This week Elaina, from Key Ministry, sits down with Sergei Marchenko, Lead Pastor of Chatham Bible Church, and Special Needs Parent. They discuss preparing for the holiday season, church inclusion, special needs parenting and more!
In this episode of Key Ministry the Podcast, Catherine Boyle shares 4 steps any church can take when an individual or family has a significant mental health need that may require ongoing church support.
On behalf of our team at Key Ministry, we encourage prospective attendees to “save” April 29th-May 1 on their calendars and invite prospective speakers to apply to be part of the faculty for Disability and the Church, Key Ministry’s annual national disability ministry conference, to be held at McLean Bible Church in McLean, VA.
At Mental Health & the Church Conference 2024, Dr. Steve Grcevich interviewed Kelly & her son Daniel Rosati on their experience with Schizophrenia, their powerful testimony of Jesus' grace, and how the church can support families like theirs.
Sandra Peoples was recently asked what qualifications she has to fulfill her ministry role. Maybe it’s a question you’ve asked yourself! What qualifications and characteristics do you need to advocate for families and help your church be more accessible? If you’re called to do disability ministry but don’t always feel qualified, this episode is for you
Loneliness kills. Loneliness is especially ravaging the disability community, where 85% of people with disabilities report being lonely, and 1 in 8 of them spend less than 30 minutes a day with other people. But the encouraging thing about all this is that the antidote to this pandemic of loneliness—and the loneliness of people with disabilities in particular—is remarkably simple. You and I already have the answer: God has designed the church to be the remedy.
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.
What do you think happens to a teenager when one of the main authority figures in his life lets him know in no uncertain terms, without words, that he doesn’t matter to your church environment? God offers us all incredible love and grace, but as His followers we have the responsibility to love others with both truth and grace, even when we don’t understand what we’re seeing.
When my cat died, chewy.com showed great care and concern for my loss, even beyond the principles of the Golden Rule. Chewy went all the way to the Platinum Rule. And the Platinum Rule is how churches can make mental health ministry happen and be successful.
Janet Parshall issued a powerful call to the church to minister more effectively to persons with mental illness in this keynote presentation from Inclusion Fusion Live 2019, a national disability ministry conference hosted by Key Ministry. She identifies key biblical figures who experienced symptoms of mental illness, challenges church leaders to end their stigmatization of persons with mental health issues and pastors to begin addressing the topic in the course of their preaching.
