D6:More than a conference. A movement in family ministry.

About five years ago, our church became much more intentional about equipping parents as the primary disciplers of their children. That's what Deuteronomy 6 is all about, particularly verses 4-9:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Old models of children's and youth ministry invited parents to drop their children off and let the church take care of their spiritual needs. Statistics show us, though, that that model doesn't work and that family matters. This shouldn't surprise us, given what God has already shown us in Deuteronomy 6.

By high school, I went to church alone a lot of the time. I went to two different churches, and I don't think leaders at either church tried to engage my parents. To be honest, I don't think most of the leaders even knew that I came alone. Lots of kids separated from their parents as soon as they arrived at church, and I just seemed like one of those kids. It's rare for kids whose parents are disengaged from church to become adults who love the church, but I've always been a bit of an oddball. God can do anything, and I am thankful for that.

Because I see the difference that family makes - especially now as my husband and I raise our two preschoolers and any other children God brings to our family in the future - I love what the D6 conference is all about. According to their website, 

Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us three things: Love God, treasure His Word, and teach this to the next generation. The vision of the D6 Conference is to champion a movement of parents who disciple their own kids and teens in partnership with their local church. The D6 Conference is dedicated to helping churches, leaders, parents, and volunteers to develop a generational discipleship model based on Deuteronomy 6. 

And I'm excited to be among the pre-conference workshop speakers this year. Yep, there will be at least two labs on special needs ministry from yours truly. I am humbled and excited.

D6 2012 will be September 26-28 in the Dallas area. I know it seems like a long ways off right now, but you might want to make a decision SOON. Why? Because from now until November 22, you can register an unlimited number of team members for just $169 each, plus your Senior Pastor attends FREE (just use the code PASTOR12; only one code allowed per church). 

Go to d6conference.com to register or learn more!

disability ministry weekly round-up {11-14-11}

Good intentions gone awry: Mark Stephenson writes about where Max Lucado missed the mark in the devotion about disease and disability in his latest book. Mark does a great job of avoiding both major traps for this sort of thing: (1) avoiding it altogether in our Christian celebrity culture in which most believers know the names of big-time Christian authors/speakers but couldn't tell you the name of an orphan and (2) taking pride in criticizing another Christian. Instead, Mark is humble, honest, and helpful.

Good finds! This post on The Inclusive Church provides some basic suggestions for children's ministry toys from the Toy R Us special needs catalog.

Special Needs, Special Words This post about how we talk about people with disabilities is important. My favorite lines were:

Tim Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics, coined the phrases "diffabilities" and "giftedness."  I like these words.  But when talking about children, I prefer that we call them "children." The word "children" implies a million different things. “Children” means hope.  “Children” means dreams and imagination.  Unless someone tells a child they can’t do something, they believe they can do anything.   On any given day, a child may be happy, a runner, a learner, joyful, weepy, ornery, a baseball player, or Spiderman.

Churchcasting: Is it okay to just tune into church via the web or TV instead of actually going? This article wasn't written with families with disabilities in mind, but I have often heard stories in the disability community from those who are forgoing traditional church (often due to lack of acceptance there) and instead tuning in from home. I think having the option is great - for example, for seasons of life in which special needs (like health-related ones) make traditional church attendance out of the question - but community is absent or severely lacking if we disengage from church altogether.

Who Is Worth It? Stark life decisions in Uganda. Not sure how much it is related to this blog's content, but I feel like it is. Thanks, Challies, for linking to this a couple days ago.

A Father's Journey with his Daughter with Down Syndrome: I haven't listened to this yet, because I spent the weekend in bed with a head cold, but it's been recommended by enough folks I trust to pass it on.

Welcoming Words: Minding the Gap We sometimes use language and cling to traditions without offering explanations for them. This can make church confusing and challenging for some of those with disabilities ... and some of those without disabilities too.

Policies, Predators, and Penn State Football Jared provides good commentary, solid suggestions, and exceptional policies in the wake of the news out of Penn State. Maybe someday I'll be ready to write a post about this, but our church went through a predator situation five years ago and my heart still aches thinking about all the brokenness. It happens. Don't lure yourself into the false belief that your church is immune or that you are a good judge of character. It happens.

This song isn't specific to disability ministry, but it eloquently captures why I do what I do with this blog and in my church each week.

comfort. {1 Corinthians 1:3-5}

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our affliction, 

so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, 

with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, 

so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

1 Corinthians 1:3-5

When God owns the ministry,

we all are on common ground.

the ministry can grow stronger because it's not built on me.

conflict can occur without getting ugly.

other people matter more.

my own feelings matter less.

worry isn't necessary, because it's not my job to be in control anyway.

people are included, whether or not we're BFFs, because I'm not central to what we do.

I can share what we're doing freely with others because it's not mine anyway.

it's a good place to be.

Who owns your ministry?

It's actually a trick question. If you consider it "your ministry," then you've already given me the answer.

God's the one doing the work, and we don't deserve to take part in it. Praise him, though, for making us worthy, not by our own behavior but by the actions of his son. 

It's not our ministry.

It's his.

Now to him who is able 

to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, 

according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church 

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, 

forever and ever. Amen.

{Ephesians 3:20-21}