An Analysis of the Church’s Responsibility for the Spiritual and Social Development of Adults with Special Needs

This study explored the Church’s responsibility for the spiritual and social development of adults with special needs. Although the Church was assigned this responsibility from the beginning (Numbers 3:11; Proverbs 4:1; and Luke 14:12-24), they have consistently failed to address the responsibility, dismissing it instead as a responsibility for the state and federal government, social agencies and nonprofits. The results of this study indicated that today’s local church is repeating the failure, and this community’s spiritual and social needs remain unaddressed, despite the growing prevalence of disability. According to the World Report on Disability (2021), over one billion people live with some form of disability. According to these statistics, 15% of the world’s population live with a disability with a continually projected increase in prevalence and diagnosis over the next 30 years. Intellectual and developmental disabilities alone have increased by over 600% in the last 25 years (National Autism Society, 2023). Using a qualitative methodology and three research designs (21 interviews, 3 program reviews, and 189 surveys), the results of this study overwhelmingly indicated that the Church is responsible for the social and spiritual development of adults with disabilities but, by and large, continues to fail at serving this community or creating a church culture that is inclusive and welcoming for adults with special needs. The three program reviews, current examples from the literature review, along with the results from the interviews and surveys provided the outline for the model for incremental implementation of a special needs ministry in small, medium, and large local churches.