#Disability&theChurch2025, podcast
Elaina Marchenko
Reasons to Celebrate! Podcast EP 130

Elaina sits down and shares a few of the many reasons we have to celebrate here at Key Ministry this year. We are so grateful for all that the Lord has done in and through our ministry in 2024, and we can’t wait to see what he does in 2025!

Reasons to Celebrate! Podcast EP 130
Care and Support, Hidden Disabilities, Autism, Spiritual Development
Key Ministry
Why I’m Glad to be A Sensitive Person

I wonder when did being sensitive get a bad reputation and why does being sensitive tend to make others uncomfortable? After all, Jesus showed us how to use gifts like sensitivity, empathy and compassion for the Kingdom of God.

Why I’m Glad to be A Sensitive Person
Disability Ministry, Key Ministry, Training Events
Stephen Grcevich MD
Key Ministry in 2024 - A year of unprecedented ...

As 2024 comes to a close, we look back at some of the most impactful events and relationships we were part of this past year, highlight new resources we helped create over the past twelve months and look ahead to opportunities for advancing the Gospel in 2025 through supporting local churches in their ministry with the disability and mental health communities.

Key Ministry in 2024 - A year of unprecedented impact
Care and Support, Church Support, Disability Ministry, Families, Hope, podcast, Sandra Peoples
Sandra Peoples
Including Special-Needs Families in Your ...

Sandra Peoples grew up with a sister with Down syndrome and now has a teenager with level 3 autism, so she knows how different the holidays can feel for a family like hers. But they don't have to feel different at church! With a few steps of consideration, she shares how families can feel included and valued. Let's make sure special-needs families can hear the message of hope this Christmas!

Including Special-Needs Families in Your Church's Christmas Activities: EP 129
Autism, Care and Support, Disability Theology, Parents, Resources, Special Needs Parenting
Sunita Theiss
Biblical Truths for Neurodivergent Kids: ...

Every child is wonderfully unique, created by God with love and intention. For kids who experience and process the world differently, hearing affirmations rooted in God’s truth can be a powerful reminder of their worth and purpose.

Biblical Truths for Neurodivergent Kids: Affirmations for Every Journey

suicide

Mental Health, Medicine and Ministry - October 10, 2023

Mental Health, Medicine and Ministry - October 10, 2023

Romantic chatbots are being developed offering suggestive selfies, sexually explicit (and apparently, realistic) conversations, and the ability to design a virtual girlfriend’s personality who is judgment-free, encourages users to spend more time with male friends and laughs at all of your jokes. What will the impact be on our ability to engage in authentic relationships that potentially lead to marriage? Or the impacts upon self-image for those unable to live up to the images in brains scarred by pornography?

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Tips for Parents to Talk With Kids About Mental Health

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Tips for Parents to Talk With Kids About Mental Health

I believe Christian parents and church leaders have a responsibility to educate youth in many areas of life, not to hide and protect them, but to empower and equip them as they grow. One area where kids need equipping should be mental health. Here are seven tips on how to talk with kids about mental illness.

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Mental Illness Doesn't Kill, Sin Kills

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Mental Illness Doesn't Kill, Sin Kills

This summer in the United States, we have seen an uptick in violence. Within this wave of crisis, we have seen many people want to identify why we are having problems. Important research results have recenlty come out which further support the need for mental health awareness around violence, as well as not shifting the blame to those who are different and therefore must be the problem.

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Suicide and the Hope of the Church

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Suicide and the Hope of the Church

In the last four months, one significant and concerning trend I’ve noticed in social media conversations among ministry leaders has been the uptick in the need for suicide information. Reducing mental illness stigma and prevention are the techniques with the most impact. Here are some other approaches that may help.

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Get Rid of Your Camouflage

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Get Rid of Your Camouflage

No one wants to think of themselves or their family as dysfunctional. And the mental image associated with the term special needs most definitely does not fit. Special needs seems like a suit that was tailored for someone else. But there are no other health conditions for which there are such lengthy delays in diagnosis and treatment solely because of denial. Ditching the camouflage that covers your minimized mental illness might be the best wardrobe decision you ever make.

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Are kids from devoutly Christian families with same-sex attraction at higher risk of suicide?

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Are kids from devoutly Christian families with same-sex attraction at higher risk of suicide?

There is no clear evidence growing up in a family with traditional religious beliefs related to sexual expression or attending a church espousing traditional beliefs makes kids any more likely to attempt or commit suicide and overwhelming evidence that teens who delay the onset of sexual activity - gay as well as straight - are much less likely to struggle with suicidal thoughts or behavior.

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The sexual revolution, our kids and suicide...a new look

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The sexual revolution, our kids and suicide...a new look

I wish parents, educators and church leaders would come to recognize that many teenagers aren’t remotely prepared to manage the intensity of emotions that results when relationships become sexualized. Those who ultimately commit suicide represent casualties of the sexual revolution.

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The suicide epidemic among high functioning persons with autism

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The suicide epidemic among high functioning persons with autism

Adults with autism and no intellectual disability are over nine times more likely to commit suicide when compared to their age-matched peers.

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ADHD, Suicide, African-American Boys…and How Churches Might Help

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ADHD, Suicide, African-American Boys…and How Churches Might Help

Is the stigma against treatment of mental illness generally, and treatment of ADHD specifically a contributing factor to the difference in rates of completed suicide among African-American children and other ethnic groups?