One of the most refreshing seminars I attended at the Family Café was co-facilitated by Chatequa Pinkston. The seminar was titled “Inclusion and Advocacy in the Church.”
The title may lead you to jump to the wrong conclusion, but we must separate the facts from the truth.
For years, I have carried around a statistic shared with me during conversations about disability ministry: 80 percent of people and families impacted by disability do not regularly attend church.
I was shocked when I first heard it.
I recently went searching for the original statistic so I could share the source with you. I have reached out to Joni and Friends for the disability research and statistics they provide and will update this post when I receive the information.
But here’s what we do know.
The CDC reports that more than one in four U.S. adults has some type of disability.
Now, think about the average church.
Look around the sanctuary.
Do one in four adults you see reflect the disability community?
If not, where are they?
The truth is, church should be a place where we all grow, learn, participate, and belong.
Yet caregiver families and people with disabilities may feel unwelcome when churches are simply unaware of the challenges that make their presence and participation difficult.
That’s where advocacy comes in.
Pinkston and Robin Stawski showed video evidence of how people who use wheelchairs, like them, could participate fully in church—from the choir stands to baptism.
But advocacy can be difficult when you feel as though you’re standing alone.
This is why connection matters.
Having a community within the church—a peer group of people who understand the realities of caregiving, disability, and family life—can help us become better advocates for ourselves and for the people we love.
We learn from one another.
We share resources.
We recognize barriers someone else may not see.
And sometimes, another person gives us the courage to speak up.
This is one of the reasons I encourage caregiver families to build small peer communities. In my book, Beating the Isolation Trap: An Authentic Caregiver’s Guide to Reconnecting, Recharging, and Thriving, I talk about the importance of making connection and creating community instead of trying to navigate the caregiving journey alone.
The church can be one of the most powerful places for that connection to happen.
And I enjoyed talking with Pinkston more about her journey after the workshop and following her to her booth, where she was sharing her books 📚 and ministry.
Come with me 🎥 as I continue the conversation with Pinkston and learn more about her work. She was so kind to allow me to record our visit and share her books—and her loving spirit—with you.
Connection begins when we become willing to see the barriers others may be quietly trying to overcome + Community helps give us the courage to do something about them.
Really,
Leah
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