The biblical basis for special needs ministry

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Earlier today I posted this on Twitter at @specialneedsmin: New post coming today on verses that lay out why a church that loves Christ must also be one that loves people w/ special needs.

I struggled a bit with the word must there. Should it be should as in "a church that loves Christ should also be one that loves people w/ special needs," instead? Is must too strong or legalistic to use here?

No.

Here's why:
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15)

"You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always." (Deuteronomy 11:1)

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments (1 John, first half of verse 6)
It doesn't say, "If you love me, you should keep my commandments." If we do what God has commanded for us, that demonstrates our love for Him. If we don't, that also demonstrates our (lack of) love for Him. So if a church loves Christ, that church will be one that is faithful to His commandments. Thus my word choice "why a church that loves Christ must also be one that loves people w/ special needs." Any church should do that. A church that loves Christ must, out of their love for Him.

And what does the Word command us?
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18, emphasis mine)

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14, emphasis mine)

And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'...Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' (Matthew 25:40,45)

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. (James 2:1-10, emphasis mine)

And what did Christ model for us?

This is important not only because we do aim to be like Christ, but also because the verb "will keep" in the first verse I quoted, John 14:15, is τηρέω - transliterated to English as tēreō - in Greek, a word which is also used elsewhere in Scripture to mean "watch." What better way to literally "watch" what God commands for us than to watch how Christ lived?

He didn't ignore those with disabilities nor did he treat them as less than others (a good point, lest we interpret "the least of these" to mean "less than me," which it doesn't). His miracles involved those with physical disabilities more than any other group of people. Those miracles included those with blindness (Mark 8:22-26; Mark 10:46-52; Matthew 20:29-34; Luke 18:35-43; Matthew 9:27-31; John 9:1-12), those with leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16; Luke 17:11-19), those with paralysis (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26; John 5:1-18), and those with other chronic health/physical special needs, from dropsy to deafness (Mark 5:21-43; Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56; Luke 13:10-17; Luke 14:1-6; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11; Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 7:31-37; Matthew 14:34-36; Mark 6:53-56; Matthew 9:35-36).

To look at one specific example:
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:1-5)
Here we see not only the model of Christ's response but also a model worth emulating in the friends who didn't allow the challenges of their friend's disability prevent him from accessing Christ. Jesus noticed that, as recorded in the first part of verse 5, "When Jesus saw their faith..." My prayer is that we, as the church, will exhibit that same faith in our deeds.

And what is the potential of ministry to and with special needs?
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:1-3, emphasis mine)

He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments
(Psalm 78:5-7, emphasis mine)
Including those with disabilities and other special needs in the church is one way to display the works of God. If we seek for all believers in this generation and generations to come to know the works of God, then we want to put those works on display in every way possible in the church.

There are other good reasons to include people with special needs in the ministry of our churches, and I will be posting about those as well. Because this blog is still new, though, I want for the biblical foundation to be clear before anything else.

And that biblical foundation highlights why it's important to celebrate and love God's creation in every person.


(A couple related notes:
  • If you're part of a church in which you don't have any people with disabilities, I have a post coming up about what this means for you. 
  • And if you're reading my posts and thinking "I agree with you, but I just don't know how to do it," then please know that posts are coming for you too! I'll also link to great how-to pieces on other sites when they post them.
Thanks for your patience!)

do the next thing

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I came across this sweet poem through a link on a friend's page on Facebook, and I was encouraged by it. I needed to remember that the flowers may die in the garden at the close of one season (like the sad but beautiful sunflower seen above in our patch o' dirt in November), but then you prepare it for planting more in the next season instead of hyper-focusing on the old things. I'm not quite in a bloggy mood this morning (and, once I get there, need to update The Works of God Displayed rather than this one!), so I thought I'd share that poem in hopes that it may encourage YOU!

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance, are given.
Fear not tomorrows, Child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus..."Do the next thing."
Do it immediately; do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His Hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ’neath His wing,
Leave all resultings, "Do the next thing."
–author unknown

I'm moving on to some "next things" today ... curtains and special needs ministry writing and birthday party planning and gallery wall hanging and all that. (And I've arranged for our precious middle school neighbor to watch the kids for me today so I can tackle all those "next things" today without little helpers. Oh, how I love the option of a daytime babysitter when she's tracked out!)

What next things are you tackling or about to be tackling? I know for one friend it's probably sending another query letter to an agent for her fantastic book. I know for others it's just getting up and starting a new day with the next things this morning the same as the next things were for them yesterday morning. What is your next thing right now?

 22The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
23they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Fantastic video about special needs ministry

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Everyone in the church needs to watch the first minute and fifteen seconds of this video. And anyone interested even a little bit in special needs ministry should watch the rest too. I'm a North Carolina girl now, but I was involved in ministry at First Baptist Church in Rio Grande City, Texas, for my two years living on the border so I do love my Texas Baptists!

(No worries if you're serving in another denomination, though. This message is about faithfulness to God's word, specific to special needs ministry but not exclusively applied to any one group of churches!)



A few highlights that I don't want you to miss:
  • In the first 1:15, the message that each of these individuals has a disability and can say "STILL Jesus loves me."
  • At about 1:15, the challenge:
    "Families with special needs
    Jesus loves them
    Will you?"
  • At about 5:20ish, "the Bible teaches that every human being is loved by God."
  • "As a church, it’s our responsibility to love these kids and present truth to them." (She then points out that it may be in a different sort of multisensory way for those with special needs.)
  • At about 6:19, “The Holy Spirit does His work with these kids.”
  • Followed shortly after with these words: “There is an entire segment of our community that needs to hear the message that God loves them, that God has a plan and a prupose … to do something amazing in their lives”
  • And then this: “Families… choose churches that include their special needs family member.”
  • They also point out that churches need to approach special needs ministry in a two-pronged way - to the individual with special needs and to the family (and I would add that this is true for both adults and children). You can't be effective in either without the other.
    Two pronged – the individual and the family; not one or the other
  • Finally, I love the point at about 8:00 that parents can educate churches about what they can do to practically help the family. I would add that this is *huge* because each child is different. As it is often said in autism advocacy circles: if you've meet one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. And thisis true for any other disability as well.
Thank you to LifeWay Special Needs Ministry for drawing my attention to this, and thank you to Texas Baptists for making it!

(By the way, I've filled in the "contact me" link - found at the top of this page - and the others should be coming later this week. Thanks for your patience as I get the site up and running!)