Cripping Youth Ministry: An Intersectional Vision for Working With Disabled Youth
Justin Forbes and Erin Raffety, editors
Eerdmans, 240 pages
Published August 18, 2026
Churches want to offer “youth-friendly” spaces; in the past, that might have meant a ping-pong table and a couple of beanbag chairs, but the contributors to Cripping Youth Ministry offer a more expansive vision. They share stories of ministries where young people with physical, mental and emotional challenges are fully included — as participants and leaders.
Despite the title, this isn’t just for youth leaders. People with disabilities hide in plain sight: the church member who masks their autism, parents who stop attending worship when their neurodivergent child becomes “unruly,” the soprano who yearns to join the choir but can’t climb the narrow steps, or the ADHD kiddo who can’t sit still in youth group, and whose internalized shame puts them at higher risk of suicide. When we remove the masks of perfection and create authentic spaces, the church becomes more welcoming for everyone.
For this to happen, we need to recognize and name our own ableism; the folks described above are community members, not recipients of our ministry and outreach. Editor Erin Raffety argues that “disability isn’t primarily a dysfunction of the body, but rather a result of prejudice that makes society fundamentally inaccessible to disabled people.” In the words of one youth who identifies as queer and disabled, “there is an ‘unspoken theology that says disability is a curse of God.’” We need to change the narrative.
Cripping Youth Ministry offers eye-opening essays in which ministry leaders with disabilities – some of whom are also people of color or LGBTQIA+ – tell their own stories, share prayers, and describe innovative communities. With each chapter in a different voice, the book can feel choppy at times, but that makes it a terrific choice for a small group to read over multiple weeks. The book opens with lament and walks us through stories of protest, praise and prophecy — which may be the journey we all need.
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