Disability Concerns Book Clubs Announced!
Disability Concerns will be hosting two book clubs: one in November and one in the new year. Join us!
Everybody belongs. Everybody serves.
Write your own blog post to share your ministry experience with others.
Disability Concerns will be hosting two book clubs: one in November and one in the new year. Join us!
Churches are called to grow the gifts of all members. Ideal Park CRC has found a way to do that for two members so that they can exercise their gifts for ministry faithfully.
Seong Won asked me whether CPE has changed since I took my last unit 32 years ago. I told her that the structure of CPE hasn’t changed much, but I’ve changed a great deal. Naturally, she followed up with, “How have you changed?”
I’m more comfortable with answers than questions, authority than weakness, and qualification by academic degree than qualification by suffering. But I’m learning that effectiveness in chaplaincy requires me to walk into the circle of my discomfort.
Memory loss, the journey of dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease are among the most difficult journeys. But as individuals and the church, we can offer support through the act of remembering stories.
How can we be extra mindful and supportive of persons and families affected by disability during this season? Here are a few ideas.
This letter was sent by friends to the elders of their congregation on behalf of a friend and fellow member who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivities.
One can be well and live with a serious mental illness or disability. But wellness does require community (such as a church). Therefore let's ask, "Is my church a place where people can be well?"
What I’d really like is if you would “just walk with me”. If you’ve been where I am, tell me how you felt in a way that I can know you’re trying to walk with me — not change me.
I did not realize how much she would contribute to everyone’s learning, how the classroom would became a place where the societal barriers between people of various abilities would temporarily break down.
How can we make a positive difference in our churches and communities in working with people with disabilities? Compiled by Ann Ballard, this list gets you started. Have fun and get going!
When I was 14, my 38-year-old mother sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). When Mom came home from the hospital, her personality had changed dramatically. How can the church help?
Through the apostle Paul, God paints a vision for his people in 1 Corinthians 12 as one body, together in Christ. No one excludes another. (The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”) No one self-excludes.
Susie Angel talks about the rejection and the welcome she experienced in churches as a person with cerebral palsy. She says, "God needed me for a purpose to be the way I am, that purpose was to teach able-bodied people that it was okay to be different."
Here's a “wish list”, created by mothers of what they would find helpful for local churches to offer families who have children with special needs.
As congregational members who do not have intellectual disabilities engage week in and week out with those who do, everyone learns and grows. People have to learn how to talk with others who are much different from them. That requires everyone to take risks, to reach out to one another, to have awkward conversations that will, over time, become less awkward.
As a church becomes an active and visible place for inclusion of everybody within their midst, that church will become attractive and welcoming for any neighbor seeking a place to name and take pleasure in the “good news expressed in my church.”
As an organization in a community, churches do the best job of knowing who currently has special needs within their congregations and often within their community.
I thank God for people who are willing to tell their stories, especially when those stories could be turned against them. This danger looms especially for people whose story includes mental illness.
Many people loathe December and January. Holiday parties can bring pain along with joy. People renew old tensions, unbury hatchets, and pronounce judgments on others. Perhaps even worse, some people sit home alone, uninvited to gatherings with loneliness blowing cold like a winter draft.
In the 1960s and early ’70s, U.S. military personnel were often treated shamefully upon returning to civilian life. I hope that your church will consider ministry with veterans as a significant way to serve men, women, and families who gave so much for their country.
As I regularly assess my situation, I discover that there are lots of things I still can do. I can think, write, see, feel, touch, smell. When I look at all the possibilities, life becomes exciting again.
"We are all a part of God's story, and trusting Him through the twists and turns isn't easy. At the heart of our stories is the essence of belonging - to each other and to Him. And we need to know that we belong - even with our abnormalities and idiosyncrasies." - Sara Pot
The novel, Divine Towels by Beau Jason McGlynn, describes a mother and son, Claire and Ethan, who are led by God to begin a healing ministry called Divine Towels. By washing the feet of those seeking to be healed God uses Claire and Ethan to effect healing.
We heard things like 'It's good Katherine went to Tom and Glenda. They'll be able to handle this.' Translation: Thank God it wasn't me! Alternative translation: Don't look to me for help! I'm wiping my hands here.