# Pastor's with disability



## Puritanhead1981 (Jan 12, 2006)

*Pastor\'s with disability*

Would you have issues with a younger pastor mid twenties who uses a wheelchair? Would you see this as a distraction in the life of the church? What issues if any might you have ? I get a lot of If I was older it wouldn't be an issue if I was in my 60's or 70's as peope are "used" to it 



[Edited on 13-12006 by Puritanhead1981]


----------



## fredtgreco (Jan 13, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Puritanhead1981_
> Would you have issues with a younger pastor mid twenties who uses a wheelchair? Would you see this as a distraction in the life of the church? What issues if any might you have ? I get a lot of If I was older it wouldn't be an issue if I was in my 60's or 70's as peope are "used" to it
> 
> 
> ...



You should contact T.J. Campo, who is the pastor of a PCA church in Florida, and has been wheelchair bound since his late teens because of an accident.

More here:
http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/campo.html

The church's contact information can be found at:
http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/standrews.html

T.J. would be an excellent source of information about challenges and abilities. He is a very good preacher, and has been pastor of the church for some time now.


----------



## sailorswife (Jan 13, 2006)

I personally don't see what difference ones being in a wheelchair would make, in fact it might even cause one to pay greater attection to a sermon. I could especially see this with children. Also, I think it would be powerful to see that someone is not letting their disablilty stop them from doing what the Lord has called them to do, not to mention that just by looking at them you can see though they have suffered afflictions they serve the Lord. I know from reading in the New Horizon's magazine that there is an OPC pastor in Utah who is blind, I have wondered what affect his disablilty has on his ministry.


----------



## Mike (Jan 13, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Puritanhead1981_
> Would you have issues with a younger pastor mid twenties who uses a wheelchair?


Not for being in a wheelchair.



> Would you see this as a distraction in the life of the church?


I wouldn't think so.



> What issues if any might you have ?


I'm not sure I am a big fan of people in their mid-twenties being pastors, but that is neither here nor there. Well, it might be there but it isn't here. (Yes, I am more than aware of 1 Tim 4:12; I think we can easily take it too far.)



> I get a lot of If I was older it wouldn't be an issue if I was in my 60's or 70's as peope are "used" to it


I think it might seem more normal, but I don't think that your current age makes it a real problem or something.


----------



## Romans922 (Jan 13, 2006)

If someone is called the 'ministry' than who am I to say no!


----------



## Henry from Canada (Jan 13, 2006)

When it comes to visible disabilities, it is hard to say how people might respond.

People very much judge on appearance, but a lot of these judgments are subconscious. We humans make many snap judgments on people just on their appearance, how they speak, how they dress, etc.

A few comments:

1) As a wheelchair-bound pastor, people might automatically assume that you have suffered. Therefore, you may be viewed as a sympathetic person who can understand someone else's suffering.

2) People may also assume that the hardship caused by this disability has matured you beyond your years. This may go a long way to counteracting any prejudice against "young, inexperienced pastors."

3) The fact that you have a disability may help you reach out to other disabled people. Many disabled people are basically stuck in the house. Your presence may encourage these people to reach out.

4) I do not want to sound negative, however, there may be a problem with some "Pentecostal-type" people. Some professing Christians believe that any physical affliction is evidence of God's judgment. These people have caused me real grief in the past (re the Prosperity Gospel).

These people have also caused me confusion being that many Godly people had physical afflictions, including Timothy, Paul, and Job. 

5) It is possible that a wheelchair-bound pastor might have a very positive effect on children. If you are warm and open with children, your disability might result in children being very open with other disabled people. Your behavior may overcome the fear some children may have around disabled people.

I hope you find these comments useful.


----------



## Pergamum (Jan 14, 2006)

Pastors are supposed to take the lead in many things - one of which is suffering. 

Brother, I think that a pastor who preaches the Word can do so in a wheelchair just as well as standing and, due to the visible evidence of perseverance through suffering, a monument to grace, God may use him mightily.


Here's two resources which might help: RTS Charlotte I think does a lot with Joni and Friends (Joni Erickson Tada...not sure how to spell her name). They even have courses about disabilities in the church.


Also, Elinor Young is a missionary with my mission board. She had polio yet was able to get out to a remote jungle tribe in Irian Jaya to help translate the Scripture into their language and do missioanry work. The polio got so bad she had to be carried. The people in Papua are not exactly courteous or refined in manners always and they will just mock you freely. While she was deteriorating, she would limp by and then ackwardly struggle by and the villagers would line up and laugh at her while she laboriously tried to move small distances. And yet, she loved those people still.

If God's grace is magnified in our weaknesses, then God has given some people peculiar struggles in order to magnify his grace yet more.


----------

