Barriers to Belonging: The Church Experiences of Families of Children with Disabilities

A supportive faith community can be a place of flourishing for families of children with disabilities. Yet, many churches still struggle to welcome their presence and full participation. We interviewed 27 parents of children with various disabilities to map the breadth of barriers they have encountered in their church experiences, past and present. The challenges they described were multifaceted and pronounced. Twenty-two barriers fell within nine major areas: leadership commitments, congregational attitudes, expectations for participation, support availability, volunteer capacity, gathering spaces, communication avenues, child attributes, and parent factors. We offer recommendations for how churches might reflect on and remove these barriers to full participation in community life.