Community Conversations on Faith and Disability: Identifying New Practices, Postures, and Partners for Congregations

For many people with disabilities and their families, involvement in a congregation provides an important source of spiritual connections, community, and support. Yet congregations often express uncertainty about how to support meaningful participation for these members of their faith community. We used “community conversations” as a methodology for identifying potential pathways through which congregations—individually and collectively—might foster inclusion and belonging for people with disabilities and their families. We analyzed the nearly 1000 ideas generated by 175 participants representing an array of local congregations within two distinct counties in Tennessee. Their recommendations fell within 23 categories spanning five themes: disability-specific efforts, internal activities, external activities, influencers, and resources. Attendees’ impressions of their own congregation’s actions and attitudes related to including people with disabilities were quite mixed. However, they strongly affirmed this approach to community dialogue and considered it to be fruitful. We offer recommendations for future research at the intersection of faith and disability and suggest ways in which congregations might move forward in this aspect of their ministry. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York.