Accessible Church isn’t a traditional narrative. It’s a heartfelt, practical guide for churches that want to be truly welcoming to people with disabilities. With scripture, real-life stories, and years of experience, Sandra Peoples offers clear steps for ministry leaders, volunteers, and anyone who wants to make a difference.

Sandra shows how everyone can play a meaningful role with thoughtful, doable strategies rooted in compassion and love. What touched my heart most was how she frames accessibility not as an extra effort, but as a core part of the Church’s mission. It’s not about doing more…it’s about doing what matters most for those God has placed in our care.

Disability ministry has been on my heart for some time, and this book gave me fresh perspective through the lens of faith, belonging, and community. I found myself highlighting nearly every page on my Kindle and I plan to get a hard copy to keep and share.

Sandra’s writing felt like having coffee with a friend. It was clear, encouraging, and full of grace. The ideas she shares are not only inspiring but practical. The structure of the book is easy to follow, and the checklists, questions for reflection, and sample plans make the vision feel within reach. I’ve already started jotting down ideas and sharing them with our church leaders.

This book is perfect for church leaders and pastors looking to begin or strengthen disability ministry, children’s ministry volunteers and Sunday School teachers, family members and advocates of people with disabilities, and anyone who wants their church to be a place of true belonging.

It’s especially valuable for those with a background in disability services who are looking to bring that knowledge into faith-based spaces.

Accessible Church is more than a guide… it’s a call to love better, to notice more, and to serve with intention. It touched my heart and filled me with both hope and direction. If you’ve ever wondered how your church can become more inclusive, this book is a beautiful and practical place to begin.

Thank you, Crossway, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

With "Accessible Church: A Gospel-Centered Vision for Including People with Disabilities and their Families," disability ministry consultant and professor Sandra Peoples expands on her long history of equipping large and small churches to reach children and teens with various cognitive disabilities with this easy to understand (dare I say accessible?) and practical guide toward creating safer and more healing churches for the one in five households including a child with a disability.

It's an important conversation. While many ministry leaders may long to help, there's an incredible lack of knowledge along with a perceived lack of space, budget, and appropriately trained volunteers. It can be intimidating, however, Peoples aptly plants a vision for including people with disabilities and their families.

It is important to start off any reading of "Accessible Church" with an understanding of what it is and what it is not. It is a very practical guide that specifically targets families and ministry with children with a disability. It is a book that focuses most of its literary energy on children with cognitive and developmental disabilities (autism spectrum, ADHD, Down Syndrome, learning disabilities, etc.).

It is not a book targeting, for the most part, adults with disabilities. It is not a book that spends much energy on the many other areas of disabilities including mobility barriers. Peoples spends most of her time focusing on how these children and families can be served - not, necessarily, how they can be enfolded into the serving life of the congregation.

"Accessible Church" includes a foreword by Joni Eareckson Tada, a ringing endorsement for sure. It's also an endorsement that likely tells you that "Accessible Church" is Gospel-centered, evangelical in approach, and written from the perspective of an expert and caregiver with relatively little voice given to those with disabilities.

As a person with significant disabilities myself (spina bifida, double amputee, hydrocephalus, and two-time cancer survivor) who is a seminary graduate and active in ministry, I both appreciated "Accessible Church" and longed for it to be more. Peoples incorporates creative ways that churches can adapt style, physical settings, safety policies, and more to accommodate families with disabilities whether that church has an active "special needs" (a term I despise) ministry or not.

"Accessible Church" is a valuable resource for pastors, children's ministry participants, disability ministry leaders and volunteers, and families of children with disabilities. It offers practical advice and encourages openness and discussions. Refreshingly, it addresses the often-delivered message that disabled children are somehow less (or need to be changed) and it also addresses the often-delivered message that disabilities result from sin and/or a lack of healing equates to a lack of faith (poor theology).

I will confess I expected a more expansive book that enfolded adults with disabilities and recognized disabilities beyond cognitive and developmental disabilities, though in the contemporary church it seems as if a good majority of disability ministries focus in these areas and often disregard those with physical disabilities. I also hoped that Peoples might push toward greater inclusion of those with disabilities rather than simply as the recipients of service and ministry. While I can be bothered by these things, these things simply weren't the focus of this book and that's okay.

While "Accessible Church" may not have been everything I wanted it to be, what it is is important toward building a Gospel-centered vision for including people with disabilities and their families into the life of what it means to be church family. As Peoples points out time and time again, such a church is truly a Gospel-centered church following the teachings of Jesus in a more complete way.