In Elevation's Defense...
A local news story gets national attention.There has been some online outrage over the last few days about an incident that took place on Easter Sunday at Elevation Church, a prominent North Carolina megachurch. The mother of a 12-year old boy with cerebral palsy claims that her son was removed from the service for being a “distraction”.
Stories like this appear in the news media from time to time, and even in the Christian community, our reaction is usually to shoot first, ask questions later. Elevation Church is only five years old and averages a weekend attendance of 8,000. It’s a successful church with a young charismatic pastor, someone who’s likely viewed with suspicion by some in the religious establishment. Megachurches are big targets, and megachurch scandals are good blog fodder.
According to the mom, she and her son were escorted out of the service after the son said “his own kind of Amen” after the opening prayer. Some people have read more into this incident than what actually happened. The mother and child weren’t asked to leave the church--they were taken to an overflow area where there were other people. I suspect the service was being beamed into this area live. Some may think this was too harsh, but I think it’s hard to pass judgment without knowing exactly what happened. I’ve been in church services that were disrupted by a number of things: cell phones ringing, babies crying, people talking, kids fidgeting. And occasionally I’ve seen special needs children or adults create distractions in worship services, usually unintentionally. It’s awkward for almost everyone involved, because sometimes action needs to be taken but no one wants to come across as a jerk.
Let’s show this church a little grace. Perhaps they did jump the gun a little. But before we pass judgment on an overzealous usher, we need to face reality: most churches would take a similar action if a disruption reached a certain threshold, regardless of the reason behind it.
And consider what happened after the incident:
The mom approached the pastor about starting a special needs ministry for kids, an idea which she says was rejected. She then requested a meeting with church leaders, which according to WSOC-TV, was canceled after the pastor found out she had also contacted the TV station.
This is where we need to give the church the benefit of the doubt and ask a few tough questions.
- This incident happened over a month and a half ago. Why is it coming to light now?
- Would you allow a visitor to start a ministry working with kids before they had been part of your church for a while, and before they had gone through the proper procedures for establishing a ministry? I wouldn’t. No church leader in their right mind would.
- Why didn’t the mom meet with church leaders before contacting the news media? She comes across more as a bully than as someone trying to work things out. And that’s saying something, because this news story was obviously advocating for the mom and son. At best, there was subtle intimidation going on.
Some local newscasts are notorious for shoddy journalism and their advocacy pieces don’t always present information objectively. This is certainly a sensitive issue, and it’s a potential PR disaster for Elevation Church. WSOC reports that the pastor has requested special needs training for staff, which is a good thing. But wouldn’t it have been nice if the church could have taken that step without having their hand forced by a local TV station experiencing a slow news day?
Related Links:
Special Needs Boy Removed from Church Service (VIDEO) - WSOC-TV 9 Charlotte
Special Needs Boy Removed from Church Service (TEXT) - WSOC-TV 9 Charlotte
Shane Raynor is a managing editor for Ministry Matters. You can find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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There is a serious problem in the church community when it comes to dealing with families that have special needs children. Most churches just aren't equipped or ready to handle a family walking through the door with a child that isn't "normal." Most children's ministries can't handle it because the children don't react in the "right way."
I know this because our family has seen it first hand. We've had a pastor tell us that "God doesn't want us" in their church after my autistic son came to a service. The worst crime he committed during that church's service? He danced during the worship songs.
Families with special needs children are more often than not made to feel like second class human beings within churches. They're shoved to the side because it's not "cool" to have a special needs child seen in the church. You wrote "The mother and child weren’t asked to leave the church--they were taken to an overflow area where there were other people." Yeah...they were shoved out of the way of the cameras. Shoved out of the way of the main room of people. Made to feel like second class Christians again.
Sure, it's likely the result of an overzealous usher. But that doesn't excuse what happened.
And as for your characterizing her as a "bully"...walk in our shoes for a while and be repeatedly dismissed not only by the church establishment but society in general for having a child that's not "perfect." Read stories like the one I shared on my blog of the time we went to a restaurant and had to put up with a woman repeatedly calling my son a "retard."
Why go to the news media? Because when you're shoved to the side by a church that aggressively promotes itself in the community and then is dismissed when you approach them about starting a ministry for special needs children like yours, you feel like you're once again being dismissed and marginalized because you don't fit the right Christian image. You feel you need someone with a little more pull to get answers or action.
Honestly...had the TV station not been contacted...would Elevation Church have done a darn thing to prepare for the next special needs child that walked through the door?
I doubt it.
And I base that on churches we once attended where we still have friends who say those churches have done nothing to prepare for special needs children in their church.
While I agree with your position about not letting someone just walk in off the street and start a ministry it's also not good practice in a situation like this to just reject the person in the manner that appears to have been done.
And as for canceling the meeting with this woman after they found out she went to the TV station? Absolutely shameful. Once again, they are marginalizing this woman because after being dismissed by the church she reached in desperation to someone she hoped could get her answers. Honestly, after being rejected outright in her first attempt to contact the church, how optimistic do you think she would have been about a second meeting?
There are a lot of times that the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality pops into situations where people are critical of churches. In this case, I don't see "shooting" happening until this woman and her child were made to feel inferior by a place that professes to be all about Jesus and then was rejected outright when she approached them about the problem. In this case, they deserved to have a shot at them.
It's not easy to include individuals with special needs, but we're denying that the gospel is for them as much as it is for us if we don't make the effort. Additionally the body - as described in 1 Corinthians 12 - is incomplete if it doesn't include all members in meaningful ways.
I write a special needs ministry blog - http://www.theworksofgoddisplayed.com - and I opted to write a post related to this but not including specifics. It's hard to know what really happened. I do know, though, that God is not glorified when we play favorites about who gets to hear the good news in our churches.