From Church Doors to Discipleship: The Journey of Inclusive Spiritual Development

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Spiritual development is essential for believers with disabilities, requiring intentional discipleship processes that adapt strategies while maintaining the same goal of becoming more Christ-like. Tracy explores how churches can create environments where every person has the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him, and serve Him with their unique gifts, regardless of ability.

• Over 65 million Americans have a disability (25% of population), yet over 80% are not in churches
• Spiritual development takes place as believers become more like Jesus through intentional discipleship
• Building a disability ministry starts with creating physical accessibility (bathrooms, doors, sensory resources)
• Mentorship and friendship form the foundation of spiritual development through intentional relationships
• Learning opportunities should be adapted with repetitive experiences, audio resources, and sensory engagement
• Every person with a disability should be equipped to serve according to their spiritual gifts
• Serving should not come from pity but from recognizing each person's God-given purpose

For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensablepeople.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books The Indispensable Kid and Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.

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 welcome to thisepisode of Indispensable People.

(00:56):
Today we're talking aboutspiritual development, and it is
so important and incrediblynecessary to the life of a
believer, and today we're goingto explain it.
We're going to talk about howit applies to people with
disabilities and we're going tolook at some realistic things

(01:18):
that can help us along the way.
Spiritual development is summedup in that God's truth informs
absolutely everything, andeverything we are and have is
meant to be stewarded for God.
Spiritual development takesplace as the believer becomes
more like Jesus.
We should continually alignourselves with God and his

(01:38):
purpose for us in this world.
It's not a one day event, it isa process.
Let me just ask you does thissound familiar, similar to
people or anybody Kids, youth,teens, women, men.
It should, because it is thegoal of spiritual development

(02:01):
does not change for people withdisabilities, only the
strategies and the methods toget there do.
You can't grow spirituallywithout a discipleship process.
It needs to be intentional.
This is where the believer, thefollower of Christ, becomes
passionate about knowing Christand becoming more like him.
Knowing him means that knowingthe scriptures and spending time

(02:24):
with him.
God intends for our spiritualdevelopment to happen while
being a part of a biblicalcommunity.
Then the discipleship processbecomes full circle as the
believer shares the gospelmessage and invites others into
the family of God.
And now I want to put a warning.
Like here's the flashing lightscoming at you.
And now I want to put a warninglike here's the flashing lights

(02:48):
coming at you.
It does not take a credentialedminister, a pastor, a specified
leader in the church to sharethe gospel with others.
It does not take someone whohas all the training and all the
things to come alongsidesomeone in discipleship.
There is a process and theprocess is believing, choosing

(03:13):
to follow Jesus, learning abouthim, sharing him.
It's all in together at onceand helping, and it's this whole
kind of circling process.
So I want to be very carefulabout that because everyone
should be discipling someone.
Every person is at differentstages and the people they're

(03:34):
discipling are at differentstages, and we get to do that
together.
But I want to share a scripturefrom Romans 10, 14 through 15,
and it says how, then, can theycall on the one they have not
believed it, and how can theybelieve in the one of whom they
have not heard?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching to them?

(03:55):
And how can anyone preachunless they are sent as it is
written?
How beautiful are the feet ofthose who bring the good news?
We have to believe that God canspeak to his people.
We have to believe that thereare no barriers that he can't go
through, and we have to believethat every person has a purpose
and a place in the family ofGod.

(04:15):
Every person should have theopportunity to know Christ, to
grow in him and to serve himwith the gifts that he's given.
I live by this statement.
If you listen to this podcast,you hear it every single time
you listen to an episode.
It is the map of the disabilityministry that I built in my
home church.

(04:36):
It's the map that I use totrain and equip churches.
I've said you can't do it allsimultaneously.
You've got to take it intobites, one piece of the elephant
at a time, right.
Each step of that statementsets the stage for spiritual
development, and taking one biteat a time builds the bridge to
growing spiritually.

(04:56):
When I first started buildingthe ministry at my church, the
first bite started with theopportunity to know Christ.
From that statement, my goalwas to create physical
accessibility, programs andstructures within the church
that would allow people withdisabilities to attend the
church and if they could beinside the church, they could

(05:18):
hear about Jesus and choose forthemselves to make him Lord.
Bathrooms were updated,mechanical doors were installed,
sensory bags were madeavailable and a sensory room was
created.
The buddy system was launchedand an adult special needs class
was started.
In addition to that, we beganto offer parents and caregivers

(05:38):
a night of respite each month.
Each of these bites waspreparation in motion that led
us to develop the next stage inministry grow in him.
The building became accessibleand the programs were available,
and the opportunities todisciple and mature the
spiritual milk as scripturetalks about were in progress for

(05:58):
spiritual development.
Another example is the summergetaway program that I'm a part
of and I get to coordinate inOhio is a great example of
spiritual development lumpedinto one week.
It comes through relationshipbuilding, whether through games,
crafts, activities, meals,campfires, laughing or just

(06:19):
spending time together.
Add to that opportunities togrow in the knowledge of God
through Bible walks, prayertimes, bible quizzes and
services.
Then add opportunities toengage the knowledge gained and
evangelize through discussions,talent shows, interactions.
This is the setup of camp eachyear.

(06:41):
But having the opportunity toknow Christ and grow in him is
not sufficient.
So during the week of camp wedecided to be intentional with
evangelism.
The week started off with astaff meeting where we shared a
resource used by missionaries toteach students to evangelize.
It's a five-step process,taught with a booklet and

(07:01):
bracelets given to remind thosestudents of the process.
After going through thatteaching, each staff member was
given a bracelet with thosesteps on it and the mission for
the week was for the staff toevangelize the people.
They served people withdisabilities and they were
reminded that they're notbabysitters but missionaries on
a mission to help people findand follow Jesus.

(07:23):
At the end of the week wecommissioned each attendee those
with disabilities, theindividual to do the same thing.
The cycle began and the cyclecontinues.
So we take that camp exampleand we extend it over a lifetime
.
So here are those pieces.
First, we're going to buildrelationships.

(07:46):
The discipleship process ismeant to be done with others.
So what does that look like indisability ministry?
Mentorship and friendship.
A mentor comes alongside thementee to help him or her grow
in their knowledge of Christ,mature in their emotions and
develop spiritual gifts.
An intentional mentor should betrained, provided expectations

(08:09):
and assigned.
And, goodness gracious, is itwonderful when they find those
naturally.
And they don't have to bespecific or assigned, it just
comes through naturalrelationship.
Mentors don't have to knoweverything.
They don't for sure have toknow everything about disability
ministry, but as they buildrelationships with the people

(08:30):
they serve, they begin to comeand advocate.
And I can tell you about Carol,who really came alongside that
in a natural process.
She has been a part of thedisability ministry since we
started 10 years ago.
She started as a part of thedisability ministry since we
started 10 years ago.
She started as a buddy.
She's worked with kids.
She now currently teaches ouradult special needs class.

(08:51):
But she also brings individualsto church who cannot get
transportation there themselves,those with disabilities and she
doesn't just bring them tochurch and bring them to events,
but she goes out to dinner withthem, she spends holidays with
them, she does life with them,she creates, creates

(09:12):
opportunities to buildrelationship intentionally.
Also, I could tell you aboutTanya who attended one of our
respites.
And well, she didn't.
She was one of our volunteersand in that she was paired up
with another individual who theybegun a relationship, ran into
each other at the store andTanya had no intention to come

(09:37):
back to the next respite, mostlybecause she just didn't realize
there was another one scheduledin the next little bit of time.
And that person that had thedisability said to her hey, are
you going to be there?
I'd love to be able to spendtime with you.
And Tanya called me up and shesaid hey, listen, I want to be
at the next respite, I'm lookingforward to hanging out with
so-and-so.
That is intentionalrelationship building.

(10:00):
And those are incrediblevolunteers who don't just look
at their volunteership as a jobbut as a part of the
discipleship process, inbuilding others and coming to
know Christ.
In disability ministry a mentorcan build friendships.
They can check in regularlythrough phone calls, texts,

(10:22):
emails, maybe go out for coffee,get some ice cream.
This is also age dependent, onwhat makes most sense.
Sometimes if it's a child,maybe you're checking in with
their caregiver, those kinds ofthings.
As a mentor, you're going toassess physical barriers and
help remove them in the church,because if you're building

(10:42):
relationships with them, you seeand know what the potential
barriers could be, so you get toadvocate and speak out for them
.
You could evaluate learning andgrowth and knowledge.
And I can tell you about George,who takes very, very specific
intention in growing arelationship with another

(11:02):
individual who attends just ourrespite.
He doesn't come to our churchand they talk scripture on a
regular basis.
They're texting back and forthand they're growing in that and
one of the great things that hegot to share with me is like
listen, our conversations aregetting deeper.
He's understanding scriptureand we're really diving into

(11:23):
this together.
That's absolutely incredible.
They can ask hard questionsthat maybe, if you don't have a
relationship with that person,they would be awkward or maybe
not taken in the same way, likehey, do you feel included when
you attend here?
Do you feel loved, do you feelvalued, and how can we help to

(11:43):
improve that?
A mentor can also identifyspiritual gifts and develop them
through service opportunities.
Seeing that and saying to themhey, I see this in you, we have
this event coming up.
Do you think that you wouldlike to be a part of this team?
Whatever, that might be.
Another, a second step to this,and it's really, really

(12:04):
important have fun.
The common misconception isthat following Jesus is dull or
full of rules, and God gave usemotions and the ability to
laugh, and I suggest that we usethem.
Let's find ways to connect andexperience life together.
Yes, the church can beintentional in creating those
women's events, men's events,all of that kind of stuff that

(12:27):
might be happening naturallythrough the church, through
different events.
It doesn't have to be adisability ministry event just
for you to connect, but also youdon't need the church just to
connect.
Another step in this spiritualdevelopment process is an
intentional learningopportunities, services, bible
studies, worship nights, prayernights, small groups they're all

(12:50):
really great ways to grow inthe knowledge of God and we need
to be intentional not to onlyinclude people with disabilities
in the disability ministryevents, but also in the events
outside of that.
Just because the individual hasa disability doesn't mean they
can't attend a small group orprayer nights or worship nights,
and we could go on and on.

(13:11):
Now can we provide things thatthey might need Noise-canceling
headphones or earplugs, maybeprovide a calmer space, take
breaks if necessary if they'reoverstimulated, maybe provide
opportunities for movement orfidgets, some hands-on
activities to go with the thingsthat are going on.

(13:32):
Those with intellectualdisabilities may need repetitive
opportunities to hear andexperience the scriptures.
Intellectual disabilities mayneed repetitive opportunities to
hear and experience thescriptures, and I'll give you
the example of going back to thesummer getaway program, the
camp that I get to coordinate.
We do what we call Bible quiz,but we also do Bible walk and
then we have services and theyall coordinate together.
The Bible quiz is about thescriptures that they're going to

(13:55):
be hearing about.
Services.
The Bible walk is the Biblestories that they're going to be
hearing about in service.
All of those parts and piecesgo together so that they can
have repetitive levels of thesame thing.
So learning becomes easier,understanding becomes more
natural and, honestly, that is asuper beneficial way for every

(14:18):
person to learn, because thebrain learns based on the more
you experience something.
Those with visual impairmentsmight require ways that they can
learn that are outside ofseeing.
So we need to use the othersenses.
We need to use Bibles thatmight be audio.

(14:39):
We need to use music,scriptures, screen readers,
brails, hands-on sensoryexperiences.
We can't forget communicationdevices, visual schedules,
concrete delivery, all kinds ofsensory opportunities.
Those are all great ways tolisten and engage and help

(15:00):
someone to learn about the Bible.
But here's the last and veryimportant step that often is
missed in churches we need toequip and deploy.
Every person was created with apurpose and God has a plan for
their life.
Being a part of the body ofChrist is very important, and
being a part of the body ofChrist means serving, becoming a

(15:21):
co-laborer in Christ, where in1 Corinthians 3, 9, paul said
for we are laborers togetherwith God, and that includes
every Christian, meaning theyare co-laborers with God,
building lives and saving souls.
And it might be tricky forindividuals with disabilities.
It is common for people withdisabilities to look down on and

(15:43):
to be thought of as less thanbecause that they are often not
given the opportunities to serve.
So it's not tricky because ofthem, it's tricky because of how
we perceive them.
So because of that they missopportunities.
But serving should not be aplace of pity but a place of
purpose.
We are not suggesting that anindividual who likes to sing and

(16:04):
they sound terrible should jointhe worship team.
We want people to serve intheir sweet spots.
Use a spiritual gifts inventoryor something like that.
I actually have one availableand it's really simple.
I have it with pictures orsimple words and I'd love to
share that as a resource.
But we provided a visual ofspiritual development through

(16:28):
this camp experience, but that'sjust one week.
We need to make this happen inand through the churches
building relationships, engagingfriends through experiences of
fun, intentional learningopportunities and equipping to
deploy or strategic steps inspiritual development.
As long as there's breath inyour lungs or their lungs, there

(16:51):
is an opportunity for growthand during that growth there
will be milestones and thosemilestones build memorial stones
that enhance faith.
Be intentional and set thosegoals to meet those milestones.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?

(17:11):
I've absolutely not, but we aregoing to continue this
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

(17:36):
the Indispensable Kid and Gospel.
Accessibility and theIndispensable People.