Meet Lindsay Wieland Capel, your Disability Consultant

What is a Thrive Ministry Consultant?

Ministry Consultants bring together a wide array of experiences and expertise that allow them to serve congregations with wisdom and compassion. They are practitioners, pastors, and seasoned ministry leaders who are eager to develop tools or serve as resources for the wellbeing of your congregation.

In what areas of ministry do you encourage and equip congregations? 

Our goal is that every church would have a church disability advocate and every classis would have a regional disability advocate. I recruit and support volunteers as well as lead advocate meetings where volunteers meet and learn from one another. I’m available to provide consultation to churches about specific scenarios or ministry contexts that they’d like help with. 

I also coordinate cohorts for the CRC and work with my RCA counterpart to put out the monthly Breaking Barriers newsletter.

How did you come into your role? 

I started my journey in disability advocacy as an ally, and then as a professional Social Worker who worked with people with disabilities. As life goes for many people, I’ve also acquired some disabilities along the way and have close family members with disabilities.

Back in 2008 I was visiting a CRC church in the south suburbs of Chicago and stumbled upon a printed copy of Breaking Barriers, the newsletter of what was then, Disability Concerns. I was so excited to learn that the CRC had a whole focus area on helping churches create belonging with people with disabilities. I sent a letter to Mark Stephenson, the Director of Disability Concerns, and told him he was doing my dream job and I wanted to introduce myself. Shortly after, Mark invited me to volunteer for the ministry. I asked him if he’d heard of Facebook, and if I could help by setting up the ministry on Facebook. I also created a tool for the ministry to use, 30 Ways to Be Hospitable to People with Disabilities. I joined what was then the Advisory Committee of Disability Concerns and became a Disability Advocate at my church. I saw the ministry flourish in its partnership with the Reformed Church in America. Eventually when Mark retired, I was thrilled to be hired as his successor and to carry on the work so that in churches everybody belongs, and everybody serves. 

What  are you most passionate about as you journey alongside churches and ministry leaders? 

I am passionate about sharing the stories and experiences of people with disabilities in our churches and raising awareness about ways churches can be more intentional. In a study about families with a child with a developmental disability, 32% said they left their place of worship because their child was not welcomed or included. I think church leaders mean to be welcoming, but they are often ignorant about what church is like for people with disabilities and the changes that are needed. I was attending a training recently where someone said, “What a kid thinks the church thinks of them becomes what they believe God thinks about them.” We have a long way to go so that all members of the family of God experience the love of God through belonging at church.

How can congregations connect with you?

Visit the Thrive website at crcna.org/thrive/consultants and sign-up for our newsletter, Breaking Barriers.