Last month I mentioned an iTunes course I stumbled upon
called Theology
of Suffering, Disability, and the Church, by Dallas Theological Seminary. I’ve enjoyed watching the video clips and
have been challenged and inspired by its messages….You can imagine my surprise
when I happened to bump into the professor of this class, Daniel Thomson, at a
conference I recently attended! Our
meeting soon led to a swapping of stories and an e-mail interview of sorts that
I would like to share with you—this week and next. Enjoy a sneak peek at a delightful
conversation.
Jenny: Can you share a little history about how this
class came about? It’s very unique.
Daniel: I
practiced as a Home Health Physical Therapist in Little Rock, Arkansas -- and
through that -- saw life with disability at its worst. I saw the tension on the
caregiver. I saw marriages fall apart. I saw the stress and strain on those
with disabilities just trying to survive. Through it all, I kept finding myself
asking the question, "Where is the church?" I mean occasionally
someone would bring by a casserole, but there was little organic community --
at least for an extended period.
Jenny: I find myself also asking, "Where is the
church?" often when I consider people living with disabilities. Where did your experiences lead you?
Daniel: So, long story short, my questions
led to my coming to DTS in 2005 as a student. And I had questions not only
about where the church was, but also, where was God? When I got to seminary, I
quickly found out that nothing was being taught on both topics (and only one
other seminary in the world offered a class on it -- Reformed Theological
Seminary online -- which I took that course to learn more). Not even one
lecture at DTS on ministry to those affected by disability was being taught --
and the light bulb went on -- if the leaders don't have a vision for this and
are not teaching their churches, no wonder there are so few Disability
Ministries. If the shepherds don't lead, the flocks don't follow.
Jenny: Then what happened?
Daniel: So,
during my first year at seminary, I started a dialogue with Joni Eareckson Tada
and her team at Joni and Friends. After one trip to L.A. to meet with them, I
drafted the following weekend a syllabus for a course called, "A Biblical
Theology of Suffering, Disability, and the Church." I basically put in it
what I would want in a course on suffering and disability -- half of the course
putting forth a biblical view of suffering, the other half more of an
application to those affected by disability. After a three year journey to get
the course approved by various committees -- we taught the course for the first
time in the Fall of 2009 -- I graduated from DTS earlier that spring. We have
since offered it online every semester since, live twice.
Jenny: There’s a book that goes with this class too,
right?
Daniel: The book, Why
O God, came from the class. Many of the lecturers we used wrote a chapter
for the book. We have since created a sister version of the class at Dallas
Baptist University and will teach a doctoral version at DTS this coming summer.
So, our hope is to give future pastors and Christian servant leaders a vision
for ministry to and through those affected by disability with a grounded
Biblical view of suffering -- this is how God works -- we just need to shed
light on it and help the church (through its leaders) to get on board….
…to be continued.
Next week Daniel is going to share what motivates him to minister to
people with disabilities. See you then!
Want an inside look?
Take a seat inside Daniel’s course singing “It is Well.”
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