Tag Archives: Key Ministry

To love adoptive and foster families, (5) be willing to listen and learn.

Listen to the challenges we encounter as adoptive and foster families, such as being conspicuous in public due to adopting or fostering a child of a different race, considering dissolution or disruption of a child’s placement within our family in favor of another family who might be better equipped to meet the child’s needs, losing friends or family who don’t agree with our choice to adopt or foster, and struggling with the special needs of our child, whether known before placement or presenting as a surprise post-placement. Continue reading

Posted in Adoption, Controversies, Families, Foster Care, Key Ministry, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A small church doing big things…Ellen Stumbo

If a mom is sitting in the foyer with a child, we make sure that mom is not sitting on her own, because what is the point of going to church if you sit alone in the foyer trying to keep your child calm from the overwhelming stimulation of church? Sometimes, some of the best conversations happen in the foyer, or walking around the church parking lot pushing wheelchairs. Continue reading

Posted in Families, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Ministry Environments, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

To love adoptive and foster families, (4) let our kids be kids…

But they are kids, first and foremost. Welcome them as you would any other child. Work with their parents or guardians to figure out how to include them well.
Continue reading

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To love adoptive and foster families, (3) partner with us…

So it makes sense that one way to love the adoptive and foster families in your church is to partner with us. In many ways, this looks just like family ministry does for everyone else. Continue reading

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Join us Wednesday for a “Notable” documentary…

The film highlights three stories of individuals with disability living in a culture where families are often shamed, isolated and marginalized by their community because of their child having a disability. Continue reading

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He won’t remember: Children and PTSD…Jolene Philo

But very few churches talk about the babies, special needs babies, who also suffer from PTSD. Because we don’t want to believe they feel pain. Very few churches talk about children already traumatized before birth or children traumatized by direct or observed trauma.
Because we good church people don’t want to believe they remember.
Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion Fusion, Mental Health, PTSD, Resources, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

#2…Churches should become trauma and attachment-informed

So, church leaders, what can you do to become trauma- and attachment-informed and to then use that knowledge to serve adoptive and foster families well? Continue reading

Posted in Adoption, Advocacy, Controversies, Families, Foster Care, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Five ways the church can love their adoptive and foster families

When their parents are being elevated with comments about what a great thing they did, then those children may feel like they are less deserving of their families than a biological child might be. Continue reading

Posted in Adoption, Advocacy, Families, Foster Care, Key Ministry, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The compelling case for social media in special needs ministry…Barb Dittrich

The question for us became, “If our parents can’t come to us, how can we come to them?” Continue reading

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Jeff Davidson…No More Peanut Butter Sandwiches

At first, it was difficult coming to terms with laying down my dreams. Like any special-needs dad, it’s hard emotionally to reach the point where you realize the dreams, goals, and plans you had for your child aren’t going to happen the way you hoped. But whose dream was it anyway? It wasn’t God’s dream. Continue reading

Posted in Families, Inclusion Fusion, Intellectual Disabilities, Stories, Training Events | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments