This is the fourth and final installment of our Disability in Missions series.

When a person with a disability (PWD) leaves their home, they can be met immediately with questions, curiosity, even ostracism. A stroll down the road can never be assumed to be stress-free. Years of marginalization will not disappear overnight. Frames of reference on disability vary as time and culture varies; all the complexity can lead to a dead-end street of theorizing and gaining more information. If the conversation remains here, true transformation and interdependence between missionaries with disabilities, mission agencies, and the able-bodied is unlikely. There needs to be something rooted in God that brings clarity to all the complexity.

The first chapter of the biblical text records the plurality of the godhead and reveals His intentions for His people. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness so that they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” (Gen. 1:26-28). God is love and that love cannot be experienced without relational community.¹ Within one chapter of the biblical record, the Disability Rights Movement ethos of independence and American rugged individualism is questioned. 

The interdependent nature of God himself cannot be overstated. God is God only in relationship; He cannot exist outside of that. People, regardless of their ability, reflect God to the world. This, in a nutshell, is what missions is designed to do – to see heaven and earth collide, shining forth the beauty of our trinity God to everyone.

Perhaps no text in Scripture more clearly spells out the place of weakness in the body of Christ than Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Considering the elitism and division taking place, his words are profound:

Rick Langer delineates five keys from this text if “unpresentable parts” is read from a disability perspective:

Langer places PWDs in a special role in the body of Christ and doesn’t merely allow for their participation or inclusion. They are an integral part to the mission of God.  

Jeff McNair further articulates what it is to understand the indispensable parts of the body of Christ. “It is arguable that only the development of relationships will lead to shared power. Entering relationship implies relinquishing one’s own power and allowing others to have power. It is through relationship that people who are indispensable express their indispensable nature.”³

The trinity God is the perfect example of interdependence. The Church, God’s people called out to display Christ to the world, are to be interdependent in their expression of God’s message and mission. 

The facts are before us. How will we respond? How will the mission of God no longer relegate PWDs only to receive compassion and ministry in missions? Will we join dozens of others in local churches and mission agencies who have decided that in our day, in this generation, we will be known for our interdependence of the whole body? 

The frames of reference and models of disability were smashed together by Christ to institute a new kingdom way. We have waded through hundreds of years of marginalization to get to this point. The whole Gospel, from the whole body to the whole world. This is our time!

Written by: John Trotter

Disability in Missions Series

1. Disability in Missions: A Challenge to the Current Ethos
2. Disability in Missions: Restorative healing, societal adaptation, or cultural interpretation?
3. Disability in Missions: The Complexities of Cultural Perspective
4. Disability in Missions: The whole Gospel, from the whole Church, to the whole World