Our Inclusion in Faith Spaces | Monday Invocation

Written by Mick Atencio

Picture of a few pews in a church. There is a ray of sunlight shining on one pew.

Content note: There is a discussion within the disability community related to using identity-first (“disabled person”) or person-first (“person with disabilities”) language. Additionally, some people reject the language of disability entirely and prefer terms such as “differently abled.” I strongly encourage referring to a person in the manner they ask to be referred to, but for referring to the community at large it does get more complex. For this blog post, I as the author have opted to use identity-first language as that is what I use in my daily life as a disabled person.

I live in a body that is able to navigate the world with relative ease. I am able to walk, run, jump, climb stairs, sit, kneel, lay down, and move around a space without any mobility aids. I have lived many years with chronic pain which inhibits some forms of movement, but that pain is not clearly visible via impediment or mobility aid. To an outside observer, I am currently able-bodied, even though my invisible disabilities are still present in my experience. 

(note: I use the phrase “currently able-bodied” because our abilities, bodily faculties, and mental processes are never a guarantee in this life. Many events or situations can cause disabilities to form as quick as instantly, and as gradually as over a lifetime. The question might not be “will I ever be disabled?” but rather “when will I become disabled, and how?”)

Many people are embodied with disabilities that require physical accommodations to access certain locations, opportunities, and communities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects some rights of disabled community members and requires certain forms of building access in public spaces. Unfortunately, the ADA does not apply to religious institutions and buildings. This is because many religious leaders protested that they shouldn’t have to provide this access.

This experience of exclusion from church is all too familiar for LGBTQ+ people of faith who have been barred from participation or leadership due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Disabled people of faith have struggled with barriers to participation and leadership in faith spaces, whether due to physical inability to access the building or certain spaces within it, poor understanding or negligence from a minister to provide accommodations, or even policies that deny disabled people from leadership within a congregation.

Church environments can cause significant harm to LGBTQ+ people and disabled people by not constructing inclusive practices, processes, and physical spaces.

So how are we to fight for full inclusion for these communities in the church?

It must start with an attitude of full inclusion. Whether we are straight, cisgender, or LGBTQ+; whether we are able-bodied or disabled, we must unlearn our homophobia, transphobia, and ableism and affirm the full personhood of everyone who comes into our space (and if they can’t come into a space, learn why!). We must challenge the harmful theologies around disability and LGBTQ+ identities in Christian spaces and act as allies to these communities because they are loved deeply by God.

In addition to unlearning the harmful theologies and changing our attitudes, we must learn that advocating for full inclusion requires sacrifice and change. Our comfort level with the way things currently are will have to be sacrificed in order to make way for new policies, practices, and physical spaces that allow for LGBTQ+ and disabled communities to participate and lead in church as their full selves. We might need to let go of our familiarity with a certain building or order of worship in order to offer an environment where people can know that they truly belong. 

Finally, after starting by unlearning the old attitudes and making the initial sacrifices necessary, we must not consider the work of full inclusion to be complete. We must be consistently learning, growing, and changing the old and new ways of doing things as we recognize that they don’t serve us. We must recognize that our faith communities are living communities, and therefore they will adapt and grow over time.

In all of this, it’s vital to remember that disabled people and LGBTQ+ people ought to have a voice in this area of growth for your church community. Making certain changes to a building or to a ministry practice may seem like a good idea, but we must be listening to community members and be willing to be corrected on your ideas! There is so much knowledge and experience on these topics we might not have, but the power of community is that we can collectively use our knowledge and experience together to create spaces of radical welcome.


Want to hear some ideas on how your church or faith community can grow into full inclusion? Stay tuned for next week’s invocation where we will share a list of practical changes that congregation members and ministers can enact to offer spaces of welcome and belonging!