I’m very pleased to announce that the NEW Key Ministry website is up and running as of today.

Our new website is the culmination of work on the part of our team that dates back to at least 2005, when we began work on our original “toolkit” on CD-ROM.

I found one of our internal documents from when we began our planning process for electronic ministry. We asked each team member a series of questions, beginning with What do you need to achieve in order to consider this web development project a success? My response…

We need a website that allows us to offer our ministry resources to churches everywhere, including places where we don’t yet have the time or resources to travel personally. I want a person in another city to be able to refer their church to this site, and for staff/volunteers at their church to be able to connect with us, and access what they need to launch this type of ministry. I want this site (and related tools) to help us cast influence among leaders in the worldwide church. We’re providing a service and leading a movement. I want the site to reflect the love we have for Jesus, the passion we have for serving, and the fun we have in serving together.

I thought our team nailed it. Kudos to Harmony, Katie and Rebecca for a job well-done, but never complete. We’ll never stop adding tools and resources to a site designed to help churches welcome and serve kids with disabilities and their families.

In my mind, the most valuable design feature of the website is offering users the ability to access any Key Ministry resource in a single location on the Web.

From our home page, pastors, church staff, volunteers, family members and caregivers can register for upcoming training events, request access to our library of downloadable ministry resources, contact our staff for a training or consultation request, access the content of any or all of our three official ministry blogs, access success stories from our friends across the U.S. and beyond in churches we serve, or contribute their time, talent and treasure to the expansion of God’s Kingdom through the work of Key Ministry.

I’ll spend the remainder of this week helping you to discover all of the useful resources and content available through the new Key Ministry website. Before I continue, there are two things I need you to do…

First, on your initial trip to the website, I’d encourage you to click on the “Resources” box in the toolbar at the top of the home page. You’ll be prompted to register for the site and establish a user name and password that will provide you access to every resource on the site.

After you register and do a little exploring, we need you to help us spread the word about Key Ministry and our new website. Please forward the link to this blog post or the link to  the website to any church staff or volunteers interested in serving kids or teens with disabilities and their families.

Best of all, our new website, like every Key Ministry resource, is made available FREE OF CHARGE…in the same way that God offers His grace freely to everyone who puts their faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ!

Here’s our schedule for the remainder of the week:

Thursday: We’ll explore the contents of the Key Ring Binder, a comprehensive “how to” manual for pastors, church staff and volunteers seeking to launch a ministry inclusive of kids with disabilities and their families in their local church.

Friday: We’ll look at “Party With a Purpose,” a complete guide for churches seeking to develop outwardly-focused inclusion events. This resource provides step-by-step instructions for hosting special events, including a Special Needs Prom or Luau. We’ll also share our Special Events toolbox, including resources for doing an inclusive Vacation Bible School, hosting neighborhood parties and doing inclusion ministry outside the walls of the church.

Sunday: We’ll look at our FREERESPITE manual and resources, containing all the essentials for churches interested in “joining the movement” of Christ-honoring churches providing free respite care to kids with disabilities and their siblings.

Next week: We’ll look at a favorite resource of mine…the beginning of our permanent disability ministry video training library designed to serve as a lasting legacy of our Inclusion Fusion Disability Ministry Web Summit.

I’m honored that God chose to use our team to play an important part in making a ministry resource like this available. I’m confident you and your church will be empowered by God to put it to good use!