Rev Malcolm Duncan: Time For a Change

I’ve just come across some startling research. Work done for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation by the New Policy Institute shows that around 12 million people in the United Kingdom were living in poverty in 2003 / 2004. The good news is that this figure is down by about 2 million from the early 1990’s and that some of the government’s policies have worked. The startling news is that disabled people are being even more disabled by our system!

|PIC1|Disability and Poverty.
Three out of ten disabled adults of working age live in poverty in the UK – this figure is up on ten years ago. It means that disabled people are twice as likely as non-disabled people to be living in poverty. The figures get worse. 200,000 disabled people are counted as officially unemployed, but a breathtaking 800,000 disabled people between the age of 25 and retirement are classed as economically inactive but wanting to work. No matter what their academic qualification, a disabled person is three times more likely to be unemployed.

A Challenge we must rise to.
This is not acceptable and as Christians we should recognise the challenges faced by disabled people and stand with them as they seek the opportunity to be treated as equals, not charity cases.

Amongst other things that I do, I have the privilege of being the Chairman of Churches for All, a consortium of agencies working with and for disabled people from a Christian perspective. We are absolutely clear – the fact that every person is made in the Image of God [Genesis 1:27] means that we have a responsibility to those who are disabled. So often the church has made their disability worse, by not providing accessible buildings, leadership structures or even congregations. The figures published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation must surely show us that as local congregations and churches across the UK, we have a responsibility to be engaged with and serving those who are already marginalised because of their disability?

Stop and Read
Do me a favour, will you? Stop reading this article for a second and grab your bible. When you do, turn to 2 Samuel Chapter 9. Once you have read it through a couple of times, come back to the article. The rest of it will make sense in the light of the Scriptures. Off you go, I’ll wait for you...

All over the United Kingdom there are modern day Mephibosheths who feel like ‘dead dogs’ [verse 8]. The way we have treated them makes them feel that somehow they are not ‘ normal’, or they are not ‘welcome’ or they ‘don’t matter’. Apart from some glaring exceptions of excellent service, the church has been slow, if not apathetic, in embracing the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. We have claimed a lack of money, or a lack of time, or a lack of help. Money might be a problem, but the church has had 2,000 years to do something about including disabled people. There are agencies, like Torch Trust for the Blind, Through the Roof, Causeway Prospects, Church Action on Disability and Christian Deaflink that are all ready and willing to help churches to engage with those who are disabled.

We are called by God to have the attitude that David demonstrated to Mephibosheth. We see people who are disabled as equals, not less than us. We embrace them because they are ‘ children of the king’. We let them know that they are as welcome as we are at the King’s Table, and we make sure that they are accepted.

The Scandal of Poverty.
The scandal of poverty is always a disgrace to a community – but it is a greater disgrace to a Christian community. Of all people, the church is called to be a community of inclusion, a community of love and a community of hope. The fact that so many disabled people live in poverty and struggle in the fight for equality is a cause that the Church needs to champion.

How many disabled people are part of your congregation? The number is probably few. And you might think that means you do not need to do much for this forgotten community. However, maybe the number is low because you have done so little about reaching, serving and working with disabled peopled?

What can we do?
So what can we do about helping and serving disabled people and putting an end to the injustice of poverty and exclusion suffered by them? There are lots of things that will make a difference, and one column will not answer all the questions, but here are five things that are simple straightforward and work.

1. Ask God to forgive you of any wrong attitudes you might have had to disabled people and to give you His heart for them in the same way as He gives you His heart for others.
2. Contact disabled groups in your community and ask them how you can help them and work with them.
3. Talk to your congregation about the importance of serving and working with disabled people in your community.
4. Contact an agency that works in disability from a Christian perspective such as Church Action on Poverty or Through the Roof and ask them to help you.
5. Think about the words that you use and the attitudes that you display in meetings to disabled people and make appropriate changes


Look at Luke
Little things make a difference. The words that we use, the way we approach people, the decisions that we make in our hearts – all of these shape the messages that we send. Luke 14 tells of the wedding banquet where the poor, the lame, the ill and the disabled are welcome. This is a picture of what our communities of faith should look like. We are called to be places where all are welcome, irrespective of their social, physical, mental or cultural background. The Church is a community that works together to overcome barriers to God’s wholeness and commit to serving one another and learning from one another. We are called to be local places where figures like those published by the Rowntree Foundation do not apply because we are communities of hope, love and acceptance. Disabled people are welcome in the Kingdom of God, and they should be welcome with us. They have a place in God’s heart – do they have a place in ours?

The task might be a daunting one, our budgets might need to reflect different priorities and our words, services and buildings might need to change, but these changes would be good ones. To send a message to a whole community that has been forgotten and who are being forced into even deeper poverty would be am amazing witness. To say that we are with disabled people, not against them, that we support them and want to stand with them and that we seek to be their advocates not their enemies would recognise that we as people stand together on issues of disability and poverty. 95 % of the population will live with a disability at one point or another in their lives. So perhaps we need to get to the place where we finally accept that the issue of disability is not a question of ‘them and us’ – it is a question that affects all of us.

Let’s break the scandal of marginalisation for disabled people once and for all. It’s about time.



Malcolm Duncan




[Reverend Malcolm Duncan is the Leader of the Faithworks Movement, and previously worked as Head of Mission at the Evangelical Alliance UK.]

You can find more information about Faithworks by clicking HERE.