Michael S. Beates - Disability and the Gospel: How God Uses Our Brokenness to Display His Grace

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The Preacher said in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. And I am the first to admit that I am not sure I have ever had a completely original thought. This book has come about through many years of experience, conversations, and collaboration with family, friends, and ministry associates. I am grateful for all those who have walked this journey of life with me and spoken truth into my life over the years.

I owe many thanks to Joni Tada and our many mutual colleagues at Joni and Friends for almost twenty years of partnership in the gospel. Trips overseas with Wheels for the World, time spent at family retreats, and many personal discussions at board meetings and conferences have left an indelible mark on this book.

Dr. Steve Childers, Dr. Steve Brown, and especially Dr. John Frame guided this work through its initial form in the Doctor of Ministry program at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Mike Yuen at Joni and Friends turned the old Mac files of my dissertation into useable form so I could transform this book into (hopefully) a more readable and useful form. Connie Amon and Amy Lauger read, edited, and commented extensively on the manuscript. Thom Narbe has cheered me on for many years. They are all true friends and servants.

Harry and Shellie provided the atmosphere to write undistracted for many hours and are commended for not charging me rent for the work space at that front table by the window! Howard Shore and Phil Keaggy provided the sound track for much of the process, adding beautiful music to the labor of writing.

And I owe much as well to the good people at Crossway, particularly Allan Fisher for first considering the manuscript, Jill Carter and Mattie Wolf for guiding it through, and for so many others in that strong gospel community for contributing their time and talents to this finished work. Any weaknesses contained herein are mine but have been made less so due to their careful and diligent work.

Jameson, Abraham, Abbie, Shoshanah, Eli, and Josiah had their fingerprints (sometimes literally) all over the early drafts of this when they were younger children. Shotgun the greyhound was my constant companion, lying on the floor at my feet through much of the original writing. And of course, Jessicas life drove me to writethis book is essentially her contribution, her gift, to Gods people.

Finally, my dearest Mary has lived and modeled the truth in this book one day at a time for thirty years. I am forever grateful to God for her faithful, persevering, trusting heart.

And I know all these good people (and so many others known to God for their contributions) join me in saying, Soli Deo Gloria!

Disability and the Gospel tackles head-on the spoken and too often unspoken questions about disability. Well researched and at times provocative, Michael Beates digs beyond the surface in search of reconciliation among the realities of suffering, disability, and the teachings of Scripture. Disability and the Gospel is an important work that reveals not only a biblical worldview on physical disability, but gives comforting confirmation that God is indeed always sovereign, always in charge, and all purposeful.

Doug Mazza, President, Joni and Friends International Disability Center

Mike Beates has been a good friend for twelve years, and Ive observed his godly character as well as heard and read his insightful teaching. I have read Disability and the Gospel at several stages, and I recommend it highly. The church needs to be awakened to the presence of the disabled in our communities and, as Mike stresses, to the disabilities we all have as sinners in need of Gods grace. The book contains excellent exegesis, theology, and historical studies that make a powerful case. I dont know a better place to hear Gods Word on this important matter.

John M. Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary; author, Doctrine of the Christian Life

Why should the church embrace people with disabilities? Because they need us? Perhaps. But in Disability and the Gospel , Michael Beates reminds us that the transforming power of the gospel can only be ours when we, the able-bodies, admit our own brokenness and weakness and learn the truth that God uses the weak people of this world to confound the wise. The church has as much to learn from people with disabilities as she has to give to them.

Dawn Clark, Director of Disability Ministries, College Church, Wheaton, Illinois

Disability and the Gospel is a wonderful book! Its biblical, profound, practical, and challenging. It is also a book written at the right time and by the right person. Every Christian in America needs read this book, and every church should study it, underline it, and live it! What a gift Michael Beates has given to us and to those to whom the church is called to show mercy, understanding, and compassion. I rise up and call Mike Beates blessed. Read this book. You will too!

Steve Brown, Professor Emeritus, Reformed Seminary; teacher, Key Life, a syndicated daily teaching program; author, Three Free Sins! God Isnt Mad at You

In Disability and the Gospel , Michael Beates urges Christians to invite people with disabilities into our churches and our lives not because they need our help, but because worshiping and ministering alongside people with disabilities helps us to recognize our own brokenness and learn that Gods grace is most apparent and powerful when we are most weak and wounded. While my own theology of disability differs from Beatess in significant ways, I recommend this thorough, accessible book for pastors, congregations, and individuals who want to engage more fully with those in their communities living with disabilities, and thus live out the gospel in new and transforming ways.

Ellen Painter Dollar, author, No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Parenthood, and Faith in an Age of Advanced Reproduction

This material was originally presented as a paper at a conference hosted by the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (The Christian Stake in Genetics) at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in July 1997. It was originally published in Genetic Ethics: Do the Ends Justify the Genes? The original material has been edited for inclusion in this book. Though some of the quotations have already been used, sprinkled through the previous chapters, I have chosen to present this material as a unit for the sake of the four points I make below.

What is the connection between Gods sovereignty in creation and the presence of acutely grotesque or at least mysterious genetic accidents? Did God purpose to make these, or did he start the biological machine we call humanity and then step back to watch it run, leaving the entry of sin to wreak the havoc we see in malformations? Are genetic anomalies strictly related to sin and the fall, freeing God from any responsibility regarding them? If God has no part in such debilitating human physical conditions, then what hope does the Christian faith offer those who are afflicted or those who care for or treat these afflicted?