disability ministry weekly round-up {12-12-11}
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Because of a two-week round trip over Thanksgiving and then our Christmas respite outreach event just a week after we returned, we didn't deck the hall with Christmas decor until yesterday. My momma's Episcopalian family never took their decorations down until Epiphany (January 6), a tradition we've adopted as well, so we'll still have a while to enjoy them! (Plus trees are cheap when you wait!) I am loving the holiday feel around our house now.
And on to this week's posts...
The Obsessive Joy of Autism: This post is fitting, given my series last week. It is helpful for us to realize that not all people with disabilities consider themselves to be suffering. This woman with autism loves the obsessive joy it brings. (Keep in mind that many families and individuals with disabilities are suffering and grieving too, so don't overgeneralize this to everyone. Just don't be surprised if what you think is suffering is perceived by another in a more positive light.)
Adopting a New Purpose: After the Clarks' daughter was born with Down syndrome, they felt called to parent more special-needs children I think the title says it all.
Sam Luce blogged last week about special needs ministry. He is a respected children's ministry leader who has many more readers than this blog, so I am thankful he has cast light on a ministry area I love. Here are his posts:
Six helps for suffering: I love me some Elisabeth Elliot. Short, sweet, and powerful.
Help Me Give An iPad to an Autistic Boy Karl Bastain, a children's pastor known online as the Kidologist, is raising money to give a boy from his church an iPad and apps, and he's asking his kidmin friends online to help.
Letting Ruth Go Get the Kleenex for this story about the death of one child with special needs, adopted from Uganda, and the Joni & Friends mission trip that allowed the parents to outfit another little girl from Uganda with their daughter's wheelchair.
Christmas form letters that should have been: 2005 I'll admit that last year, I fought to make our Christmas letter cheery. I was struggling with my health - literally struggling to even breathe with a nasty bout of pneumonia - but I wanted that annual update on our family to express a joy that I just wasn't feeling as I wrote it. This author of this post felt the same in 2005, as her daughter was in the process of being diagnosed with autism.
Those Closest to Us Hurt Us the Most | Raising a Child with Special Needs This article ties in with the previous one.
Giving a break to those who need it most I witnessed some of the richness of McLean Bible Church's Access Ministry at the Accessibility Summit conference last spring, but I didn't get to visit their respite care facility, Jill's House. This article profiles what they're doing, and I look forward to checking it out myself when I'm back at McLean to speak at this year's Accessibility Summit.
Pastor John ruined my morning A post from John Knight last week with a great video. Check it out!
Loving the 1% This isn't directly related to special needs ministry, but I think it is indirectly. Among those of us who are engaging in disability ministry, I sometimes witness an attitude that what we're doing is somehow more important than those serving in ministry to kids, teens, and adults who don't have disabilities. This post challenges
Special Families...A Casserole's Not Enough This booklet, by Jackie Mills-Fernald and Jim Pierson, can help churches love and support families affected by disability. Excellent.
Anxiety and the Child of Divorce: Kids whose parents are divorcing might not meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder, but they are experiencing anxiety nonetheless. This post is helpful.
Churches engaging in disability ministry:
And on to this week's posts...
The Obsessive Joy of Autism: This post is fitting, given my series last week. It is helpful for us to realize that not all people with disabilities consider themselves to be suffering. This woman with autism loves the obsessive joy it brings. (Keep in mind that many families and individuals with disabilities are suffering and grieving too, so don't overgeneralize this to everyone. Just don't be surprised if what you think is suffering is perceived by another in a more positive light.)
Adopting a New Purpose: After the Clarks' daughter was born with Down syndrome, they felt called to parent more special-needs children I think the title says it all.
Sam Luce blogged last week about special needs ministry. He is a respected children's ministry leader who has many more readers than this blog, so I am thankful he has cast light on a ministry area I love. Here are his posts:
Six helps for suffering: I love me some Elisabeth Elliot. Short, sweet, and powerful.
Help Me Give An iPad to an Autistic Boy Karl Bastain, a children's pastor known online as the Kidologist, is raising money to give a boy from his church an iPad and apps, and he's asking his kidmin friends online to help.
Letting Ruth Go Get the Kleenex for this story about the death of one child with special needs, adopted from Uganda, and the Joni & Friends mission trip that allowed the parents to outfit another little girl from Uganda with their daughter's wheelchair.
Christmas form letters that should have been: 2005 I'll admit that last year, I fought to make our Christmas letter cheery. I was struggling with my health - literally struggling to even breathe with a nasty bout of pneumonia - but I wanted that annual update on our family to express a joy that I just wasn't feeling as I wrote it. This author of this post felt the same in 2005, as her daughter was in the process of being diagnosed with autism.
Those Closest to Us Hurt Us the Most | Raising a Child with Special Needs This article ties in with the previous one.
Giving a break to those who need it most I witnessed some of the richness of McLean Bible Church's Access Ministry at the Accessibility Summit conference last spring, but I didn't get to visit their respite care facility, Jill's House. This article profiles what they're doing, and I look forward to checking it out myself when I'm back at McLean to speak at this year's Accessibility Summit.
Pastor John ruined my morning A post from John Knight last week with a great video. Check it out!
Loving the 1% This isn't directly related to special needs ministry, but I think it is indirectly. Among those of us who are engaging in disability ministry, I sometimes witness an attitude that what we're doing is somehow more important than those serving in ministry to kids, teens, and adults who don't have disabilities. This post challenges
Are we ready to show grace to the greedy, corrupt business owner in the same way we show it to the drug-addicted prostitute? Are we ready to view the crooked politicians in the same way we view the inner-city gang members: as depraved sinners in need of a Savior? In our current cultural climate, it is very popular to hate the 1%. Are we ready to love them? Are we ready to serve them? Are we ready to give our lives to reach them? Jesus is.And I'd like to add, "Are we ready to show love to all people, disabled or not?"
Special Families...A Casserole's Not Enough This booklet, by Jackie Mills-Fernald and Jim Pierson, can help churches love and support families affected by disability. Excellent.
Anxiety and the Child of Divorce: Kids whose parents are divorcing might not meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder, but they are experiencing anxiety nonetheless. This post is helpful.
Churches engaging in disability ministry:
- one that held a disability ministry worship service one Sunday
- a statement of a the World Council of Churches about disability in the church (while it's dated 2003, it just popped up in Google searches, so I think it was just posted online recently)
- a group of churches declaring in this article in their news periodical that "Church is for everybody"
- a church holding a Christmas concert to benefit a group providing music therapy to individuals with special needs
- a church that launched a special service for those with disabilities and their families