The Hook Lecture 2026: Just Belonging

How can the church respond to the injustices that disabled people face in our society and in our churches?

Why have churches not traditionally been seen as places of disability justice? What can churches do to change that?

What can we learn from disabled people’s leadership about what it takes to belong?

For disabled people, barriers to participating in churches can be significant. Yet, from the margins, disabled people of faith are disrupting norms and challenging institutional power. We are calling churches to dismantle the barriers that hinder belonging. We are inviting churches to reframe their understanding of disabled people – from problems to be solved, to community leaders and prophetic voices calling for transformation.

Traditionally, disabled people have been seen as those who receive from the church’s ministry, rather than leading it. More recently, Christians have been thinking about belonging and inclusion for disabled people in churches. Now, critical voices in disability theology are calling for justice – in faith communities and in society.

In this year’s Hook Lecture, churches, theologians and disability scholars will be invited to share disabled Christians’ visions of disabled futures in a more just world.

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Naomi Lawson Jacobs is an activist and social researcher in disability studies, based at Manchester Metropolitan University in the Learning Disabilities and Autism research group.

Naomi is co-author of At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches based on PhD research centring the lived experiences of disabled Christians, which shares prophetic and transformative narratives of church and faith by disabled people. The research calls churches to move from a care-based approach to disability to one that is focused on justice for disabled Christians.

Naomi is currently working with Dr Erin Raffety (Princeton Theological Seminary) on a project about disabled people and leadership, funded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

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The Hook Lecture is an annual public talk on the ways faith interacts with city life.

It is jointly organised by Leeds Church Institute, Leeds Minster, and the Centre for Religion and Public Life at the University of Leeds.

This talk is free of charge and open to everyone. There will be an opportunity for questions from the audience after the talk.

Accessibility

Holy Trinity Boar Lane is wheelchair accessible, with two gender-neutral toilets. A link for live auto-generated subtitles will be provided. If you would benefit from BSL interpretation, or if there’s any other way this event can be made more accessible to you, please contact us on [email protected]