Tag Archives: Disability Ministry

The experiment…

In helping local churches to make their worship services, Christian education, small groups and service activities available online, we’re providing them the opportunity to introduce the church to families in an environment that works best for that family. Continue reading

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Reflections on our first weekend of online church….

Her son was having a rough week with brain stem seizures. She was so grateful to attend that Easter service online! At the end of the service, she told me her son’s seizures had stopped and he had fallen peacefully asleep. Glory to God! Continue reading

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Experiencing the God of hope in the prison of spiritual autism…Dave Lynden

Being the parent of a special needs child is often a journey of constant despair. You ache for the many things your child will probably never enjoy or experience. With autism, you pine for some kind of deeper connection that you know will always be impaired. Sometimes, it can feel like a kind of prison. But, in this small moment, I suddenly realized that God was taking my routines and trying to break through to connect with me. With this little crack in the wall, I could feel God burrowing through the walls of hopelessness with a small glimmer of a promised world renewed; of a deep blue Pacific Ocean, of a place where the bars and cement block walls that kept me away from my son and kept me away from my God would one day crumble to dust. Continue reading

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Ten truths for parents of kids with autism…Colleen Swindoll-Thompson

Yet, in it all, I have more freedom, more joy, more hope because it is birthed and grown by the grace of my sovereign, faithful, good, unlimited God and Heavenly Father. Dear friend or parent, if I may offer you some rays of hope in the dark tunnel of autism, may our Lord be honored and your soul be filled with hope. Continue reading

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Mike Woods: So I Send You…Missional Special Needs Ministry

The first phase of a missional special needs ministry must be a willingness for us to move out—to simply make a decision to go to the people that we want to serve, wherever that might be. For most of us, what is required to engage in missional special needs ministry is to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the desire to reach out to others, to take a risk and get involved in what God is already doing in our disability communities. Continue reading

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The power of stories…Dave Lynden

So here was my little guy, Micah, standing in front of the TV, wrapped in his royal blue fleece blanket jumping up and down, clapping and laughing as he watched his favorite stories over and over again, reminding me of what I do, what we do, how we strive to fill in the puzzle pieces and reach for something that brings all of the stories together into a coherent whole. Continue reading

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Obsessing on the story…Dave Lynden

The “spiritual autism” that isolates us from others is penetrated, in part, by a story God has weaved into the fabric of our very being. And in that sense, it is not only we who are obsessing over a story, but God who is drawing us in- connecting with us, telling us we are part of the story! Continue reading

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Join us for a conversation with Emily Colson

Her uplifting account of how God has used Max to be a blessing to the people of her church are an inspiring reminder that persons with special needs also have gifts and talents to contribute to the work of the church…and a reminder of how the church is diminished without the inclusion of families impacted by disability. Continue reading

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Exercises for overcoming our spiritual autism…Dave Lynden

One of the biggest red flags of spiritual autism is the inability to be still, to quiet oneself, to set aside the compulsive need to occupy all space with an activity or with sound. The din of such frenzied activity actually drowns out the possibility of connecting with God. It exchanges fluidity with God to a static system. Continue reading

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Becoming more fluid in our relationship with God…David Lynden

Many of us often relate to God through a series of activities. We read our Bibles. We pray. We show up on Sunday morning and maybe put some money in the plate. Perhaps we are even involved in some ministries. And yet, like Tom, many of us also feel like this is an “on-paper” relationship with God. We could walk through the whole routine and never make “eye contact”, so to speak, with God. It feels more like an equation than it does a give-and-take fluid system of communication. It can feel choreographed, routine, static and…well, empty. Continue reading

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