Joining Hearts Across Canada for Disability Ministry

There’s something quietly beautiful about the way disability ministry shows up in our churches. It’s not usually loud or platformed. It doesn’t always sit at the center of a Sunday service. But if you’ve spent any time around Friendship Ministries, you know—this is some of the most genuine, joy-filled, deeply relational work happening in our communities.

In many of our congregations, Friendship groups have become a place where belonging is not something we talk about in theory—it’s something you can see. You see it in the way people greet one another by name. In the consistency of volunteers who show up week after week. In the laughter that doesn’t feel forced or polite, but real. There’s a kind of honesty in these spaces that many of us long for in the rest of our church life.

And yet, as strong and loved as these ministries are, they don’t just run on their own. They are built on people—on time, on care, on intentional support—and increasingly, on resources that help churches move from good intentions to meaningful, sustainable inclusion.

That’s part of what has been shaping my heart lately. As I’ve spent more time connecting with families across our denomination who are living with disability, I’ve been struck by how much of this story lives just under the surface. In almost every church, there are individuals and families navigating diagnoses, therapies, limitations, or invisible challenges that most of us would never see from the pew. And while many churches are doing incredible work, there is still a gap between wanting to be a place of belonging and actually having the tools, training, and support to live that out fully.

That’s the “why” behind 100 Women | 1 Heart theme and focus for this year.

On April 18, a group of women will gather in Grimsby for a simple but meaningful purpose: to invest in disability ministry through Thrive and Friendship Ministries so that our churches can continue growing as places where people are not only welcomed, but deeply known and supported. The goal is straightforward—100 women giving $100 each—but what sits underneath that goal is much deeper. It’s about strengthening the kind of ministry that reflects the heart of the church at its best.

At the same time, we know that not everyone who cares about this work will be in the room that morning. One of the gifts of being part of a national church is that we are connected beyond geography. What happens in one place can be supported and shared by many.

So if you are part of a congregation anywhere across Canada and you’ve seen the impact of disability ministry—whether through Friendship, through a family in your church, or through your own lived experience—this is an opportunity to be part of that story. A $100 gift in honour of someone with a disability in your life is a simple way to say: this matters. This belongs in the life of our churches. We want to keep building communities where people don’t have to hide parts of their story to feel like they fit.

Because at its core, disability ministry isn’t a side program. It’s a reflection of how seriously we take belonging in the body of Christ. And when that belonging is real—when it’s supported, resourced, and lived out—it doesn’t just impact a few individuals. It shapes the whole church.