Some youth workers may overlook the challenges of ministering to youth with disabilities.

If you are one of these youth workers, Benjamin Conner would like to challenge your thinking, as he does in his latest book: Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities (Eerdmans).

Dave Baker interviewed Conner for YouthWorker Journal.

YWJ: What are one or two things every youth worker needs to know about ministering to young people, including those who may have intellectual disabilities?

Conner: The first thing that comes to mind is that we are helplessly dependent on our intellectual capacities. I am not suggesting we should not have renewed minds, shouldn’t “take every thought captive” or shouldn’t convert our systems of knowing to the lordship of Christ. Obviously, as one who has been to seminary, I hold Christian scholarship at all levels in high esteem.

I fear, however, we are only discipling the minds of adolescents and are missing opportunities for a holistic, life-claiming discipleship. Working with kids who lack certain intellectual aptitudes pushes us to look for new, more expansive and bodily ways of leading people in Christ. We will frame our Scripture lessons with the scaffolding of participation in Christian practices such as hospitality, forgiveness, honoring God with our time, etc. We will not simply teach the faith to the minds of kids; we will practice discipleship together with our entire bodies.

YWJ: What prompted you to write Amplify Our Witness?

Conner: I was working on another book, Practicing Witness, and I realized the people with whom I spent the most time—kids with developmental disabilities—were not being adequately represented in my theology. My understanding of the image of God, faith, discipleship and conversion were being challenged by the practical experience of sharing life with kids with disabilities.

When I realized 17 percent of adolescents have some sort of developmental disability, I became convinced this book needed to be written. If you are serious about ministry with youth, then you need to be aware of the opportunities and challenges you will face when you encounter kids with special needs.

YWJ: What kind of liability, legal and insurance issues do churches face when they get involved in this kind of ministry?

Conner: Any ministry with kids should require a background check for leaders 18 or older as a part of the screening process. With kids with special needs we need to be aware of medications, potential seizures, allergies and emotional triggers; particularly with kids with disabilities, the leadership should be aware of predators who take advantage of the weak.

One more thought: Although churches aren’t required by the Americans with Disabilities Act to be accessible to people with disabilities, why wouldn’t we be the first to create an atmosphere of welcome?

YWJ: You write a lot about inclusion. How do you define inclusion?

Conner: Inclusion is more than being allowed to be present or sharing a common space with others. Without friendships, people with disabilities experience everything as outsiders. Inclusion is more than access; it is being connected.

In the context of youth ministry, this means we need to develop peer buddies who can befriend such kids and share life with kids with disabilities in the lunch room, at the movies, at sporting events and at our youth groups. If the only place they interact is at youth group, then the kids with disabilities will have access but not be connected.

YWJ: Have you been involved in service projects with developmentally disabled young people? Was it an experience you would like to repeat?

Conner: I will share one example. Many folks see kids with disabilities and imagine they can only be recipients of ministry—we provide a program for them or a ministry to them. In my experience as one who ministers to adolescents with developmental disabilities, I am continually surprised at what these kids can teach me about following Christ and serving others.

Our group recently hosted a ’50s dance for a local group that works with the disabled. More than 100 adults attended, and I was amazed at how our kids thoughtfully prepared the hors d’oeuvres; how they made visitors feel welcomed by greeting them; and how Craig, one of our students, shared his faith as he explained what the hospitality of God meant to him. His public speaking skills were poor; but his ability to communicate that God had welcomed him and has open arms for them was unmatched. Now, I always look for ways for our kids to serve others to the full extent of their capacities.

YWJ: Should experience working with developmentally disabled youth be required by churches wanting to hire a new youth pastor?

Conner: I will answer this way. Approximately one in 90 kids is diagnosed with some form of autism and 17 percent of kids under 18 are diagnosed with a developmental disability. Youth pastors today don’t necessarily need to be trained ahead of time to work with these kids or have previous experience (I learned on the fly). As I said, if you are serious about youth ministry, you need to be aware of some of the opportunities and difficulties that will accompany working with kids with disabilities.

YWJ: Is there a New Testament model for this kind of ministry?

Conner: There simply aren’t models in the New Testament that specifically address working with kids with special needs. There are themes, though, that I have found particularly useful.

A key theme is connectedness. When Jesus heals people, He also restores them to community. In Luke’s Gospel, the lepers are healed and then told to show themselves to the priest so they can be proven clean and welcomed back into the fold. The woman with internal bleeding is healed by furtively touching Jesus’ clothes and is then given the opportunity to give her testimony of healing, which is verified by Jesus. She is now clean and can be received into community.

Even the paralytic in Capernaum is forgiven of his sins; in that way, he is reconnected to God and humanity before he is healed. The idea that to be united with Christ is to be connected to self, others and God is one scriptural principle that is central to our ministry.

Another key theme is hospitality. What intellectual capacities are required to be received as a guest? None. Anyone can participate in the practice of hospitality just as anyone can be part of a community of prayer. When we practice hospitality with others, what are we doing?  According to Matthew’s Gospel, when we receive or serve another in Christ’s name we are receiving or serving Christ himself! We are reminded that our relationships are sacramental (places where we can encounter Christ) and not instrumental (ways of gaining some other end such as social status, power or a feeling of self-satisfaction for doing good).

Benjamin T. Conner has worked with adolescents for 20 years and currently runs a ministry to adolescents with developmental disabilities in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has taught courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary and at Memphis Theological Seminary through the Center for Youth Ministry Training and is the author of Practicing Witness: A Missional Vision of Christian Practices (Eerdmans).