The Importance of Spirituality in the Lives of Adults with Disabilities (AWDs) and How Church and Pastors Can Improve Their Ministries To Meet These Spiritual Needs

• Author / Creator

  Shodipo, Olutayo Stephen

• Spirituality is an integral part of the lives of Adults with Disabilities (AWDs). Sadly, a very few literature have revealed the relationship between the spirituality of AWDs, their quality of life, and general wellbeing. This research focuses on the gaps that exist in knowledge about how AWDs understand and express their spirituality and how the church recognizes and nurtures this spiritual expression, and what the church and pastors can learn from this research to improve their ministries to meet these spiritual needs. The study uses Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) with AWDs within the Baptist congregations in Nigeria to investigate these gaps, explore the importance of spirituality in their lives, and addresses these unmet spiritual needs. This study holds the spiritual needs of AWDs in dialogue with contemporary disability theologians’ views on spirituality and disability with deeper reflection on belonging from the Theology of Inclusion and Belonging by John Swinton and the Theology of Prophetic Belonging by Tom Reynolds. It conducts research interviews with seven research participants from two Baptist congregations of the Nigerian Baptist Convention and elicits responses (voices) from the research participants themselves on how important spirituality is to them, how the church have responded to these unmet needs in their lives. The research participants’ expression and experience of spirituality during the research interviews highlight the significance of spirituality in their lives. The study presents eight implications and some recommendations which, if reflected on and attended to, can enhance the practice of church and Pastors’ ministry to meet the spiritual needs of AWDs in their congregations. The study also provides an exciting opportunity to advance researchers’ knowledge on disability studies.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Spirituality
  • Inclusion
  • Belonging
  • Intellectual and Developmental Disability
  • Pastoral Care

• Graduation date

  2024

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Ministry

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-b2zr-6z58

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.