Seminaries not preparing pastors to minister to disabled, some assert

An expert in the field of disability ministry says theological seminaries are doing little to prepare ministers to deal with the estimated one in five Americans living with some kind of disability.

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WACO (ABP)—An expert in the field of disability ministry says theological seminaries are doing little to prepare ministers to deal with the estimated one in five Americans living with some kind of disability.

“There is almost nothing in the seminaries in America to prepare religious leaders for the people they are going to meet in their congregations,” said Kathleen Deyer Bolduc, a nationally recognized author and speaker about disability’s impact on families and ways in which churches can become more welcoming of families that live with disability. “We’re really just scratching the surface. This should be a key component of theological education, and we are not there yet.”

Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor University School of Social Work, agreed that disability ministry is largely missing in theological education but challenged the notion that theology schools can teach everything that church leaders need to know.

“I think this is a much bigger issue than how much we can train our pastors,” Garland said. “It’s more important that we educate our congregations.”

She reached a similar conclusion when researching the issue of clergy sexual misconduct, Garland added.

“It needs to be there (in the seminaries), but that’s not enough,” she said. “We need to rethink congregational leadership, and it’s not just pastors.”

For one thing, Garland said, many ministers do not attend seminary, so theological education has no influence on them.

 


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