This paper explores how the African understanding of Ubuntu can reshape the way the church offers pastoral care to people with disabilities. Usually, pastoral care has been practised in ways that place people with disabilities on the receiving end of charity rather than recognizing them as full participants in the life of the community. This study reconsiders pastoral care as a shared, relational practice rooted in presence, compassion, and mutual responsibility. Ubuntu, with its emphasis that a person becomes a person through relationships with others, offers a helpful lens for this rethinking. When read alongside Scripture, and insights from disability theology, it opens up a vision of the church as a place of belonging where every person matters. This paper reflects on key themes such as interdependence, hospitality, shared humanity, and the importance of lament, showing how these can shape more meaningful and inclusive pastoral practices.
Engaging the work of theologians like Nancy Eiesland, Amos Yong, and John Swinton, the discussion highlights the need to move beyond seeing disability as a problem to be fixed. Instead, it invites the church to recognize the gifts, presence, and dignity of people with disabilities. At the end, the paper suggests that Ubuntu does not introduce something entirely new, but calls the church back to a deeper expression of what it already is meant to be, a community where all belong and where care is shared.
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- Method Moyo (Autor), 2026, Ubuntu as a Framework for Pastoral Care to People with Disabilities, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1753671
