November is Caregiver Awareness Month. As someone who became one of my dad’s caregivers before I started school, I grew up thinking everyone in the world was aware of caregivers and caregiving. As a young adult my husband and I cared for a son born with a life-threatening medical condition, and his typical sibling. As members of the sandwich generation, my brother, sister, and I cared for our mother for 15 years after she was diagnosed with dementia. This explains why, when I first heard that November is Caregiver Awareness Month, I was incredulous, and I still am.
In this episode, Lauren Hickman shares her personal journey and calling to disability ministry, describing how God has guided her every step of the way to serve families impacted by disability.
In today’s episode, Sandra talks about the challenges small to normative-sized churches face in disability ministry and shares how the churches she’s been a part of have overcome these challenges.
This week Elaina, from Key Ministry, sits down with Sergei Marchenko, Lead Pastor of Chatham Bible Church, and Special Needs Parent. They discuss preparing for the holiday season, church inclusion, special needs parenting and more!
Podcast co-host Sandra Peoples grew up with a sister with Down syndrome and now has a teenager with level 3 autism, so she knows how different the holidays can feel for a family like hers. But they don't have to feel different at church! With a few steps of consideration, she shares how families can feel included and valued. Let's make sure special-needs families can hear the message of hope this Christmas!
Traditions can be beautiful and meaningful but in Colossians, Paul shares how traditions can also be problematic. “We’ve always done it this way before” cannot function as a core value within the church. Everything we do should be consistent with the character of Christ and the values of His Kingdom.
If you are in children’s ministry or disability ministry, you may have students who have challenges memorizing Scripture. In this episode, Beth will share seven no-cost or low-cost ideas to engage a variety of learners in Scripture memorization, including those who learn best through hearing, or seeing, or doing.
Ideally, every person is welcome and embraced by a church as Christ welcomes and embraces all with unconditional love. That, unfortunately, is not always expressed by the church. I believe in those moments when we do feel we need to leave, God’s love will guide the conversation and direct us towards a place that will be more welcoming and open to expressing the love of Christ for all people.
Disability ministry can be a fear-laden minefield. Families, volunteers, and congregations all carry the personal burdens of fear. In Colossians 2:1-2, Paul shares his hope for the congregation to become knit together in love. When the hearts of the people of God are knit together in love, we function as well as a World Series champion baseball team.
