Strategies

Please Ask Us! A Transition Season Plea from Your Special Needs Families

Please Ask Us! A Transition Season Plea from Your Special Needs Families

Churches are wrestling with how they will return to their traditions with special care for the families in their midst who are impacted by disability. There is a powerful, effective way to answer the question, “How should we handle this?” And the answer is this: just ask us.

The pandemic as an unexpected blessing to the disability community

The pandemic as an unexpected blessing to the disability community

It's very possible that the COVID-19 pandemic will have provided the impetus for introducing many local churches to people in their communities with conditions that would otherwise make in-person attendance either highly unlikely or impossible. 

Three Simple Steps for Spiritual Self-Care During Quarantine

Three Simple Steps for Spiritual Self-Care During Quarantine

What has the potential to crush you? In what area of life do you need “space” for spiritual health in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis? Here are three simple steps from Jesus’ life to protect your spiritual, mental and emotional health.

Seven Prayers to Transform The Church’s Relationship With The Disability Community

Seven Prayers to Transform The Church’s Relationship With The Disability Community

Every year on the first Thursday in May, our nation celebrates the National Day of Prayer. Would you and your congregations join me in a week of prayer, asking God to unite us and transform the way we live among people who have disabilities?

How Special-Needs Ministries Should Plan for Re-Entry

How Special-Needs Ministries Should Plan for Re-Entry

As our churches make plans for reopening following the guidelines suggested, the plans we make for the families we serve may be different. Our families may be the last ones to come back. And when they are ready, we need to have a plan in place to answer their first question: will my child be safe?

Six Scriptures to Help Choose Faith Over Fear

Six Scriptures to Help Choose Faith Over Fear

I am scared of all the ‘what-if’s’ of coronavirus. Being a pastor doesn’t somehow mystically make me immune to that. You are probably scared, too. This is where knowing The Word becomes imperative.

Four Questions to Help Churches Engage With People of All Abilities

Four Questions to Help Churches Engage With People of All Abilities

As we all have a little more time at home because of Coronavirus, disability ministry leaders may be thinking ahead to summer. While summer brings an opportunity for rest, there are valid concerns for those who may be left out because of seasonal changes. There is a way of cultivating life with each other that protects the consistency of connections and cultivates an ongoing sense of belonging. Here are four questions to consider as your church builds communities of belonging to include people with disabilities.

Four Areas Where Churches Can Sharpen Their Focus

Four Areas Where Churches Can Sharpen Their Focus

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.

Safety in God in the Time of Coronavirus

Safety in God in the Time of Coronavirus

Witnessing and hearing of suffering can create a kind of paranoia for us. The unexpected can wreak fear, bitterness, and resentment. But we are kept and protected by the truth. In a world which seems to be spinning out of control, what does safety in God look like?

Gathering Together In the Time of Social Distancing

Gathering Together In the Time of Social Distancing

The world is becoming a whole lot smaller for all of us amid social distancing. If you are a social butterfly like I am, this has already been hard, and it’s not even been a week. So how can we beat the blues? Here are a few suggestions.