disability & Christ: links from last week
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Birmingham Presbyterian church reaches out to special needs families
Jacob, Sam and Anna's Baptisms from Fox River Christian Church on Vimeo.
“You don’t know what inclusion means to a special needs parent,” Leslie said. “Jamie runs into the church so happy every week. I can’t begin to tell how they helped us in such a short time.”Why Special Needs Ministry Should Be MORE Than Just Accommodation
...just this past Sunday, a kind elder whom we’ve known only a few months, voluntarily sat next to my son during worship so that my husband could sing in the choir. She calmed him, showed interest in his Pokemon cards, and never once rolled her eyes or shamed him (or us) for his behavior. That, dear friends, is special needs ministry.Engage Conference: Disability, Inclusion, and The Church (May 3, $10)
99 Balloons invites churches and individuals to join us on May 3 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as we explore disability, inclusion and the church.Ten Ways to Make Your Church Autism-Friendly
I work with leaders from the Church of England, and I wrote their national autism guidelines at the request of the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend John Pritchard, who realized what gifts autistic people bring to God and community. Sometimes, complex gifts. Sometimes, simple ones. But the things that help autistic people in churches also help many others. Our research has found that in England congregation numbers rise four times faster when a church becomes autism friendly.Volunteer at Joy Prom! (at my church, Providence Baptist Church, May 16)
This event is for people ages 16 and older with developmental and/or physical disabilities. It takes over 500 volunteers to make Joy Prom a success! Sign up online to serve.some things truly are a matter of life and death
We are the parents of a child with HIV. For us, that means we have to stand firm to say NO! to stigma.equipping churches to support the special needs of adoptive & foster families
As more and more churches rightly exhort their members to consider adoption for children in need of families and foster parenting for those who need a soft place to land for a time, children's and youth ministries need to be prepared to lovingly support the families who step forward and welcome the children who join their families for a time or forever.wearing my special needs mama badge like a snug pair of jeans
Sometimes we think ministering to families affected by disability is about programs and volunteers and forms and logistics. Sometimes, it is. Most of the time, though, it's about coming alongside families as they fight to wear those jeans they never would have picked out for themselves, holding them up as they grow weary and steadying them as they run with perseverance the particular and peculiar race God has set before them.Hear Jacob's testimony and baptism story, starting at 3:07 in the video below. He has autism, but that's not what this is about. He has Jesus; that's the message here. (HT: Church4EveryChild.)
Jacob, Sam and Anna's Baptisms from Fox River Christian Church on Vimeo.