CHIATECH JOURNAL · Registered Version of Record

From Charity to Ecclesial Participation: Disability Theology, Divine Calling and Ministerial Formation in African Christianity — A Critical Review

1. Peter Ukule
   ¹Department of Christian Studies and Religious Communication, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: African churches often combine strong doctrines of divine calling and human dignity with cultural and institutional practices that frame disability through healing, pity, dependence or exceptional accommodation. Objective: This critical narrative review synthesises disability theology, African Christian scholarship and theological-education literature to clarify the theological movement from charity-oriented inclusion toward full ecclesial participation in ministerial formation.Approach: The review synthesises sources assembled in the doctoral literature corpus, including foundational disability theology, African studies, practical theology, ecumenical statements and recent scholarship through 2025. It is a critical narrative review rather than a systematic review and makes no claim of exhaustive database coverage. Synthesis: Five themes recur: disability challenges perfectionist accounts of the human person; healing narratives can either liberate or reinforce deficit models; the body of Christ reframes apparently weaker members as indispensable; compassion without justice can preserve hierarchy; and theological education is a strategic site where cultural assumptions about ministerial embodiment are either reproduced or transformed. Conclusion: Theologically serious disability inclusion requires a shift from asking how the church can care for disabled people to asking how disabled Christians exercise agency, calling, leadership and mutual ministry within the church. Ministerial formation should evaluate gifts and essential functions, remove structural barriers and treat disability as a legitimate locus of theological knowledge rather than a pastoral exception.

Keywords: disability theology; African Christianity; divine calling; ministerial formation; ecclesial participation; charity and justice; theological education

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Published by CHIA TECH SOLUTIONS AND RESOURCES LIMITED. ISSN assignment remains pending.