Grow Course: Welcoming Diversity

John Beauchamp and Sonia Barron address how churches can make their churches more welcoming to disabled people, and keep their churches open to racial diversity

Revd Sonia Barron was Rector and Rural Dean of Claypole Benefice in the Diocese of Lincoln and was an adviser to the Archbishops’ Council’s Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns. She is now a Diocesan Director of Ordinands and Vocations for the Diocese of Lincoln.

Take some time to think through each of the practical steps outlined below:

1. Listen to people’s stories: Everyone has a story to tell. Whose story have you not heard yet? How can you create a safe space for people to be vulnerable with each other?
2. Encourage and utilise their gifts: Pay attention to those around you. What gifts do you notice in people, that you can support and invest in? What needs to change for these gifts to be recognised and accepted by others?
3. Interrogate your ignorance: How can you find out more about this racial discrimination in church? Check out books by Esau Mccauley and We Need to Talk About Race by Ben Lindsay (2019) for more information.
4. Consistently call out and challenge racist acts: Look out for micro-aggressions, shunning, or people consistently being undermined or left out.
5. Repent of your own biases in prayer: How has your thinking been biased by previous experience?
6. Build relationships: Who can you reach out to, who has a different lived experience around racial discrimination?

In this video, Revd John Beauchamp, Diocesan Disability Ministry Enabler for the Diocese of London, gives five takeaways to better understand the notion of ‘disability’. Take some time to consider each of the points below:

1. Disability is all around: 20% of the UK population, or 13.5 million people, experience physical or cognitive issues which can be labelled as ‘disabilities’. This is 20% of the population wanting to be recognised, valued, released, invited to belong, and enabled to be equal partners in shaping the future of your project and the kingdom you are bringing into being.
2. Inclusion and ease of access must be rooted in all you do: You cannot tack on the idea of inclusion and equal access. You have to root it at the centre of all you plan and do. Otherwise, it will always only be a half-hearted gesture.
3. Disability is an additional God-given perspective that enriches the Church: Jesus took upon himself the full diversity of the human experience as he walked the way of the Cross. He has taken the full diversity of that experience into His heavenly kingdom, including the scars and wounds of the crucifixion through which he experienced the greatest ‘disability’ – death itself. Wounds and scars are kingdom essentials, not an optional extra.
4. Disability is not something ‘possessed by’ people, but ‘imposed upon’ them: The church has the opportunity to liberate the 20% from this by recognising the God-given potential of all people to be the presence of God amongst us .
5. We should go above and beyond the Equality Act: The Equality Act puts the responsibility on you as a community group and service provider to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to access and take part in your activities.

Next, consider Revd John’s ten steps to becoming a more disability-aware and inclusive church.

1. Lay the foundations: Have you taken the time personally to read and reflect on disability issues and theology?
For a shorter read on disability ministry:

• Disability: The Inclusive Church Resource by John Hull (2014)
• Making a world of difference, Christian reflections on disability, by Roy McCloughry and Wayne Morris (2002)

For deeper and more challenging perspectives:

• Vulnerable Communion, a Theology of Disability and Hospitality, by Thomas Reynolds (2008)
• Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness, and Gentle Discipleship, by John Swinton (2017)

You can also access further resources on the London Diocese Disability Ministry webpage.

2. Make it a theological issue for your congregation: How can you include disability as a topic in your Sunday services and small group discussions?

3. Form a disability working group: Who in your church has a lived experience of disability and can help break down barriers?

4. Get your PCC to talk about disability: How can your disability working group and diocesan disability officer help shape those conversations?

5. Appoint a disability champion: Who has the integrity needed to champion accessibility and inclusion in your church?

6. Adopt a disability statement: You can access a model statement on the London Diocese disability webpage, under ‘Resources’. How can you adapt that statement to your situation?

7. Widen the conversation: Who else uses the church building, and how can you initiate a conversation about practical access issues?

8. Get out into your community: If around 20% of your parish community is likely to be disabled, where are they? What do they usually do? How are they currently supported? Who groups, clubs and support centres are close to you? How can you be a catalyst for inclusion and community building?

9. Think about practical action: Click here to access the 360 Accessibility Audit. This will provide a framework for practical, physical but also spiritual and cultural changes you can bring about in your church.
Resources are also available on these websites: https://throughtheroof.org/ & https://www.livability.org.uk/

10. Get stuck in: What practical steps can you take to begin this process? Who do you need to reach out to? Think about writing steps in your Action Plan.