From Access To Belonging: Rethinking Teens and Disability Ministry

We explore why many teens with disabilities vanish at the jump to youth group and map a path from passive welcome to real belonging. We share training tips, sensory strategies, and the floater buddy model to build physical, social, and spiritual access.

• youth group barriers after children’s ministry support ends
• shift from attendance to active inclusion and belonging
• training peers and volunteers to reduce fear of the unknown
• social accessibility through friendships and biblical framing
• sensory overload solutions and advance warnings
• relationship‑first support with floater buddies
• moving teens from consumers to contributors through service
• adapting environment, lighting, schedules, and seating
• defining discipleship as knowing, growing, and serving within belonging

If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the indispensable-people blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People

Transcript

Why Teens Go Missing From Church

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral, and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, a mom, a wife, and I believe that every person should have access to the gospel so that they can know Christ, grow in him, and serve him with the gifts that he has given. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 15 to 20% of every community. And over 85% of those individuals do not attend church. 90% of pastors believe that they are a disability-friendly church, but only 20% of parents and families agree. Let's dive deep into hard topics, big questions, perceptions, stereotypes, and so much more. Teenagers and teenagers. Talking about teenagers is one of my favorite things. Mostly because it is the least amount of information that exists out there when considering disability ministry. And it exists that way because I think it's kind of an in-between group where, you know, maybe some teens can be grouped with kids, some some can be grouped towards adults. But again, we have these siloed ministries within the church, such as youth group. And so what happens when the individuals with disabilities go to youth group and require support to be able to navigate that ministry. And so we want to do that and be effective so that they can attend, they can feel included, and they can be a part. So a lot of times when I talk about disability ministry, I onboard all the time kids' pastors, kid ministry volunteers. They are children's pastors are the most concerned when it comes to disability ministry. And that can be for a whole lot of reasons. But one is that I think they receive that support when they're younger because kids are easier to navigate, kids in the sense that they're still young and the developmental gaps are big. So maybe the disability isn't as visible in some cases. So those things become more welcoming. I think younger kids are figuring out life. And so they don't question things as much. They're more accepting, all of that kind of stuff. So the fit is not as hard in children's ministry as it is in teens and adults. And so you see those guys jumping on board wanting to know more how to serve these kids. It's not so far outside of their realm. And so they want to reach the kids and they want to include everyone. And it's a different setup in the sense of there's a lot more freedom in kids' ministry than there is in youth and adults. And the problem is, is we get to the glass ceiling of kids' ministry and go into youth or adults, and there's no support. There's nothing guiding and directing. And so teens with disabilities are often missing from youth groups due to the fear of exclusion, lack of support. And that requires churches to move from a simple you can just be here to really having active inclusion. And we want to keep some strategies in mind, you know, again, training volunteers, building the ministry, building trust with the teen and the families, having flexible relationships, and maybe even consider the buddy system for the teenagers, but maybe a little more loosely. Maybe it's like a buddy floater that can help navigate rather than just hover and help to make adapting activities and things sensory friendly. And so what are some difficulties? I already mentioned some. What are some difficulties that youth ministry is going to face when ministering to people with disabilities? One, and honestly, this one hits across the board. The other is social, social challenges where peers might be struggling to include other peers, other so teens including teens. And teenagers with diff disabilities often like they're fearful of that isolation and need of those friendships. But the other teens without disabilities are trying to figure out life and they may not understand the needs and concerns. And that social accessibility is possible and spiritual accessibility is possible. But that's where we go back to educating, and that becomes so very important because when we understand there's no fear of the unknown. We can step into friendships and relationships. We can build biblical understanding about what God says about people with disabilities. And then we can reach into those lives and include those people because it's not about the cool kid. It's not about being better than anybody else. It's not about having the right shoes or the right clothes at youth group and in church, which should then travel outside the church into school life and job life and all of those kinds of things. And so, in turn, that individual becomes a better human being because they have a biblical understanding and they have met and included individuals with disabilities in their life. Another thing that we that can be a difficulty includes safety and sensory overload. Large loud is probably a good description of a youth group. And those kinds of environments can really trigger discomfort and requiring of sensory tools like noise canceling headphones. But again, for the teenager who's trying to fit in, some of those things make them stand out. And they would rather deal with the discomfort or not attend at all than to stick out. And this is an experience that I have with my son every single Wednesday night when he would really like to talk himself out of a youth group. And he would like to pass, he doesn't like to be up there when they're playing games because it's chaotic. He wants to go for worship and he wants to hear the sermon and then he wants to leave. He doesn't want the peopling part, he doesn't want the noisy fun part that really a lot of teenagers, that's what they're looking for. So what are the strategies? How do we make sure that we are adequately ministering to individuals with disabilities and those without disabilities? How can we bring about physical accessibility, social accessibility, and spiritual accessibility? And we do that primarily through training and equipping, the education of people in the space, even other attenders, especially other attenders, not just volunteers, right? Help us to focus on understanding and communicating and accepting and including. Those are really, really important things. We want to work on building relationships with the individuals with disabilities, right? Because if we can build relationships and make connections, then we can understand that person. We know them better. But also when difficulties arise, you can walk it through with them and they can trust you through the process. Or because they've built really great relationships with the people that are there, they will put themselves in more uncomfortable situations so that they can maintain those relationships. And the floater buddy is that person who they're in the room, they're aware of the needs of the students that are there, but they are not sitting next to them. They're not hovering over them. They're giving some space, but coming in when needed, they can watch the behavior of the individuals and know when they might need support, or maybe when a game or something needs adapted so that they can participate. We also want to, a lot of times people with disabilities are consumers, right? So we want to make sure that we understand that they're there to be fed, but they're also there to, they're also there to serve and should have opportunities too. So we want to encourage teenagers with disabilities to use their gifts, right? This is no grow serve. Those are the things that we've talked about since the very beginning of this podcast. And that goes for every single person, right? Because that is you're here for a reason and a purpose, and God has chosen that for you. And so you get to be a part of that. Some other basic things that you can do is adapt the environment and the schedule, providing, provide visual schedules, allow for flexible seating, reduce excessive noise, or give warnings when there might be some. Consider the lighting and if it's excessive or harsh. You can provide advanced warning in the changes of any schedule. And like I said, warnings for lights and sounds change. You want to maintain a focus on belonging and not just participation. You want to ensure that the individuals are there, but they're also active members, they're not just existing. And because the goal is that you can know Christ, you can grow in him, and you serve the gifts with he that he has given, but that doesn't happen unless you belong, unless you are a part of the group. If you just exist and you are a spectator, then you it is harder for your faith to become your own. It is harder for you to feel welcomed and that you belong in the family, the body of Christ. And so you want to make sure that that is a focus and a and something that can be achieved and that isn't so far outside of the availabilities. But we need to remember that the focus is providing accessibility physically, spiritually, and socially in every age group of the church. Understanding that every person is different, and we will best serve them by getting to know them and offer accommodations. But most of all, they want to be welcomed, they want to belong, and they want to participate. And um, we do that through helping them know God, helping them grow in him, and helping them serve God with the gifts that he has given. I can't claim to have all the answers, I can't claim to know all the things, but here's what we are gonna do. We're gonna keep this conversation going. We're gonna make the accessible gospel available to individuals with disabilities in our churches and in our communities so that every person has the opportunity to know Christ, to grow in him, and to serve him with the gifts that he is given. If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the indispensable people blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.