disability ministry weekly round-up {12-4-11}

It was refreshing to return to church after two weeks of vacation. The road trip from here to South Texas - with a few stops along the way there and back - gave me 3,867 miles in the car with my loved ones and several days with dear friends in Alabama and Texas. I am back rejuvenated (and ready to tackle unpacking and laundry later today!).

Different Dream Parenting {book review and giveaway!} You might have missed this post since I don't usually blog on Saturdays, and I want to make sure you don't overlook it. This book is a great resource to parents and ministry leaders alike, and I have ONE copy for one of YOU!

These Words... Jeneil blogged about Rhema's experience receiving her Bible along with the other second graders at church last week. Rhema has autism and a seizure disorder, and I love that she was included with her same-aged peers in this little ceremony.

Providence Baptist Church's services LIVE If you're one of the families from my church (or even if you're not!) and have to miss a Sunday morning, here's the link to the live service. It seems to be streamed at 11am each Sunday (and that's Eastern time for any of my friends who aren't in the area). I'm not an advocate of online church as a substitute for live, in-person connections to a body of believers, but it can be a nice option when kids are sick or isolated as they prep for surgery.

Registration for our December 10th respite event We have many new families registered, but we still have room for more. Please get the word out, especially if you're in the Raleigh area!

The Mental Health Needs of Kids in Foster Care If your church is serious about adoption (and if you're serious about God's word, you should be), then you need to have your eyes wide open to the links between adoption and special needs, including the ones pointed out in this post.

Fidget Toys: Do they really work? Yes. And no.

'Gold love' exhibit celebrates God, individuality This is an article about an artistic teen with autism who loves God, "despite rarely going to church because of sensory integration issues." Won't you join me in praying for a church to welcome him?

Autism in the Classroom This article, on the Building Faith website, is useful and practical for helping kids with autism in church settings.

Praying for you and your church today! If you have any specific requests, please leave a comment with them, and I would love to pray for you.

Different Dream Parenting {book review & giveaway!}

I don't have a child with special needs, but I do lead a growing special needs ministry at a large church. Because of that, I seek out blogs and books and other resources that can help me gain insight into the families I work with each week. Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs is a book that is both useful to me and the families I serve alongside each week.

I first met Jolene Philo eight months ago, when she was speaking about "Reconciling Dreams and Banishing Guilt" at a special needs ministry conference. I sat front and center during her session and took copious notes; I still refer back to that packet often and recently scanned it so that I could have easy access to it electronically.

What I like best about the book is the clear outline and practicality. While raising a child with special needs, parents won't be able to luxuriate, book in one hand and chilled beverage in another, by the pool. No, they might instead be looking for one specific section that relates to their struggles in that moment. To that end, this book is organized:

• Diagnosis: From Ambushed to Advocate
• Hospital Life: From Confused to Confident
• Juggling Two Worlds: From Chaos to Calm
• Long-term Care Conditions: From Trepidation to Triumph
• Losing a Child: From Loss to Comfort
• Raising a Survivor: From Fragile to Fearless

From the standpoint of a special needs ministry leader, this is helpful because each parent doesn't have time to describe their emotions and circumstances in as much detail as we'd both like. Just as stretching out with a book by the pool isn't likely, neither is a sustained conversation for many of the parents I work with each week. This book is that sustained conversation for me when I need it.

When I'm supporting a family through a diagnosis or helping one of our pastors do so, I turn to the first section. Visiting a family in the hospital? There's a section for that. Loving a family through the loss of a child? That's here too (though if you're like me, you'll need an entire box of Kleenex for that section). Understanding parenting realities for these families? Yep, that's covered in depth.

If that wasn't enough, the appendices include several prayer guides, each lasting thirty days and including a Bible verse or two and a prayer stemming from that passage:

• Thirty Prayers of Dependence
• Thirty Prayers for a Hospital Stay
• Thirty Ways to Pray for Your Family
• Thirty Prayers for [Your Child's] Educators and Therapists
• Thirty Prayers for Grieving Parents
• Thirty Scriptures to Pray for Your Children.

 I use these prayer guides to help me focus when praying for the families at our church as well, so they're not just for parents!

And not only did I want to share with you how valuable I think this book can be, but I'd also love to share a copy with one of YOU! You can join the giveaway in five different ways:

1. Leave a comment on this post letting me know why you'd like a copy. (For example, are you a special needs ministry coordinator? a parent of a child with special needs? a Christian who would like to be better equipped to support friends who have a child with special needs? is it for you? your church library? a friend? a pastor?)
2. If you have a special needs ministry established at your church, leave another comment with your church name and city and website.
3. Follow the blog using one of the options on the right side of the page, and leave a comment stating "I followed your blog!" (Or, if you already follow it, add a comment telling me, "I already followed your blog!")
4. Subscribe to the blog by entering your email address in the box just under my picture on the right side of the screen, near the top, and - you guessed it! - leave a comment saying something like "I subscribed!" (Or, once again, "I already subscribed!" works too, if that's the case.)
5. Go to The Works of God Displayed Facebook page, and "like" it. And then - once again - leave a comment with something like, "I liked this blog's Facebook page!"

That's FIVE different entries if you are willing to do each one AND leave a comment for each entry. And, because I want the word to get out about this giveaway, I'll offer an extra entry if you blog or tweet or post on Facebook about this giveaway, including a link to this post. The more, the merrier when we're getting the word out about a helpful resource, right?

The giveaway ends at noon Eastern time on Friday, December 9, so don't delay!

I was provided two copies of the book from the publisher, one for my review and the other to give away to one of you! I was not required or ask to write a positive review, just an honest one.

Disability ministry: It's not just for churches in the big city

According to this report recently released by the US Census Bureau, disabilities among children are more likely to be found outside of metro areas.

Here are some noteworthy quotes from the report:

• "About 5.0 percent of school-aged children living in metro areas across the United States had a disability (Figure 1, Table 2), compared with 6.3 percent of children living outside metro areas. Children, both inside and outside metro areas, were more likely to experience cognitive difficulties than other disability types (Figure 1). Approximately, 3.8 percent of children in metro areas had a cognitive difficulty while 4.8 percent of children outside metro areas had a cognitive difficulty." 
• "Children living outside metro areas were also more likely to have hearing, vision, and ambulatory difficulties than children in metro areas."
  
• "Fourteen states—Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Vermont—had lower disability rates for children living in metro areas compared with those living outside metro areas. Nebraska and Wisconsin were the only states with statistically greater disability rates among children in metro areas compared to those outside metro areas."

Why bother bringing this up? Well, my observation has been that most established disability ministries can be found at churches in or near a metro area. According to these statistics, though, they are just as needed - if not more so - outside of metro areas.

I know families who travel long distances to attend our church and others, simply because that's how far they have to drive to find a place that will welcome their family member with special needs. And I know other families that have given up on finding a local church that will love and embrace them.

This is a great need.

Thankfully, we have a great provider.

What's the mission of the church (and of special needs ministry)?

Recently, Crossway released the book What is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. I haven't read it yet (though I should have my copy waiting for me when I get home!), but that's okay because I'm not reviewing it today. Instead, I'm sharing an article Kevin wrote in response to reviews of the book. That article - the mission of the church in living color - gave me a lot of food for thought about special needs ministry.

Before you jump into the article, let me give you a little context because you'll be entering in mid-conversation. As I mentioned, this post is coming on the heels of the release of a book about what the church's mission truly is. In response to some reviews, Kevin shares here about what his church does that might be categorized as social justice and what they don't/won't do on that front. It's a good practice to do that with your own special needs ministries: what do you do, and what won't you do?

One example would be the way that Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, TX, uses iPads in disability ministry. Meaghan Wall shared with me when I visited their church that they do use apps for Bible memory, Christian songs, and other faith-building activities, but they don't use therapy-related apps.

Why? Because that's not their purpose as a church.

Likewise, several of Kevin's points about what his church does not do resonate with our approach to disability ministry at Providence Baptist Church, particularly the following. We are not all about:

• Focusing a lot of our energies, resources, and people on good effort that will be well-supported by governments and non-Christians.

• Partnering with teams or agencies that do not allow evangelism.

• Running social services for the community out of our church.

• Undertaking charitable projects or missions endeavors that make us feel good but don’t actually help those we serve and may actually take away their dignity or foster dependence.

We do at times partner with secular organizations - for example, several are publicizing our upcoming respite event and a few are contributing volunteers for it as well - but we're still a church and we still will use the name of Christ in what we do and say. If people are seeking a secular respite care experience, then they can tap into resources outside of the church, although those pickings are slim. If they want therapies or social stories apart from Christ, then the church isn't the best vehicle for providing that. We don't want to just replicate secular social services within a church building.

We have something much greater to offer than that.


Now I know the social justice/evangelism debate can get fiery, but I think we can all stand a little heat while keeping in mind that we have the most important thing - Christ - in common, right? And I'll also add that my understanding of scripture doesn't make it an either/or proposition; we can (and should) be about sharing Christ in word and deed. 

So - all that said - what are your thoughts on this?

99 Balloons: A disability ministry organization worth knowing

I knew about Matt and Ginny and Eliot before I became involved in special needs ministry. When I found out I was pregnant with my first child in May of 2006, I started reading more and more blogs. In doing so, I stumbled across a blog by these two parents, whose names never stuck in my mind back then, about their son, whose name I wouldn't forget: Eliot. He was born six months and nine days before my daughter, Jocelyn, yet he died before she was born. I prayed many prayers over their sweet family (and, to be honest, cried many hormonal tears!) as their son was born, lived his sweet but short life, and died - all during my pregnancy with Jocelyn.

I could tell his story, but this video does a better job. (Just a tip: Get yourself some tissues first.)



As I watch Jocelyn grow here on earth, Eliot grows as well - not in human form, but in legacy. God, through Eliot, taught Matt and Ginny much, including how many ways churches can show love to families with special needs. Out of their desire to honor both God and Eliot, 99 Balloons was founded.

About a month ago, Matt and I chatted via phone. We were both encouraged by it, probably me more so than Matt. During that call, I learned more about what they do. And, let me tell you, I love it.

One focus of theirs is church-based respite care in the United States. They call the events rEcess, with the E for Eliot. If you've been around this blog much, you know that's a passion of mine as well. I've blogged about our church's respite care programs before, and my friends at Key Ministry, Snappin' Ministries, and Nathaniel's Hope are deeply invested in the church-based respite care movement as well.

Their other focus is on orphans with special needs outside of this country. The needs are great, with the greatest need being Christ. The conditions are heart-breaking, but all words to describe them fall short. To that end, 99 Balloons has partnered with TEAMworks to bring home and therapy training to both orphanages and parents with children with special needs. Right now, their efforts are largely in the Ukraine and Guatemala. Read more about it here.

I'll have more to share about 99 Balloons in the near future, but they deserve an introductory post first. Pray for 99 Balloons and for Matt & Ginny and their family, including Lena who is still living in an orphanage in the Ukraine but who will be joining them through adoption (hopefully soon!).