Amy Fenton Lee - Leading a Special Needs Ministry

Copyright 2016 by Amy Fenton Lee

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-4336-4712-3

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

First Edition 2013

Dewey Decimal Classification: 259.4

Subject Heading: SPECIAL NEEDS MINISTRY \ CHURCH WORK WITH PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES \ HANDICAPPED

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

Also used: Holy Bible, New Living Translation ( nlt ), copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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To Watson:

Your creativity, humor, and compassion are evidence of Gods beautiful handiwork.

To Brian:

Thank you for being my benefactor before anyone else believed in what I was doing.

To Dad:

Thanks for bravely taking a very talkative and inquisitive little girl along with you on hospital and nursing home visits to church members. It was a gift to grow comfortable in these settings and more importantly, to learn to look for the stories in those encounters. Most of all, thanks for being a great mentor for the last four decades.

Acknowledgments

S pecial thanks to my friends at LifeWay and Broadman & Holman. This group rallied behind this book, working at supersonic speed to make the resource available again. In addition, I will be forever grateful to Steve Laube , my stellar agent, who rolled up his sleeves when he took me on as a client. I have benefitted tremendously from his shepherding.

I owe gratitude to three individuals in particular for their help with this resource. Prior to my personal remarks and for the benefit of the reader, I have included a professional bio for each of these contributors. While I do not hold formal academic credentials in the area of my own expertise, I am proud to say this book has been shaped and reviewed by respected voices that do hold such credentials.

Dr. Alyssa Barnes

Alyssa Barnes has a passion for children with special needs and seeing them included with their typical peers. She holds a Bachelor of Science of Education in early childhood/elementary education from Samford University, a Master of Education from the University of Virginia, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Georgia, both in special education. Dr. Barnes has taught in elementary school-aged inclusion environments for school districts across the Atlanta, GA metro area. Recently Dr. Barnes served as assistant professor in the Early Childhood/Special Education Program at the University of North Georgia. Dr. Barnes founded the All Childrens Playground Project at Centennial Olympic Park. This facility opened in 2008 to provide children with special needs the opportunity to play alongside typically developing peers. Alyssa is a lifelong member of Marietta First United Methodist Church.

Dr. Barnes has been more than gracious with her time and knowledge for the past nine years, giving interviews and reviewing a countless number of my earlier writings. She has also answered questions when unique dilemmas would arise with a church in network of connections. Her expertise in public policy, national trends, and special education law has been invaluable. And this book is a better book thanks to Dr. Barness consultative review.

Katie Garvert

Katie is running on all cylinders when she is collaborating with a church staff, helping them develop a vision for including individuals with disabilities. Her consulting work with church leaders was born out of a decade of ministry leadership and her ongoing work as an educator in the Colorado public school system. Until 2014 and for nine years, Katie led Woodman Valley Chapels Access Ministries, establishing innovative inclusion programming across the churchs multiple Colorado Springs campuses. During her tenure, the disability ministry launched regular respite events, a support group for fathers, sibling retreats, and a unique overnight camp experience for students with special needs. Katie developed strong bonds with the nearly 100 Access Ministries families, frequently serving as their advocate in school meetings and connecting them with various local agencies. In 2014, Katies family relocated to the Colorado Mountains, prompting her return to her roots as a special education teacher. Currently Katie instructs and advocates for teens with invisible disabilities at Summit High School in Frisco, Colorado. I am especially indebted to Katie for much of the content in chapter 10, which came from interviews on my website.

As a ministry leader who has encountered virtually every type of special needs situation in the context of the church, Katies insight has given me the vehicle for translating the theoretical to the practical. So much of my ability to ask questions and develop ideas around this subject matter is the result of Katies investment in me.

Cara Martens

Cara has a varied background in education and ministry. She holds certifications in and has taught Special Education in the public schoolsinclusion, resource, and self-containedas well as teaching in regular elementary and preschool settings. Cara also served on staff at her church as the early childhood and family experiences director. More recently, Cara served as writer and curriculum director for the reThink Group. Cara lives in Flower Mound, Texas, along with her husband and young children.

Cara is one of the most well-read individuals Ive ever encountered. Her ability to connect ideas and insights from two seemingly unrelated subject matters is brilliant. And her editorial eye and ideas throughout this manuscript made it a better, more interesting read.

Finally, I owe thanks to many unnamed people who provided me hours and hours of interviews over the last decade. When I was writing the early drafts of this manuscript I intended to name everyone but quickly realized that a proper acknowledgments section would be a chapter in and of itself. Many church leaders and ministry volunteers have granted me lengthy, in-depth interviews as well as tours of church space. Many of these same people have responded to emails and calls at all hours of the day, helping me with this manuscript and countless other projects. To those people (and you know who you are): thanks for your time and energy around this subject matter. This book would not have been possible without each of you.

Section 1

Loving Families

Loving Families

S everal years ago, I wrote two articles for a Christian publication that targets adult female readers. I offered relational etiquette for comforting a peer in the midst of grief. For the purposes of the articles, grief was described in broad terms, including difficult life changes in addition to death. We received quite a bit of feedback.

The source of the greatest relational bruising for these parents had been the church.

Some readers shared that they had been the friend who said all the wrong things. Other readers said that they were the person who experienced the difficult event and suffered in isolation. Shortly after one article was published, the editor suggested that I pen a similar piece, but this time offer guidance for support of mothers of children with special needs. The topic had been on the editors heart and mine too. We both wanted to encourage the average person to do a better job of engaging her neighbors, sisters, and friends who were parenting a child with a disability. I readily accepted the editors challenge and began researching for the assigned article.