Disability ministry weekly round-up {10/20/11}
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I know this weekly feature usually goes up on Mondays, but I had another post pressing on my heart for that day. While I intended to just delay the round-up by a day, I've been in a lot of pain this week due to my knee. Praise God, though, that my surgery was moved up to this Friday - that is, tomorrow! - which also means I've been busy making sure everything is in order for me to be out this Sunday. On that note, let me plug the beauty of high school student volunteers who are willing to be trained and then to sub when we need them (especially because three of our weekly one-on-one buddies are out of town this week)!
What is God sovereign over? Justin Taylor does a great job of providing verses in various categories. (Thanks, John Knight, for highlighting this.)
Special Needs and Family Ministry: I forgot to link to this one a couple weeks ago, but it is an excellent and thoughtful guest post on The Inclusive Church in which Meaghan Wall is honest about an area she has overlooked as Special Needs Ministry Coordinator at her church as well as forward-thinking about what she is doing and will do differently. Family discipleship is not just for families without disabilities.
Churches try to be accessible to people with disabilities: This is a new article written about a recent disability ministry conference.
Ever wonder why most churches start disability ministry in children's ministry as a first step, only later moving to adults as well? Perhaps this paragraph from an article about families with autism and the hope for cure sheds some light on kids vs. adults:
Piece by Piece: Are Houses of Worship Welcoming? This is a great article all around, but I found this section particularly convicting:
{equal}: Katie's post about her visit to Dallas to discuss disability and theology with Chuck Swindoll, his daughter Colleen, and his grandson Jonathan will make you reconsider the word "equal."
For a bit of humor to your day...Ed Stetzer's eight-year-old daughter wrote the plans for a dog race, and I thought it was cute that she even considered dogs who might have a disability of some sort. I was chuckling long before I got to that line, though. Consider it the medicine of a cheerful heart, à la Proverbs 17:22!
Churches welcoming people with disabilities in the news this week:
What is God sovereign over? Justin Taylor does a great job of providing verses in various categories. (Thanks, John Knight, for highlighting this.)
Special Needs and Family Ministry: I forgot to link to this one a couple weeks ago, but it is an excellent and thoughtful guest post on The Inclusive Church in which Meaghan Wall is honest about an area she has overlooked as Special Needs Ministry Coordinator at her church as well as forward-thinking about what she is doing and will do differently. Family discipleship is not just for families without disabilities.
Churches try to be accessible to people with disabilities: This is a new article written about a recent disability ministry conference.
Ever wonder why most churches start disability ministry in children's ministry as a first step, only later moving to adults as well? Perhaps this paragraph from an article about families with autism and the hope for cure sheds some light on kids vs. adults:
Sometimes children can be more tolerant than adults, said Mandy Greer of Lexington Park, whose son, James, falls in the middle of the autism spectrum. Adults can find him disconcerting — the family has stopped attending church because James can’t be still and quiet during the service — but children accept his differences, including his near-inability to speak, more or less with equanimity, Greer said.
Piece by Piece: Are Houses of Worship Welcoming? This is a great article all around, but I found this section particularly convicting:
The Broadway community is creating special performances that will take sound and light into consideration for those on the autistic spectrum. Their first special performance of "Lion King" was such a hit that they are already planning the next show.
Movie theaters have been doing similar types of special performances for a while. If other groups can understand our autistic spectrum community's needs, it is time our religious communities begin to think about them as well.
{equal}: Katie's post about her visit to Dallas to discuss disability and theology with Chuck Swindoll, his daughter Colleen, and his grandson Jonathan will make you reconsider the word "equal."
For a bit of humor to your day...Ed Stetzer's eight-year-old daughter wrote the plans for a dog race, and I thought it was cute that she even considered dogs who might have a disability of some sort. I was chuckling long before I got to that line, though. Consider it the medicine of a cheerful heart, à la Proverbs 17:22!
Churches welcoming people with disabilities in the news this week:
- a church that not only supported a 14-year-old member with Asperger's as he planned an autism awareness walk but also cancelled church that day so members would be free to join him,
- and, while I don't have any others to include here, several churches did either update or launch a disability ministry page on their websites this week, so progress is being made!