The Crossway Podcast 10 Things You Should Know About Disability Ministry (Sandra Peoples)
10 snips
Feb 25, 2026 Sandra Peoples, a disability ministry consultant and author of Accessible Church, reads an essay on welcoming people with disabilities. She covers biblical grounding for inclusion. She highlights the scope of need, the difference between impairment and social barriers, practical accommodations, children's ministry as a start, lifelong inclusion, and supporting whole families.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Theology Frames Disability As Purposeful
- Disability is part of God's purposeful design, not a punishment, and can display God's glory even amid a fallen world.
- Sandra Peoples cites Exodus 4:11 and Psalm 139:13–14 to show creation and worth rooted in God's intentional design.
Disability Families Are An Unreached People Group
- A large share of households are affected by disability yet about 80% of those impacted do not attend church.
- Sandra Peoples uses recent U.S. Census data and reports to call disability families an unreached people group needing the gospel.
Disability Is Functional And Social
- Disability includes both the functional impairment and society's treatment that creates barriers.
- Peoples contrasts her nonverbal son's limited speech with others' assumptions and points to Jesus clearing temple barriers so the blind and lame could approach him.
