Three random thoughts during a very busy time…

The adoption movement is going to provide a major impetus to the development of comprehensive disability ministry in churches that haven’t yet been intentional about including kids with disabilities and their families. As churches seek to support families who adopt children with disabilities, their awareness of the needs of families outside of the church will continue to grow.

I’m astounded by the breadth and depth of expertise developing within the field of disability ministry. Our Program Committee for Inclusion Fusion 2012 is working from a list of over sixty prospective faculty! At the same time, I’m aware of how few leaders and organizations are focused on the needs of families impacted by less visible disabilities that nevertheless pose significant barriers to church attendance and spiritual development.

We recently heard from the special needs ministry director of a church Key Ministry started serving in 2012. Their church made a very intentional effort to include kids with disabilities in their Vacation Bible School a couple of weeks ago. During the week, four of the kids with identified disabilities made initial professions of faith in Jesus. By the end of the week, at least one of the kids invited two adults with developmental disabilities to the conclusion of VBS, and the Sunday after VBS concluded, ALL of the kids who accepted Christ (and their guests) were in church with their families. One of my Board members commented that if our ministry ends tomorrow, all of the time, money, energy and effort that everyone has put into Key Ministry will have been worth it because of the impact upon those four kids and their families. I agree with him.

Key Ministry’s mission is to help churches reach families affected by disability by providing FREE resources to pastors, volunteers, and individuals who wish to create an inclusive ministry environment. We have designed our Key Catalog to create fun opportunities for our ministry supporters to join in our mission through supporting a variety of gift options. Click here to check it out! For a sixty second summary of what Key Ministry does, watch the video below…