Barriers to Ministry

Persons with visual as well as other disabilities face physical, emotional and attitudinal barriers as they seek to do ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Physical barriers refer to physical objects and structures that make it unnecessarily difficult to carry out our work. While physical accessibility focuses on mobility disabilities, those with visual disabilities live in a sighted world and access to print material is often limited. Tables are sometimes set up in areas where we expect to be able to walk freely. Transportation presents unique problems for us.

By emotional barriers I am thinking of what is within us. Our own emotions can hamper us in completing the service to which God has called us. We may sometimes be overwhelmed with the difficulty of the challenge. A feeling of helplessness sets in as we think we are unable to fulfill our calling.

What I call emotional barriers could also be called attitudes, but I am reserving attitudinal barriers to refer to the attitudes of sighted people to those of us with visual disabilities. This shows up when someone asks our companion what we want, rather than addressing us, or the attitude that persons with visual disabilities are simply unable to complete the tasks of ministry.

Essential to our service in ministry is a clear sense of God’s grace. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God speaks a word to the apostle Paul that we must hear as reassurance for ourselves. Paul speaks of his “thorn in the flesh” that hampers his ministry. He has pleaded with the Lord to take it away, but God answers Paul’s request by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you,” and then adds, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Those of us with disabilities will be teachers, even before we speak, that we live by God’s grace. Of course, this is true for all God’s people, but in our unique situations we communicate the grace of God that chooses us and endows us with abilities. In our weakness and limitations, God shows that He is able to use us as His instruments In doing His kingdom work.

This also means that we will serve with humility. We serve, not because we have so much to offer, but because God has gifted us and given us His Holy Spirit. We live out of the grace of God, shown to us in Jesus Christ. The One who has redeemed us through His death and given us life in His resurrection, has called us. What a wonderful, humbling thought! So when He calls, we answer, and give of our best for Him.

Those of us who are doing ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ do it because we have been called by God to it. We have sensed that His Holy Spirit has given us the necessary gifts, and such a calling must not be ignored. Sometimes we will wonder why we are standing before a congregation some Sunday morning because we do not feel that what we have to offer is so wonderful. But we keep coming back to our calling – this is where God has placed us. This calling creates a kind of faithful persistence in us which keeps us serving, learning and growing as God’s servants.

In the face of the attitudes of others, and the physical barriers we face, we are called to be teachers. We must raise the awareness of others around us to the needs of those with disabilities. We must aim for a spirit of gentleness that alerts people around us to ways that they can remove some barriers to our ministry. We must teach them that there are times when they must simply accommodate themselves to our disabilities. We will need to teach them, for example, that they cannot simply pass us a hand written note and expect that we can read it. Congregations can learn to provide transportation for us when we need it for our work. As I use technology for my ministry I sometimes offer to demonstrate it to those who are interested.

Barriers of various sorts will continue to hamper us and frustrate us. We will need to have select, safe relationships in which we can confide our struggles and find encouragement for our work. There will be times when we feel that the church has failed us. But we can be sure that not even these experiences of life will separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 8:39). In Him we find our purpose for living and serving, and the grace to press on toward the goal for which Christ Jesus has laid hold on us (Philippians 3:12).

* * * *

If you would like to respond to this article, please contact us.