Pentecostal Healing Must Make Room for Disability Belonging

A person with a disability enters a Pentecostal service and is noticed first as a possible miracle. Hands reach out, cameras turn, a testimony is anticipated and the congregation waits for visible bodily change. The person may have come to worship, receive communion, learn Scripture, offer a gift, meet friends or exercise leadership. Yet disability has become the whole public story before consent has been sought.

Pentecostal Christians rightly pray because Jesus heals and the Spirit gives hope. We should not protect our reputation by denying prayer or explaining every testimony away. But healing faith becomes distorted when a person must accept prayer, perform improvement, disclose private information or carry blame when nothing visible changes.

Persons with disabilities are members and ministers, theologians and witnesses, children and elders, neighbours and leaders. They do not need to become able-bodied before the Church can recognise the image of God, the gifts of the Spirit or their authority to speak about the communities in which they worship.

On 29 August, the Church of Pentecost's Ministry to Persons with Disabilities used its official social-media channel to report the completion of Deaf Camp 2026 and to continue its MPWDs Trail public-education initiative. The camp had opened on 20 August with worship, teaching and fellowship designed around Deaf participation.

This is a primary institutional self-report. It verifies that a named Pentecostal…