what stood out at our last special needs ministry training
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After a recent leadership training, I got an email from one of our volunteers who serves as a one-on-one buddy with a child with special needs each Sunday. She also works in the field of special education. (And she's wonderful. Just saying.)
At our training, we focused on confidentiality and a new sub system and strategies for working with individuals with limited verbal communication skills. What part did she thank me specifically for? None of those things.
Whenever I talk about special needs ministry, I always begin with prayer and a passage of Scripture. It's not just for the benefit of those I'm speaking to - it's for me. I'm a task-driven person who can easily dive into the doing without grounding myself in the reason. The Reason. God.
If you're involved with special needs ministry, if you're invested in a different ministry area, if you're a parent to a child with special needs, if you have some sort of disability yourself, if you work in special education...simply if you're a believer, then I urge you to do the same. Start with prayer and the Word of God; anything else is secondary.
Furthermore, this is a big week of activity for many ministries and churches and families, but all the activity is worthless if we overlook Christ in the busy-ness. Don't just focus on what you need to do each week; focus on why you're doing it.
~+~
Also, here are a couple articles online you might want to check out:
At our training, we focused on confidentiality and a new sub system and strategies for working with individuals with limited verbal communication skills. What part did she thank me specifically for? None of those things.
Loved the verses you gave us as to why we serve these precious children. Helps me in my job as well!
Whenever I talk about special needs ministry, I always begin with prayer and a passage of Scripture. It's not just for the benefit of those I'm speaking to - it's for me. I'm a task-driven person who can easily dive into the doing without grounding myself in the reason. The Reason. God.
If you're involved with special needs ministry, if you're invested in a different ministry area, if you're a parent to a child with special needs, if you have some sort of disability yourself, if you work in special education...simply if you're a believer, then I urge you to do the same. Start with prayer and the Word of God; anything else is secondary.
Furthermore, this is a big week of activity for many ministries and churches and families, but all the activity is worthless if we overlook Christ in the busy-ness. Don't just focus on what you need to do each week; focus on why you're doing it.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
{1 Corinthians 12:21-26}
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Also, here are a couple articles online you might want to check out:
- Worshiping with a Special Needs Child - A Mother's Viewpoint from the What's In The Bible blog
- John Knight's post about thinking biblically in light of disability and embryonic stem cells, as well as his follow-up post here (both of which I'll be writing a follow-up about over here in the next few days)
- If God loves me, why doesn't He heal me? from Becky about her son's difficulty understanding why God doesn't immediately answer his prayers in an affirmative way. (And, if you're prone to tears, you might want a tissue handy. Both the story itself and her writing are powerful.)
- An article from the San Angelo Standard-Times, Wanted: A Place to Worship, about finding a church home when you have a child with special needs