what does it mean to INCLUDE people with disabilities?
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One of the points I bring up in my Inclusion Fusion session (which started TODAY, so CHECK IT OUT!), Common Misconceptions in Special Needs Ministry, is that it's not too hard, nor is it easy. It's worth it.
To help demystify this whole idea of inclusion, let's see what our friend Elmo has to teach us about the word "include." (Nope, not kidding. I have two little blessings around the house, a two-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter. Sesame Street happens around here.)
See? It's not complicated. It's just a willingness to invite others to join us. It's a commitment to be churches rather than Christianized country clubs.
Granted, Elmo amd Mila were include for moralistic reasons - you know, the whole "it's the right thing to do" rationale. As believers, we have a better reason. God sent his one and only son to earth, and Christ lived the perfect life we could not live, died the sinner's death we deserve, and rose from the dead that we might live with him forever. As a result, you and I are invited into the family of God... or, you could say, included in God's family. To be redeemed by Christ and to be adopted as sons and daughters by God to share in the inheritance of Christ, that is the ultimate inclusion.
We don't seek inclusion for all people because it's the right thing to do. Just as we love because he first loved us, we include because he first included us.
It's not too hard. And it's not easy. But it is worth it, and it is right.
To help demystify this whole idea of inclusion, let's see what our friend Elmo has to teach us about the word "include." (Nope, not kidding. I have two little blessings around the house, a two-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter. Sesame Street happens around here.)
See? It's not complicated. It's just a willingness to invite others to join us. It's a commitment to be churches rather than Christianized country clubs.
Granted, Elmo amd Mila were include for moralistic reasons - you know, the whole "it's the right thing to do" rationale. As believers, we have a better reason. God sent his one and only son to earth, and Christ lived the perfect life we could not live, died the sinner's death we deserve, and rose from the dead that we might live with him forever. As a result, you and I are invited into the family of God... or, you could say, included in God's family. To be redeemed by Christ and to be adopted as sons and daughters by God to share in the inheritance of Christ, that is the ultimate inclusion.
We don't seek inclusion for all people because it's the right thing to do. Just as we love because he first loved us, we include because he first included us.
It's not too hard. And it's not easy. But it is worth it, and it is right.