Bible reading for 40.Day 2025 | 1 Corinthians 12:21-25

Recently, a Christian brother with special needs shared this with me. He said, “We people with special needs are pitied and talked about in church. We are treated as if we are odd objects to be observed with caution, observed at a distance.”

My heart broke when I heard his experience. Because this is not the way churches ought to be!

In fact, when I was a young man in university struggling with depression, Christians were the only people around me who cared for me. Even though I acted weirdly around them and in often unpleasant ways, they saw past that. They recognised that God loved me, and so they too should love me.

How I wish the Church today would extend the same kind of generous love to people with special needs! After all, worldwide, 1 in 6 people has a disability. If we do not welcome them into our churches, we are excluding what has been called “the largest minority group in the world”.

So, if we are genuinely thinking about an “All In” Church, if we are sincere about including all in the Church, then we must learn to welcome people with special needs.

A part of the body

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:21, where he says:

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.’”

Have we, the Church, told people with special needs that we have no need of them? Have we – through the words we say, the looks that we give, or the way we worship – told them, “I have no need of you”?

If we have, we must repent. For the truth is, we need them. As Ephesians 4:7 reminds us, every believer in Christ has been given gifts to build up the Church. And that includes people with special needs.

Some time ago, I was speaking to a disability ministry leader, and I asked him, “What made you set up this ministry?”

He answered, “I don’t do this because I have a disability. I don’t do this because I have a family member with a disability. I don’t do this because I have a special passion. I do this because I am absolutely convinced by Scripture that the Church is only truly whole when people with special needs are with us.”

Wow! What profound words! So, like this leader, we must remember that a church is only disabled when it excludes people with disabilities.

Let us remember that Jesus welcomes people with special needs into His body. Then, let us go All In and do likewise.

Let us pray:

Father, we know that even before we had a thought about inclusion, You were the one who first included us upon the Cross. While we were still Your enemies, Jesus stretched out His arms upon the Cross. Those were arms outstretched in welcome, welcoming us to the Father’s house. And so, in the same way, help us now to welcome people with special needs, help us welcome them into the family of God. Help us welcome them All In. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect: 

1. When was the last time you engaged or prayed for a person with special needs? What made us do so? Will you do it again?

2. Look around: Who are the persons with special needs around you? At your workplace? In church? In your neighbourhood? Think about how you would engage them the same way you engage anyone else.

3. What can you do to make the special needs community feel seen and welcome in your church or cell group?

Pray:

1. That as we surrender our prejudices and fears about persons with special needs to the Lord, He will put His heart for them into our hearts.

2. That we commit to actively engaging and getting to know the people with special needs in our church, our workplace, our neighbourhood, and make them feel included and seen.

3. That we will spend time and effort to understand the needs of these individuals, and to find ways to include them in our church life and daily life.

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