I recently had a conversation with an old ministry friend who is looking to start up a ministry initiative for ministering to youth ministry teens and leaders who have disabilities. His name is Don Talley. A veteran of 36 years in youth ministry, he is looking to bring awareness through speaking, coaching, and conducting research about youth/student ministry and disability. You can find his information at Access Youth Ministry.
In my time writing for ChurchAndMentalHealth.com, I have developed a strong collection of resources that I have shared in individual blog articles. Between my passion for working with families who have developmental disabilities and my wife as an intervention specialist teacher who now works part-time at our church, having created a development disability ministry for our youth, it has been a great passion to find resources to equip families and ministries.
We want to be about promoting resources, research, and information. While I have a dedicated page for mental health and substance use resources for churches on this website, it didn’t have a section for disability ministry. We have fixed that.
So here is our current list of resources. What else should we include? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
- Dr. Steve Grcvech with KeyMinistry
https://www.keyministry.org
They have the Disability Ministry conference that happens every year, wrote Church and Mental Health book to discuss how to create an inclusive ministry for supporting people who have hidden or visible disabilities, as well as a weekly podcast. - Sandra Peoples
https://sandrapeoples.com
A person who has a twin with Downs Syndrome and a son with autism is looking to equip the church better. Created the Individual Spiritual Plans. - Nathaniel’s Hope
https://nathanielshope.org
Has the Buddy Break respite care program, among other things. - Ability Ministry
https://abilityministry.com
The resource has free downloads and a sermon curriculum for people with disabilities. - Lamar Hardwick, The Autism Pastor
https://autismpastor.com
He has written a book about what it means to have a disability and still run a church. - Joni and Friends
https://joniandfriends.org
I don’t want to assume you know this resource, so I wanted to share it with you, just in case. It’s very popular. - 2020 Lifeway Research: Churches Believe They Are Welcoming to Those With Disabilities
https://research.lifeway.com/2020/03/10/churches-believe-they-are-welcoming-to-those-with-disabilities
Helpful research to start your initiative.
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