"But what if we don't have someone with your background at our church?" (part 1 of 2)

Yes, I have a master's degree in special education. Yes, I taught for about four years. Yes, I used to work for an educational non-profit, creating training materials for special educators.

And, yes, all of that helps me coordinate special needs ministry at my church.

As such, one of the questions that comes up when I talk to folks is, "What if we don't have someone with that background here?" And my answer usually has two parts.

(1) You don't have to have prior experience related to special education to do this.

Sure, it can help. But Amy Fenton Lee at The Inclusive Church and Eden Hutchins at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church's Green Light Ministry are two women who I respect deeply and who excel in doing special needs ministry without the training and experience I have.

Here is my must have list for someone coordinating special needs ministry:

• A belief that this matters, that special needs ministry is important
• A willingness to do hard things, because it's not always easy (but it is worth it!)
• A desire to communicate with parents with humility, because while you should partner with parents in children's ministry no matter what, it becomes an absolute must when you're working with kids with special needs
• A resourceful approach to networking with others who know more: at other churches, in social agencies and non-profits, and on the Internet.

(And, by the way, I have written this geared more toward children's ministry, but I don't mean to dismiss ministry to adults as well. We currently have more adults with disabilities than children with them at our church, so I don't ever intend to define special needs ministry as something that only relates to children. Whenever it seems as if I'm defaulting to a children's ministry focus, that's primarily because most churches begin special needs ministry with children and then expand from there.

If you're seeking someone to coordinate ministry with adults, then the third item on the list still applies, though it would be better to say "communicate with the adult with special needs with humility and respect. " Also, you could possibly insert "group home staff" or "case manager" or "family members" instead of "parents" when that applies.)


Come back tomorrow for the second part of this, the second reason why my experience isn't vital to (and sometimes doesn't help me a whole lot in) my role as special needs ministry coordinator!

When it hits home

At the end of my last post, I said that I would be posting yesterday about the qualities you want in a special needs ministry coordinator. That post is still coming, just not yesterday and probably not today.

Why?

Because this post is begging to be written first.

This is my upward view every other month. Why? Because I was ushered into the world of special needs in a personal way after the birth of my daughter.

My special needs are called Hashimoto's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, both of which are thankfully under control right now. Part of my RA being under control involves IV drugs every eight weeks. That's nothing compared to the medical baggage carried by many families with special needs, and - as long as my conditions are under control - I don't feel sick most of the time, and I only experience small limitations to mobility.

Even though I knew I would be hanging out with my IV tech yesterday, I didn't know that I would get a follow-up call. If you or anyone in your family has a medically-related special need, you probably know this feeling well: I hate seeing my doctor's office pop up on caller ID shortly after an appointment. In this case, it's that my bloodwork is not looking good for my liver and gallbladder. We've been down this road a bit before, so it wasn't completely unexpected. Except that it kind of was, because I thought we traveled that road for the last time in the fall.

I share this not to request prayer (though I certainly would appreciate that!) but to share a little example of what I hear from families with special needs at our church. Some weeks, months, years are good. Some are more difficult. In some moments, families forget about the special needs in their families, but in other moments they are much more obvious and in your face.

I have great doctors, and I have some appointments, including more tests and an ultrasound, scheduled with them to sort this out. I have great support in my husband and family and friends. I have a wonderful church family that loves us and prays for us and allows us to serve.

Life is good. It's just not always easy.

But God is good. Always. And His yoke is easy, His burden light, His rule sovereign, and His ways perfect.

"But what if I don't know where to start?"

I had a great conversation with a pastor in Kentucky earlier this week. They have one family with special needs in their congregation, they don't think special needs ministry exists at any other local churches, and they feel like God is leading them to do something more than they already are doing.

And after they got to that point, they felt stuck. They know that it would be worthwhile to do something; they just don't know where to start.

This isn't a perfect list (and please chime in with a comment if you would add, reword, or delete anything here!), but here are my recommended step for starting a special needs ministry. They are mostly catered to children's ministry - not because you shouldn't aim for special needs ministry to other age groups but because most churches with special needs ministry started with kids first.

1. PRAY!!! This should be a part of every step, but it's also a vital first step. You don't want to be the guiding force in this; that's God's job, and He's better at it than you'll ever be!
2. Define what your primary goal(s) is for ministry to/with people without disabilities. If, for example, your goal in children's ministry is to make Christ known so that the next generation treasures Christ, then that would be your same goal for special needs children's ministry. The goal doesn't change, even if the way you get there might.
3. Find allies within your church and beyond (potential volunteers, parents, community organizations and non-profits, other churches already doing special needs ministry). Keep your main goal(s) in mind, though, because you might not want to partner with secular groups for certain activities and you might want to exercise caution while working with churches that don't share the same goals or theological perspective with your church. Among these allies, find someone who can spearhead your special needs ministry (and, of course, that person might be you!).
4. Aim to meet the needs that are already present in your church before you make plans to reach out to community. (Don't let this be a stopping point, though! I'm just suggesting that you don't neglect the needs already in your body of believers as you're considering outreach beyond the walls of your church.)
5. Let parents train you - they are, after all, usually the ones who know their child and his/her special needs better than anyone else! If they agree to it, observe the child in his/her school setting, which will allow you to get a good idea of what the child's needs are and what strategies are already working in an educational setting. (And, if you can't observe the child at school, ask the parents about the school setting and goals.) 
6. In most cases, start with inclusion. This means including the child with special needs in a typical Sunday school class, ideally with kids who are the same age. If necessary, pair that child with a volunteer who works with him/her one-on-one to support that inclusion.
7. Find ways to demonstrate the value of people with disabilities to the rest of your congregation. For example, at our last leadership team meeting for youth ministry, our pastor invited a student with special needs to lead our opening prayer time. This student is non-verbal, so Pastor Steve introduced him, explained that the student would be leading us in a time of silent prayer, and told the student to squeeze him on the shoulder when he was done praying so that Steve could end with "amen." Pastor Steve could have just prayed and then told the leaders that we value people with disabilities in our ministry, but that wouldn't have been as convincing.
8. Communicate with the community that your church is one that welcomes people with special needs. This could be scary, because you are opening your doors wide open. However, if you are a welcoming church that is committed to special needs ministry, then why wouldn't you want your community to know that?

What do you think? What else would you add to the list (or what questions do you still have)?


Tomorrow I'll be posting about the qualities you want to have in a person leading special needs ministry {it's now posted and can be found by clicking the linked text!}. Two hints: (1) it doesn't have to be a staff member (I'm not!) and (2) while  background in special education is helpful, it isn't necessary.

the cake bandit

There was a piece of cake here.

It was only one piece, but still. Hmm...

I think I have a suspect.

He couldn't hide all the evidence.

And I think a better mother would have discouraged this kind of behavior.

This momma opted to document it instead.

Big sister expressed her disapproval of his eating habits (though she looks a bit culpable too).

He seems bothered by her reaction. (Or not.)

I'm beginning to think boys = trouble. I do love these two, though!

Thanks, buddy, but it's a little too late to clean it all up before Mommy notices.

"But what if we don't have anyone with special needs at our church?"

This is a good question. It's a logical one. It's one that often comes up when a church first begins discussing special needs ministry.

It's just not the right question.

Here are some better questions:

1) If you had no children's ministry - no nursery for babies, nothing taught in an age-appropriate way for preschoolers, and so on - do you think families with children would feel welcome in your church?

Another way of wording that: if you were starting a church but had no children in the first few families, would you include a children's ministry, or would you say, "No, we won't concern ourselves with that until kids show up. Then we'll play it by ear"  or something like that?

2) Do you have people with disabilities in your community?

I can already tell you that the answer to that is yes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008, 19% of Americans have a disability. This group - 54.4 million people - is about the same size as the combined populations of Florida and California.

If you want to know the exact percentages and breakdowns by disability area for public school students in your area, search for "child count" on your schools district's website or call the special education department and ask for that information. For funding purposes, every district is required to track and support the count of students with disabilities, and this information is part of public record. Those numbers won't include children who are in homeschools or private schools, nor does it include children too young or not yet diagnosed. It is a good place to start, though.

3) Do you want to share the Gospel with everyone in your community, or do you want to limit who has access to your body of believers?

Some churches communicate this to their members: "Please invite your friends to join us next week.* (*And by 'friends' we mean friends that would fit well and easily in our facilities and current programs. If you would like a complete list of who to invite and who to exclude, please see one of our ushers in the back after the service.)" 

Okay, maybe the last bit is a stretch. Nonetheless, I'm guessing that's not the message you want to send.

Throw out the initial question. Answer the other three instead.


(Come back tomorrow for some suggestions on where to begin!)