We have a disability coordinator at our church. It is their job to make sure the church is accessible to people with disabilities and to work with families to make sure that their individual needs are met.
We also make an effort to make sure that every ministry team includes people with disabilities on them. This not only makes people with disabilities feel more comfortable coming to church but more importantly they are a valuable addition each of the ministry teams.
My wife and I have worked with people with disabilities for over 30 years. We live in Washington state so there is not 50 percent of any group that goes to church. Our experience that less than 20 percent of Chrisitan families that have a member with a significant disablility goes to church on a regular basis. Many of them do not go becuase of the three reasons you list above. I beleive that this is the ripest of mision fields in America. Most churches I have worked with that have made a serious effort in reaching people with disablilities have seen significant growth not only from people with disablilities but from extended family and the community as well. Here is a resource I recomend offten it is a great chapter on reaching out to the disablility community.
Posted in: Including People With Disabilities in Church Life
We have a disability coordinator at our church. It is their job to make sure the church is accessible to people with disabilities and to work with families to make sure that their individual needs are met.
We also make an effort to make sure that every ministry team includes people with disabilities on them. This not only makes people with disabilities feel more comfortable coming to church but more importantly they are a valuable addition each of the ministry teams.
Dynamic Community Outreach
http://community-outreach.com/
Posted in: Church Outreach and Disability
My wife and I have worked with people with disabilities for over 30 years. We live in Washington state so there is not 50 percent of any group that goes to church. Our experience that less than 20 percent of Chrisitan families that have a member with a significant disablility goes to church on a regular basis. Many of them do not go becuase of the three reasons you list above. I beleive that this is the ripest of mision fields in America. Most churches I have worked with that have made a serious effort in reaching people with disablilities have seen significant growth not only from people with disablilities but from extended family and the community as well. Here is a resource I recomend offten it is a great chapter on reaching out to the disablility community.
Dynamic Community Outreach
http://community-outreach.com/