Reviewed by Patrick Hunnicutt
by Benjamin T. Conner
Wm. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mich. 116 pages
A quick glance at this book’s cover might lead you to predict its content. That is, you might reasonably expect an impassioned appeal on behalf of adolescents with developmental disabilities, because in simple terms, “They are God’s children too.” You might anticipate gratifying vignettes that inspire you to share in the laughter of the disabled and their “abled” peers who happily embrace them in the cover photo. You might also brace yourself, aware that the book will demand that you do more in ministry, when you already have more than you can handle.
In fact, these expectations would be fairly accurate. Conner does passionately appeal for the nearly 20 percent of youth who have some kind of developmental disability. His appeal is informed by the laughter and joy he has experienced in his embrace of these individuals, who are very much counted among the family of God’s children. And his embrace of these godly image-bearers has sometimes made overwhelming demands on his life and ministry, so we should expect likewise.
Be that as it may, Conner’s thoughtfully delivered gift to the church is anything but predictable. How can it be, when God’s call to ministry rarely fails to surprise us? Indeed, “Amplifying our Witness” is a profoundly theological discussion that reads like a call narrative for the church. Whereas we expect Conner to call us like Moses to lead the marginalized to their promised land, he actually beckons us to the burning bush, where we encounter the depths of who God is, and what God does. In this encounter, Conner believes, we in the church can rediscover who we are in God’s image and the divine power behind what we do.
Using missional language and Reformed theology, Conner argues that this holy encounter with God occurs not in establishing new outreach programs for disabled adolescents, but in electing to practice friendship with them. Unlike historical understandings of friendship predicated on the expectation of reciprocal benefit, or Facebook-fueled friendships that foster connections without commitment, these friendships with the disabled mirror the grace-full way Christ embodied God’s love to people who could not equally reciprocate, but who joyfully gave their whole lives in grateful response.
Conner urges the church to communicate the Gospel in ways that are relational, not rational. An “abled” society (and church) prioritizes competencies that young people with cognitive disabilities lack. Our inability to communicate the Gospel to them reveals our own narrow understanding of the Gospel.
It follows, then, that we do not know enough about God if we fail to convey God’s affirming presence to those whom God calls us to befriend. We would be right to expect Conner to state this in his book. We are blessed that he did, in ways we might not have predicted.
PATRICK HUNNICUTT is associate pastor for youth and families at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, Va.
