Disability and Evangelism

Including People with Disabilities Is Essential to Your Church’s Witness

God wants people of all abilities to be active participants in his kingdom. But churches have not always made it clear that people with disabilities are both part of God’s story and fully welcome in their communities. If the church is to be a credible witness, it must reach and include people with disabilities within its evangelism, mission, and everyday life.

In Disability and Evangelism, Rochelle Scheuermann casts a vision for including people with disabilities in all aspects of evangelism, from how we understand and tell the gospel story, to how we evangelize to and with people with disabilities. This groundbreaking book invites us to reshape our evangelism theology and practice so that people with disabilities are central in all we think, say, and do. Scheuermann uncovers how God’s story in Scripture responds to the complexities of disability and provides both the means and message to share good news among people of all abilities. She then explores issues of evangelism practice, including how we understand conversion, an expanded understanding of accommodation, and pursuing interdependence in ministry.

In Disability and Evangelism, you will

• gain a biblical understanding of both disability and evangelism;
• hear stories from people with a range of disabilities;
• study evangelism practices that go beyond traditional approaches that are key for doing evangelism with and among people with disabilities;
• understand why many people with disabilities feel excluded from and do not attend church; and
• engage with discussion questions in each chapter.

This book shows how the gospel really is good news for people of all abilities. Understanding and embracing disability is not only a matter of compassion and justice. People with disabilities will help the church to counteract faulty visions of power, autonomy, and self-promotion and to encounter the good news of Jesus more deeply. If you're looking for a resource that invites people with disabilities to be both recipients and active participants in God's mission, Disability and Evangelism is for you.

About the Series

Center for Disability and Ministry books explore the intersection of disability and practical theology in partnership with the Center for Disability and Ministry at Western Theological Seminary. Co-edited by Benjamin T. Conner and John Swinton, this series explores key issues in disability theology through the framework of practical theology, aiming to increase knowledge as well as faithfully impact Christian practice.

Rochelle Scheuermann (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is assistant dean of ministry and evangelism and associate professor of evangelism at Wheaton College, where she also directs the doctor of ministry program. She is coauthor of Preaching in the Contemporary World and coeditor of three other books. An ordained minister and past president of the Evangelical Missiological Society, Scheuermann currently serves as editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Missiological Society; in advisory board roles for Koinonia Journal and Can Do Kids, Intl.; and as a member of Lausanne’s Disability and Mission Catalyst group, Community of Practice.

Benjamin T. Conner (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is professor of practical theology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, where he is director of the Graduate Certificate in Disability and Ministry. He is the author of Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities and Practicing Witness: A Missional Vision of Christian Practices.

John Swinton, PhD, FBA, FRSE, is professor of practical theology and pastoral care at the University of Aberdeen, where he holds the Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies. An ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, he founded the university’s Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability and the Centre for Ministry Studies. His research explores the theological dimensions of health, disability, mental illness, and dementia. His book Dementia: Living in the Memories of God received the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize for outstanding theological writing. In 2018, he was awarded the Oskar Pfister Award by the American Psychiatric Association for his contribution to the dialogue between theology and psychiatry.