About Ability Ministry
Embracing the
indispensABLE, becoming complete
1 Corinthians 12:20-22
We're on a mission to equip and empower the local church, organizations, and individuals to reach their disability community for Christ.
How We Got Started
It's not about "special" needs, but universal ones.
What if every churches began treating every part of the church body as indispensable? What if we focused efforts on addressing universal needs we all have: To be safe, to make decisions and act for ourselves, to be accepted (and, yes, even to use the bathroom)? What would it look like if your church extended its reach to the 25% of your community who live with a disability—along with their friends, families, and neighbors?
In Luke 14, Jesus tells a story about the most accessible event ever. A dinner party where every person—regardless of ability, economic status, or social standing—was invited, included, and honored. That's the kind of table we want to help set. We hope you'll join us in making room, too.
The story of Ability Ministry
Sam & Marjorie
Sam Stone was the editor of the Christian Standard magazine at Standard Publishing. Sam worked next door to Mount Healthy Christian Home, where both of his parents lived. One morning, on his way to visit his parents, he ran to another resident in the hall, Marjorie Broxon. Marjorie had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. She spoke slowly and with difficulty. This made her sometimes hard to understand. However, Sam knew Marjorie, and frequently stopped to chat with her. Today, they spoke for a few minutes, like usual, and he started to go on to see his parents.
Yet as Sam turned to go, Marjorie said, “You know I like it here. There are good folks operating the home. But all of the other residents here are a lot older than me and I don’t have a chance to do many things I’m able to do and want to do. I wish our churches provided a home to help handicapped people.”
“Well, yes, that would be nice,” Sam agreed, “but you know it would take a lot of money to build a facility like that.”
Without hesitation she responded, “It took a lot of money to build Mount Healthy Home, too.”
Now The Work Begins
The next month, at the 1981 North American Christian Convention, a group met with Sam Stone to discuss what churches who were part of the Restoration Movement should do. Their guiding question: “What are we doing as a fellowship of churches to help meet this need [to accommodate people with disabilities]?”
Needing someone to oversee and lead this work, the group hired Dr. Jim Pierson from the East Tennessee Rehabilitation Center for Children as the first director.
Breaking Ground
The Christian Church Foundation for the Handicapped (now Ability Ministry) was chartered in 1983 in the state of Kentucky. Property was purchased in Louisville, Tennessee, with one existing house on the property.
Welcome Home
The first residents move into the home at Riverwood in Louisville, TN. “Riverwood II,” now housed in a newer residence, continues to serve the disability community in Tennessee to this day.
God's Not Finished Yet
New Hope Christian Community opened in Versailles, MO. We were thrilled to welcome new residents to a home where they would be equipped and empowered to be who God created them to be.
Sam Reflects
Before he passed away in 2021, Sam Stone, our board member emeritus, left us with these reflections: “So, what have I learned in the past 36 years. I know the government, private business and social groups help those affected by disability but the Disability Community needs more than a place to live, they need a place to be embraced. A place that will embrace them and a place to embrace others. What is that place called; it is 'The Church.' Where else should one be able to experience the kind of embrace that He who created relationship should be embraced? A place where everyone should be able to come just as they are. The problem is over 90% of churches don’t know how to embrace the Disability Community or allow this community to embrace others . . . We must give the Disability Community the chance to minister as much as being ministered to.”
Sam and Marjorie
Sam Stone was the editor of the Christian Standard magazine at Standard Publishing. Sam worked next door to Mount Healthy Christian Home, where both of his parents lived. One morning, on his way to visit his parents, he ran to another resident in the hall, Marjorie Broxon. Marjorie had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. She spoke slowly and with difficulty. This made her sometimes hard to understand. However, Sam knew Marjorie, and frequently stopped to chat with her. Today, they spoke for a few minutes, like usual, and he started to go on to see his parents.
Yet as Sam turned to go, Marjorie said, “You know I like it here. There are good folks operating the home. But all of the other residents here are a lot older than me and I don’t have a chance to do many things I’m able to do and want to do. I wish our churches provided a home to help handicapped people.”
“Well, yes, that would be nice,” Sam agreed, “but you know it would take a lot of money to build a facility like that.”
Without hesitation she responded, “It took a lot of money to build Mount Healthy Home, too.”Where does it come from?
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old.Where can I get some?
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humourWhy do we use it?
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout.
