Care and Support, Caregiving, Church Support, Families, Parents, Special Needs Parenting
Elaina Marchenko
How to Care for Caregiving Families with Lisa ...

Elaina sits down and talks with Lisa Jamieson from Walk Right In Ministries about family caregivers, the holidays, and ways the church can better support them.

How to Care for Caregiving Families with Lisa Jamieson: Podcast Ep 126
Key Ministry, Resources, Training Events, Leadership
Stephen Grcevich MD
The Case for Supporting Key Ministry

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.

The Case for Supporting Key Ministry
Caregiving
Jolene Philo
November Is Family Caregiver Awareness Month

November is Caregiver Awareness Month. As someone who became one of my dad’s caregivers before I started school, I grew up thinking everyone in the world was aware of caregivers and caregiving. As a young adult my husband and I cared for a son born with a life-threatening medical condition, and his typical sibling. As members of the sandwich generation, my brother, sister, and I cared for our mother for 15 years after she was diagnosed with dementia. This explains why, when I first heard that November is Caregiver Awareness Month, I was incredulous, and I still am. 

November Is Family Caregiver Awareness Month
Care and Support, Disability Ministry, Special Needs Ministry
Larah Roberts
A Conversation with Lauren Hickman from Hope ...

In this episode, Lauren Hickman shares her personal journey and calling to disability ministry, describing how God has guided her every step of the way to serve families impacted by disability.

A Conversation with Lauren Hickman from Hope Allen Center: Podcast EP 125
Autism, Care and Support, Church Support, Disability Ministry, podcast, Special Needs Parenting, Special Needs Ministry, Sandra Peoples
Sandra Peoples
Strategies for Small and Normative Sized ...

 In today’s episode, Sandra talks about the challenges small to normative-sized churches face in disability ministry and shares how the churches she’s been a part of have overcome these challenges.

Strategies for Small and Normative Sized Churches with Sandra Peoples: Podcast EP 124

depression

, , , , ,

Six Reasons Church Leaders are Struggling (And How You Can Help): Podcast Episode 021

, , , , ,
Six Reasons Church Leaders are Struggling (And How You Can Help): Podcast Episode 021

In this episode, Lamar Hardwick shares six reasons why church leaders, especially those in disability and mental health ministry, may be struggling and how your church family can help them.

, , , , , , , ,

The Case for an Impacted Pastor: Four Reasons Why You Need Church Leaders with Disabilities

, , , , , , , ,
The Case for an Impacted Pastor: Four Reasons Why You Need Church Leaders with Disabilities

So, you don’t know me, but I’m a pastor. God called me to ministry about five years ago. Like most of us, I never would’ve seen it coming. There are a dozen reasons why nobody would want to use me and those are all the reasons why God chose me.

, , , , , , ,

Why You Should Care About Special Needs

, , , , , , ,
Why You Should Care About Special Needs

It can be difficult to understand the complexities of raising a child with special needs if this calling is not part of your existence. You should care, because children with special needs are the least of the least of the least of these.

,

Appreciating our pastors during Mental Illness Awareness Week

,
Appreciating our pastors during Mental Illness Awareness Week

These findings tell us that we need to reverse course and consider how to attend to the mental health of pastors themselves.

, , , , , , , , ,

Who Wants a Pastor Who Takes Depression Meds?

, , , , , , , , ,
Who Wants a Pastor Who Takes Depression Meds?

I had an appointment with my doctor, to adjust to my medication for an ongoing health condition, and to get a prescription for depression. When the doctor asked why a pastor would want to take depression medication, I responded, Who wants a pastor who can’t care for the sheep because I’m just too depressed? An important post about the need for pastors to care for their mental health needs.

, ,

Caring for our neighbors in a COVID-19 mental health crisis

, ,
Caring for our neighbors in a COVID-19 mental health crisis

Here's why I'd recommend Psychological First Aid to any pastor or church leader interested in quickly building capacity to care for large numbers of hurting people during the pandemic.

, , , , , , ,

Five Stages of Spiritual Growth in Mental Illness

, , , , , , ,
Five Stages of Spiritual Growth in Mental Illness

I’d never wish the darkness of mental illness on anyone, but if it wasn’t for anorexia, bulimia, anxiety and depression, I don’t know if I would be a Christian today. There seems to be a pattern common to many Christ-followers who also live with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc. Here’s how I now characterize the five stages in my relationship with Christ, and the spiritual growth He worked through each stage to the next.

, , , , ,

Praying for Protection from Powers and Principalities

, , , , ,
Praying for Protection from Powers and Principalities

I’ve been in ministry long enough to know that the prayers and time spent seeking God determine the outcome of ministry and special events. Everyone working in the space of special needs or mental health ministry needs to stay prayed up, in God’s Word, for guidance, wisdom, and protection. Make no mistake, the work of all special needs ministry, including ministry to and with people whose disability is revealed in behavior, is very much intertwined with the battle over whose life holds value. Anyone working in this space is on the front line of the battle between darkness and light.

, , , ,

It's the hidden disabilities that keep kids out of church

, , , ,
It's the hidden disabilities that keep kids out of church

The study found that the children most likely to be excluded from church are those with autism spectrum disorders and common mental health conditions - anxiety, depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder and ADHD.