftings that they
have and allows you to see thegiftings that they might have.
The other things that you wantto set out, and we kind of
(06:26):
address some of these things inour previous podcast, policies
and procedures, set those foryour ministry because there's a
settling that feels good tovolunteers when they know what's
expected of them and they knowwhat will happen and how they're
protected and that things are inplace.
I will also tell you that thatis a great benefit to parents,
(06:49):
also.
Parents really appreciateknowing what is in place.
For example, when I meet a newfamily, I can tell them our
volunteers are backgroundchecked, they're never left
alone.
This is this, you know, thesystems that we operate under,
that kind of stuff.
These are the steps that we havefor our volunteers and for the
individuals that participate inthe ministry.
(07:10):
So those things are all veryimportant.
The other things that we dotrainings, we go to churches, we
equip those teams, we equip theentire congregation.
We go from teaching things aboutfoundational scriptures and what
the Bible says about disability.
We also do some disabilityawareness, building compassion
(07:32):
and not pity training, and thenon to, you know, we call them
like toolbelt tips and tricks ofthe trade, right?
And de-escalating techniques,all of that kind of stuff,
different things that um we canhelp build and equip the church
to do.
So participating in some type oftraining is absolutely
incredibly important.
(07:54):
I also have for you available, Iwill do a shameless plug of this
podcast.
I have written two books.
One is The Indispensable Kid,which is a personal experience
as a parent with special needsfrom my perspective.
And also a book called GospelAccessibility and Indispensable
(08:15):
People.
And that is basically a ministryhow-to setting up your
disability ministry.
Here's what it looks like,here's some resources, all the
other kind of stuff.
And then we I also have a anindispensable people blog.
So lots of availabilities, greatfor people on the go, people who
have some extra time that theycan sit, listen, do all those
(08:37):
kinds of things, or just listenin the car on the way to work,
whichever works best for them,just as long as they're growing,
committed, and we are helping togrow that knowledge, wisdom, and
commitment.
Because when we do that, when wegive good support, when we help
people to learn about others andhow they can serve them, then we
(09:02):
have the opportunity to make thegospel accessible, to glorify
God, and then create a cycle inwhich we've created disciples
that create disciples thatcreate disciples.
And that's the direction inwhich we want to go.
So a gospel accessibility notonly opens it to one person, but
the next person, and the dominoeffect keeps going.
(09:23):
So let's do that together.
We're gonna keep thisconversation going.
We're gonna make the accessiblegospel available to individuals
(09:45):
with disabilities in ourchurches and in our communities
so that every person has theopportunity to know Christ, to
grow in him, and to serve himwith the gifts that he is given.
If you want to dive deeper onyour own, you can check out the
Indispensable People blog or mybooks on Amazon called The
Indispensable Kid or GospelAccessibility and the
(10:05):
Indispensable People.
Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral, and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a pastor, a teacher, amissionary, a mom, a wife, and I
believe that every person shouldhave access to the gospel so
that they can know Christ, growin him, and serve him with the
gifts that he has given.
Over 65 million Americans have adisability.
(00:24):
That's 15 to 20% of everycommunity.
And over 85% of thoseindividuals do not attend
church.
90% of pastors believe that theyare a disability-friendly
church, but only 20% of parentsand families agree.
Let's dive deep into hardtopics, big questions,
(00:47):
perceptions, stereotypes, and somuch more.
Hey, welcome to today's episode.
We're talking about frequentlyasked questions when considering
a disability or special needsministry where blog readers,
(01:08):
listeners, and supporters haveshared some questions with us so
that we can answer.
Because if you have thequestion, most likely someone
else does too.
So today we're talking aboutpreparing a team.
How do you prepare a team to dodisability ministry, special
(01:29):
needs ministry?
And there are an abundance ofways to do this.
And any leader knows your firststep into a team building type
thing is to recruit, right?
You can't train people thatdon't exist.
You can't prepare people thataren't sold out for what you
(01:52):
have or have a passion and acalling to do the ministry that
you have.
So I will tell you, one of thefirst things that I did in
starting a disability ministrywas I did a Bible study and we
studied different um scripturesand ideas on the foundations of
what God said about disabilityministry or disabilities in
(02:14):
general.
And I invited a ton of peopleand I specifically prayed about
who those people would be, cameacross them, invited them to
this Bible study, and told themthat listen, I would love for
you to come and attend this.
There's no pressure, there is nocommitment.
I just want you to come, seewhat this is about, and see if
(02:36):
it's something that God has foryou to be a part of.
And so that was my firstapproach.
And it covered a couple ofthings.
First of all, it helped me tofind people, it helped me to
bring a topic of informationthat people otherwise might not
have been aware of.
It also gave me an opportunityto seek out individuals that I
(03:03):
saw that gifting in.
And again, that they may nothave even recognized in or
understood of themselves.
And so the next part, it being anon-commitment type thing really
helped people go, okay, I'mgonna come, I'll see.
It's probably not my thing, orit might be my thing.
(03:24):
And they could engage inconversations, learn more the
basis of the foundation.
Because here's the dealregardless of whether they are
hands-on in your disabilityministry, they're in your
congregation.
So that learning and experience,even if they choose not to
commit to the ministry, theyhave a foundation and
(03:48):
understanding that will benefitthem as a full congregation and
welcoming and engaging peoplewith disabilities in the church.
So that was number one.
Recruitment was number one,building a foundation and
understanding that came withthat.
The next thing is to beintentional, set expectations,
(04:12):
letting those volunteers knowwhat the different types of
commitments could be, whatevents are available, those kind
of things.
So they kind of know out thegate, like this is what my
commitment might look like.
This so I'll give you a coupleof examples of what that looks
like.
We have people who serve asbuddies on Sundays, and I truly
(04:35):
believe that an every Sundaybuddy is not the key.
And I want to always protect myvolunteers and not to overwork
them.
So we want to avoid volunteerburnout.
We want to make sure that theyhave breaks, they have chances
to be fed, and that oftentimes alot of those individuals want to
(04:57):
serve in more than one place.
And so giving them theopportunity to not have to serve
every single week is beneficialin a multitude of ways.
So my buddies in my home churchserve one Sunday a month.
And so that's their commitmenton that.
If they choose to serve in othercapacities, you know, sound
(05:20):
tech, worship, kids' church,whatever, that's their that's
their choice.
But so we try to protect that.
The other things is we haveindividuals who maybe
participate in other ministrythings on Sundays and
Wednesdays.
So being a buddy on a regularrotation might not be an option,
(05:41):
but participating in events thatwe hold as a church.
So for example, we do respitenights.
We have a lot of volunteers thatvolunteer at respite night that
do not regularly serve asbuddies.
We also do once a year TimTebow's Night to Shine.
So that's a one-time commitmenteach year.
And so some of those of likeevent type things, the outreach
(06:04):
things like Night to Shine andRespite, are great way to even
recruit buddies.
So they start with the thesmaller commitment and then
maybe build up because it allowsthem to see giftings that they
have and allows you to see thegiftings that they might have.
The other things that you wantto set out, and we kind of
(06:26):
address some of these things inour previous podcast, policies
and procedures, set those foryour ministry because there's a
settling that feels good tovolunteers when they know what's
expected of them and they knowwhat will happen and how they're
protected and that things are inplace.
I will also tell you that thatis a great benefit to parents,
(06:49):
also.
Parents really appreciateknowing what is in place.
For example, when I meet a newfamily, I can tell them our
volunteers are backgroundchecked, they're never left
alone.
This is this, you know, thesystems that we operate under,
that kind of stuff.
These are the steps that we havefor our volunteers and for the
individuals that participate inthe ministry.
(07:10):
So those things are all veryimportant.
The other things that we dotrainings, we go to churches, we
equip those teams, we equip theentire congregation.
We go from teaching things aboutfoundational scriptures and what
the Bible says about disability.
We also do some disabilityawareness, building compassion
(07:32):
and not pity training, and thenon to, you know, we call them
like toolbelt tips and tricks ofthe trade, right?
And de-escalating techniques,all of that kind of stuff,
different things that um we canhelp build and equip the church
to do.
So participating in some type oftraining is absolutely
incredibly important.
(07:54):
I also have for you available, Iwill do a shameless plug of this
podcast.
I have written two books.
One is The Indispensable Kid,which is a personal experience
as a parent with special needsfrom my perspective.
And also a book called GospelAccessibility and Indispensable
(08:15):
People.
And that is basically a ministryhow-to setting up your
disability ministry.
Here's what it looks like,here's some resources, all the
other kind of stuff.
And then we I also have a anindispensable people blog.
So lots of availabilities, greatfor people on the go, people who
have some extra time that theycan sit, listen, do all those
(08:37):
kinds of things, or just listenin the car on the way to work,
whichever works best for them,just as long as they're growing,
committed, and we are helping togrow that knowledge, wisdom, and
commitment.
Because when we do that, when wegive good support, when we help
people to learn about others andhow they can serve them, then we
(09:02):
have the opportunity to make thegospel accessible, to glorify
God, and then create a cycle inwhich we've created disciples
that create disciples thatcreate disciples.
And that's the direction inwhich we want to go.
So a gospel accessibility notonly opens it to one person, but
the next person, and the dominoeffect keeps going.
(09:23):
So let's do that together.
We're gonna keep thisconversation going.
We're gonna make the accessiblegospel available to individuals
(09:45):
with disabilities in ourchurches and in our communities
so that every person has theopportunity to know Christ, to
grow in him, and to serve himwith the gifts that he is given.
If you want to dive deeper onyour own, you can check out the
Indispensable People blog or mybooks on Amazon called The
Indispensable Kid or GospelAccessibility and the
(10:05):
Indispensable People.
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