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.
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!
Ministering to families who are impacted by disability was especially difficult for pastors during the start of the COVID pandemic. In June, I began to seek the Lord for a way that we could keep everyone physically safe, obey CDC health guidelines and provide the community that the people so desperately needed. And the answer was found right at home.
The global pandemic increased society’s awareness about the feelings and implications of being isolated. The question remains, what will be the lasting impact of that new awareness? Lisa Jamieson offers some observations and tips for churches and ministries to deepen connection with special needs families.
As 2020 winds down, one thing is clear: the ministry changes experienced this year will continue, and many of these changes will become the new standards, including offering both in-person and virtual options simultaneously for church services and classroom gatherings. As ministries have shifted to meet the challenges of 2020, best practices for a variety of important ministry details have emerged. We have compiled the principles and practical solutions shared in recent discussions with ministry leaders, and offer these to you and your ministry team so that the mission of spreading the gospel and developing disciples can continue unhindered in 2021.
As people, we gravitate toward the comfortable, the safe, the easy, and the peaceful. I get it. No, I really, really do. Because of this, I absolutely understand why it is scary to welcome people with disabilities into your church. That is why today I will tell you why you should encourage us to attend your church, but you should also be thankful we are part of your church.
