Building a Church for Strangers

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper focuses on the relationship between the author and a young man who has Down's syndrome. As the author reflects on his experiences with Stephen, he finds his understanding of theology, church and disabilities transformed. Life with Stephen reveals the oppressive nature of Western societies and the subtle ways in which the church is implicated in such oppression. Yet at the same time the dependence and simplicity of Stephen's life reminds us of forgotten dimensions of being human. Beginning with the premise that developmental disabilities in all of their different forms are not problems to be solved, but rather authentic ways of being human that need to be understood and respected, the paper challenges the church to be the church in a way that is meaningful and inclusive. If all human beings are truly made in God's image, then the Body of Christ must become a place where discrimination and prejudice are abandoned and uncompromising love is embraced. Only then can the apostle Paul's vision of a community within which there is ‘neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female … black nor white, able bodied and handicapped,’ become a reality.