Family Faith Formation Resources | Disability and Faith Formation

This article is part of the Family Faith Formation Toolkit - a collection of resources for equipping ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers with family faith practices and resources, brought to you by Faith Formation Ministries.

In the following links you’ll find creative resources and practices for ministry alongside families with children with disabilities. These ideas can be seamlessly woven into existing church programs and into family life.

Disability and Faith Formation: In Community and At Home

Training Videos

• Mark Stephenson, director of Disability Concerns, says that your ministry will be enhanced if you ask parents of children with disabilities to tell you about their life. We agree! For a ministry training video on the topic, check out Church Experience of Parents of Children with Disabilities.    

• Redirecting Challenging Behaviors, a lively video presentation led by author and special educator Barbara Newman, is an excellent training session for children’s ministry and youth ministry leaders.    

Books

• Helping Kids Include Kids with Disabilities provides practical tips for helping students welcome children who have disabilities into their classes at church or at school.

• The book Autism and Your Church by Barbara J. Newman includes great ideas for partnering with parents of kids on the autism spectrum.

• Everybody Belongs, Serving Together  helps church leaders and members welcome and engage people with disabilities in the life of the church.

Other Publications

• Including Children with Special Needs in the Life of the Church offers practical ideas for including and supporting children with special needs and their families.      

• Often people with disabilities find that other people decide for them how they can and cannot participate in the life of their church community. Ten Ways to Grow in Faith with People of All Abilities provides practical ideas to help your congregation intentionally include all of God’s people.

Websites

• The Disability Concerns site contains information on accessibility, supporting families, using appropriate language, and much more.   

• Friendship Ministries provides resources that support faith formation and congregational inclusion with individuals with intellectual disability.

• Visit All Belong for excellent free resources to help your congregation widen the welcome for persons of all abilities.

• For more resources related to providing a welcoming church and children’s ministry environment for children with disabilities and their families, visit our Children’s Ministry toolkit.

Blog Posts

• Reading A Mother’s Wish List is one way to find what would be helpful for churches to offer families with children who have special needs.

• If there are kids in your church who have intellectual disabilities, check out this great post from All Belong on Sharing the Christmas Story with Kids with Disabilities.

• Inspire your community with the story of how this church welcomes people with autism spectrum disorder and how that is reaching many others as well. 

• Also from All Belong, read Part 1 and Part 2 of the article “Sharing Jesus with a Child with Down Syndrome.”

QUESTIONS?

If you’re part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America and you have questions about how to equip ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers with family faith practices and resources, one of Faith Formation Ministries’ Regional Catalyzers would love to talk with you about ideas and strategies.