Preaching on disability can happen in multiple ways: responding to a Lectionary text, deciding to preach on a text involving disability in the Bible, and utilizing examples, stories and issues from the lives of people with disabilities in our society to illustrate the themes of other sermons that are meant for the whole congregation. In other words, any sermon can be pertinent to the lives of people with disabilities and their families. In this workshop, we will explore the power and promise of addressing disability in sermons in contrast to the perils related to language and theological assumptions that have wounded people with disabilities. We will also talk about the ubiquity of disability in the Bible, the ways it so often involves paradox, and the stories from current relationships with people with disabilities that have the power of parables.

Rev. Bill Gaventa. American Baptist clergyman who has spent his career in ministries and services with people with disabilities and their families. [email protected]. Founder of the Institute on Theology and Disability, and one of the founding editors of the current Journal of Disability and Religion.

Bill Gaventa is an author, speaker, trainer, and consultant primarily in the arena of faith and disability. He is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Institute on Theology and Disability. He was the Director of Community and Congregational Supports at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities in New Jersey from 1995-2013. Primary areas of experience and expertise include spiritual and faith-based supports with people with disabilities, training for clergy, seminarians, and community services staff, aging and end-of-life/grief issues in intellectual and developmental disabilities, cultural competence, and community building. He served as the President of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2016-2017, and the first President of the Disability Ministry Network in 2023. He was Editor of the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health for 14 years, and is author of Spirituality and Disability: Recovering Wholeness, published by Baylor University Press in 2018.