Flourishing Together: The Baylor Center for Disability and Flourishing Newsletter

We envision a world where people with and without disabilities live, learn, work, and worship together—a world where everyone belongs. Our Center’s vision requires a movement of individuals, families, and organizations working together to build belonging in every corner of our communities. We are proud of the ways Baylor faculty, staff, and students are investing in rigorous research that has real-world impact across these areas.

In our extensive work at the intersection of faith and disability, we are encouraged by a growing movement taking shape. More and more churches across the country are recognizing the call to welcome and embrace people with disabilities and their families. At the same time, many are seeking guidance on how to do this well.

In response, we are launching a dedicated newsletter featuring the work of our Baylor Collaborative on Faith and Disability. We are home to an incredible portfolio of projects and studies aimed at resourcing congregations to pursue faithful inclusion and accessible ministry. Through this newsletter, we hope to equip churches, ministry leaders, and communities to pursue ministry with and by people with disabilities and their families.

This new monthly resource will feature research insights, practical tools, and stories focused on faith and disability. It reflects both the momentum we are seeing nationally and the desire for thoughtful guidance as communities pursue deeper belonging.

This will be our final Center-wide newsletter until the start of the new academic year. We look forward to reconnecting with you in the fall with continued updates across our research, programs, and partnerships.

In the meantime, we invite you to opt in to continue receiving the new monthly Faith and Disability Newsletter!

Thank you for being part of this work. We are grateful to be building communities of belonging together.

— Erik Carter & Kristen Padilla

DISABILITY AND THE CHURCH CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE: Last week, eight faculty, staff, and students from our Collaborative on Faith and Disability joined church leaders and practitioners from across the country at the annual Disability and the Church Conference. Together, we contributed to conversations shaping how congregations move beyond inclusion toward true belonging!
DISCIPLING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES PODCAST: In an episode of the Raising Young Disciples Podcast from Our Daily Bread Ministries, Rev. Jason Le Shana, PhD, Program Director of the Baylor Collaborative on Faith and Disability, shares how churches and families can cultivate belonging for children with disabilities through intentional discipleship and community life.
WHAT CHURCH LEADERS SHOULD KNOW GUEST ARTICLE: Jason Le Shana and Erik Carter recently contributed a guest article to Covenant, a publication of The Living Church. In this piece, Disabilities & the Church: What Leaders Should Know, they draw on decades of research and partnership with faith communities to highlight key considerations for church leaders seeking to foster belonging for people with disabilities and their families.
PRACTICING INCLUSIVE WORSHIP: What does it look like to create worship spaces where everyone truly belongs? Bailey Thompson, a graduate student interning with our interdisciplinary Bridges to Belonging project, explores this question in a recent Good Faith Media opinion piece, “Blindness Is Not Brokenness.” Drawing from personal experience and theological reflection, Bailey challenges common assumptions about disability and invites faith communities to move beyond deficit-based views.
FEATURED RESOURCE: TOWARD FAITHFUL INCLUSION: Churches across the country are asking an important question: How can we more fully welcome and include people with disabilities and their families? We developed a new research-based resource to help answer that call. Toward Faithful Inclusion was created following a community conversation at last year’s Disability and the Church Conference and is designed to help churches move from uncertainty to action. This practical guide outlines nine key areas to shape your church’s approach, along with tangible next steps to begin the journey.
BRIDGES TO BELONGING COHORT LAUNCHES AUGUST 2026: Hosted in partnership with Truett Theological Seminary and Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, the Bridges to Belonging project brings churches together to explore how congregations can cultivate deeper belonging for young people with and without disabilities. We invite churches interested in joining this transformative journey to learn more and apply! Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis as space remains.

Following Erik Carter and Jason Le Shana’s main stage presentation at the Disability & the Church conference, Le Shana (right) joins Kim Botto and Don Talley for a panel discussion on the implications of research on disability ministry, the current church landscape, and improved practical leadership.

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