2024 has arguably been a year in which Key Ministry, and the like-minded ministries we serve have had an unprecedented impact in resourcing the Church to welcome, care for and minister with children, adults and families impacted by disability.
This is a time of great opportunity. It’s no longer unrealistic to think that within the next ten years that churches lacking some sort of strategy or program for ministry with persons with disabilities in the communities they serve will be the exception as opposed to the norm.
If our organization and the organizations we serve are going to step up to develop the training, resources and support churches need to take the next step, we’re going to require significantly more financial resources than those available to us to this point. Some of the questions our leadership is wrestling with as we prepare to approach individuals, churches and foundations for the funding we need to take the next step include…
How are we making a difference?
Why should prospective donors consider supporting our ministry?
What wouldn’t be happening if Key Ministry were to disappear from the face of the earth?
A very wise member of our Board in the early years of the ministry posed this question…
Are we providing a service or leading a movement?
We’re doing both. Over time, those two functions have become inextricable from one another. The training, content, gatherings and experiences that we’ve created for pastors, church staff and ministry volunteers produced with the assistance of like-minded colleagues serving in disability ministry have become our principal service. So much of what we’re able do to help churches welcome and support families, we accomplish by bringing together experts from other ministry organizations.
There are two unique niches we fill in the disability ministry movement. One has been our focus on including children and families. The other has been our focus on inclusion of individuals and families impacted by hidden disabilities - significant emotional, behavioral developmental and neurologic conditions lacking outwardly apparent physical symptoms. Our resources tend to complement as opposed to compete with those of most like-minded ministries. As a result, we’ve found ourselves uniquely positioned to organize conferences and training events that serve to connect leaders and organizations serving within the disability ministry movement. These are big training opportunities for us, but they’re also big opportunities for everyone else operating in this space.
Dr. Erik Carter at Disability & the Church 2024 in Orlando, FL
We hosted two national ministry conferences in 2024. Disability and the Church attracted 90 speakers, 500+ pastors, church leaders and volunteers. Our first national Mental Health and the Church Conference attracted 35 speakers and over 100 attendees. The two conferences combined provided approximately 7,000 man hours of live, in-person disability ministry training. Our events provide essential opportunities for other ministries to train church leaders. Over the past three years, we’ve experienced a 350% + increase in proposals to speak at Disability and the Church.
Applications to present workshops, “Quick Takes” at Disability and the Church, by year.
The collaborations that have blossomed from our gatherings of ministry leaders will have great impact in the years to come. Together with Fresh Hope, our team helped to create Key to Hope, a small group peer support model for parents of kids and adults with disabilities. Our hope in introducing this small group model for families served by traditional disability ministries is that churches hosting these ministries will expand their capacity for outreach and inclusion with families impacted by mental illness who represent one of the largest underserved populations by the North American church.
Another key collaboration foundational to the work of the disability ministry movement is the work we’re doing with Baylor University’s Collaborative on Faith and Disability. Baylor has established a center to research and disseminate best practices in the disability ministry field. As part of this year’s Disability and the Church we partnered with Baylor to host a unique “community conversation” event in which 125 attendees gathered for an interactive evening conversation about accessible worship and belonging in our churches. The fruit of this gathering is a soon to be published “practice guide” filled with hundreds of tips and strategies related to accessible worship and belonging.
Disability & the Church 2024 Panel Discussion
One measure of the growth of the disability ministry movement - and Key Ministry’s role in it is the number of disability ministry leaders we serve. When we first launched our ministry 20+ years ago, we found less than ten individuals, organizations and churches actively engaged in the disability ministry space. The Special Needs and Disability Ministry Leaders networking and resource-sharing group that our Key Ministry team facilitates on Facebook continues to grow. The group has 3,278 current members - 583 new members in the past twelve months. Roughly two-thirds of members are active in commenting, sharing, and reacting to the 477 topical posts and 3,833 comments shared in the past year.
One of our five year goals in our ministry plan is to provide high-quality, live, in-person disability ministry training with a half-day drive of 90% of pastors and church leaders in the U.S. Thanks to some recent grant funding, we’ll be doing a pilot regional disability ministry conference in the third quarter of 2025. The dates and site for that conference will be announced at DATC 2025.
Dr. Grcevich recording a podcast while presenting at the D6 Conference, Orlando FL, April 2024
In addition to the events presented by Key Ministry, we offer training at conferences and events organized by other ministries and organizations. Team members presented at three major Children’s ministry conferences in 2024 (Children’s Pastors Conference, D6, KidzMatter), offering breakouts attended by over 300 pastors and ministry leaders. Training events at other disability ministry conferences, seminaries, parachurch organizations and foundations were attended by another 300+ church and ministry leaders in 2024.
Beth Golik at the Children’s Pastors Conference, Orlando, FL, January 2024
We field approximately three consultation requests per week from churches related to either disability or mental health ministry. We did two on-site trainings/consultations for approximately fifty pastors, church staff and volunteers.
Training at The Summit Church, Durham NC, April 2024
We’re on pace for well over 100,000 visits to our website in 2024, and the 76,000+ visitors to our website represent a 23% increase from 2023. The resources available through our website has been accessed by users in over 100 countries. Even the legacy content from two blogs we don’t actively maintain (Church4EveryChild and Special Needs Parenting) has been accessed by 37,000+ unique visitors thus far in 2024.
Conversations at Disability and the Church.
Our mission and the disability ministry movement has grown to the point where we need to grow with it. We would LOVE to do another national mental health ministry conference in 2025. We’d like to make more of the ministry resources provided through our website available in short, professionally produced videos that are easily shared online through our ministry partners and colleagues. We very much need to add staff to identify and pursue opportunities for grants and foundation funding for our work, but none of that is possible unless we can substantially increase our base of financial support.
How can you help?
If you have witnessed or personally experienced the impacts of the disability or mental health ministry Key Ministry helps to facilitate, we would very much appreciate your willingness to become a monthly supporter of our ministry. Monthly support is essential to our ability to plan for the future and expand the scope of our ministry. If you’re unable to commit to becoming a monthly donor, your one time gifts are greatly appreciated!
If you’re a pastor, church staff member or involved with the leadership of your church, would you consider advocating for Key Ministry to become a mission partner of your church? Our team is ready to provide you with printed resources documenting the impact of our ministry and available to meet in-person (when possible) or through video technology with your mission team. A fraction of 1% of the churches we serve provide us with any ongoing financial support.
If you serve on a foundation board or know fellow Christians who have established family foundations to support the type of work Key Ministry does, we would appreciate any introductions you could make with funders interested in supporting special projects, including the Mental Health and the Church conference and the regional disability ministry conferences we’re planning for 2025 and beyond.
Thanks so much for your prayer and support of the work done by Key Ministry!
