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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“How are you?” It’s so hard to answer! “Yes, we’re fine. We are well, we don’t have the virus, we have food, and we have medication.” BUT, and a BIG BUT—sometimes I feel like screaming! I am despairing. This morning I read Psalm 77. The first few verses were how I felt in the middle of last night. This Psalm, and remembering God’s faithfulness showed me several things that helped my despair, and may help you, too.
We are making a deliberate shift this week in some of the resources we’re offering to help families and churches get through the ripple effects of Coronavirus. We’re emphasizing mental health, in part because of what we have learned from other countries and church leaders who are farther down the pandemic path. Here are four areas where churches can sharpen their focus ahead of the increase in mental health needs.
Serving in ministry can be tough. Wondering whether you’re making a difference or not is natural. Having questions for God about His active role in a world that seems to be retreating from the church and religion means your faith is healthy, and that you care about people. The key to staying encouraged is to know where to look for evidence that Christ working.
Lately I’ve been focusing on being thankful. I‘ve posted “thankful posts” every couple of days, trying daily to find something to thank Jesus for. Mine is an ongoing season of caregiving for my 16-year-old twin girls who both have disabilities and will never live independently. But there is ALWAYS something to thank Jesus for: for the peace I had today, for the ones who prayed in their seats, for those who asked if we were okay, for this body of believers, who simply were there, alongside us, while we waited.
It always seems like the crises of disability come at the most inconvenient times, doesn’t it? A meltdown just as you’re heading out the door, a shot of pain in the middle of a nice dinner, a hole In your eye when you’re far from home. But perhaps the unpredictability of disability is an invitation—an invitation to pay attention to God.
