Welcoming People with Disabilities into our Churches

Tuesdays, October 10 and October 17, 2023
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Online Event Via Zoom
Sponsored by the Committee on Representation
with Dr. Devan Stahl

Session 1: Understanding the Landscape of Disability and Ministry
This session will discuss the current landscape of disability ministries across the US, including best practices and the work that remains. Attendees will be encouraged to evaluate how their own churches welcome people with disabilities in their congregations as well as within positions of leadership. We will compare our own church practices with the vision cast for our denomination (Living into the Body of Christ: Full Inclusion of People with Disabilities).

Session 2: Practices of Inclusion and Belonging
This session will discuss ways to move forward in welcoming people with disabilities in our congregations. Attendees will consider how to incorporate best practices concerning language, space, technology, service and fellowship.

Dr. Devan Stahl is an Associate Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. She specializes in disability theology and theological bioethics. She received her Ph.D. in Health Care Ethics from St. Louis University and her M.Div. from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Stahl has experience teaching bioethics and disability ethics to undergraduate and graduate students in religion as well as medical and nursing students. She also trained as a hospital chaplain and works as a clinical ethicist consultant. Her latest book, Disability’s Challenge to Theology: Genes, Eugenics, and the Metaphysics of Modern Medicine (Notre Dame Press) develops a Christian response to genetic technologies using the insights of disability scholars. Devan is an inquirer for ministry in the presbytery of Middle Tennessee and regularly attends First Presbyterian Church of Waco.

Click here to register for the event.