Leading a Special Needs Ministry Quotes

“On their own, the leader of a church's special needs ministry can't meet every need of every volunteer or participating family. But that leader can model service in a way that caring becomes contagious.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“The educational and therapeutic settings are all about achievement. But that isn't what a relationship with Jesus Christ is about. He loves us exactly as we are and He wants a relationship with us regardless of our performance.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“No one has ever seen the wind. We've only experienced the effects and the results of the wind. And none of us have ever seen God. Just like the movement of a pinwheel makes us sure that the wind exists, we have ways to be sure that God exists.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“It is important that the church think outside the box, actively pursuing a relationship with the family, just as Jesus Christ pursues a relationship with each of us.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“People don't expect perfection, but they do appreciate when they see leaders who sincerely try to improve and ask for help in areas where they might be weak. You don't have to be good at everything to lead, but the best leaders are honest about where they need assistance, working to fill in those gaps, while also taking action and responsibility for areas of personal growth.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“When you nurture and prioritize relationship for the volunteers, the volunteers become the ministry's greatest recruiting tools, because they tell others.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“A Jesus-focused ministry gives greater weight to connection over correction, recognizing that change and spiritual growth occur in the context of meaningful relationships. The student with special needs is more like to develop a personal relationship with Jesus if no one is hung up on the deficit in interpersonal skills and instead everyone cares more about providing a positive, anxiety-free church experience.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“The big-picture goal of a church's special needs ministry is to facilitate a sense of belonging inside the bigger body of Christ. Our best indicator of success is when we see a student with special needs feeling accepted, comfortable and open to the church's influence in their life. - Katie Garvert”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Different people do different things. And no one-way of plugging in or serving in the church is more beneficial or valuable than the other. The same thing is true for our students with special needs. And it's our church's responsibility, in partnership with parents, to clear the path so that God can pursue our teens through the abilities and passions He's already given them. - Katie Garvert”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“In my view, the ultimate goal for a special needs ministry is to being families into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. And in order for that to happen, a church has to be prepared to successfully accommodate the child with special needs during regular church programming.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Keep in mind that it is not the responsibility of a church leader to make all the people happy all the time. It is their responsibility to set everyone up for success: the individual with special needs, their peers, and the leaders serving them all.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“When a child's needs fail to be met, undesirable behaviors may surface.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Everyone wins when the "burden" mind-set is abandoned and where the special needs ministry sees itself as a blessing to those who choose to be part of their community.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Showing participants in a positive light may be the first time some parents have had their child celebrated at all, let alone publicly. The church cannot underestimate the meaningful way this affects a family of a child with special needs. Using the public venue of a worship service will shape the entire church's view of disability, reminding them of God's value for everyone.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“The churches with the strongest special needs ministries seem to know the secret: a ministry leader who values their relationship with their volunteers almost as much as they value their relationship with the families they serve.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“In many cases, special needs ministry is a "business-to-business" ministry. The ministry exists to support other ministries and to help them successfully include the individual with special needs. When full inclusion is happening successfully, the work of the special needs ministry may be invisible to many people including the individual with special needs, much like the role of a business-to-business entity is invisible to the end customer.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“By and large, the special needs ministry leader is a translator of sorts, responsible for understanding and bridging the gap between two very unique cultures: the church and the special needs community.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“As a result, the success of the ministry volunteers is often every bit as important as the success of the participating kids. And the skills of the ministry leaders do impact the accommodation plans that are developed for participants with special needs.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“It is also worth noting that the strengths (or weaknesses) of a particular group leader may factor into the placement decisions for a specific child.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“While misperceptions and fears rooted in pride are not the responsibility of the person making an online comment or writing a public blog post, it is the Christian's responsibility to ask themselves if they know all the facts surrounding the situation and to ask God for discernment before hitting the "post" or "share" button. While these catchy titles and trending articles may generate attention for a cause we all care about, it may do more harm than help in the long run. If you want to influence people and motivate people to change, you've got to love them well. This truth applies to your relationship with your teenage son, your neighbor, your coworker... and your church leader.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Justified and unjustified articles written about how one or many churches fail the individual or the family with special needs can create the perception that this population is difficult to please and has zero tolerance for well-intentioned trial and error.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“If a church doesn't have the volunteers, the space, and the resources to launch a ministry with every base covered, let's not chide them for getting it wrong. Let's cheer them on for taking a step in the right direction, for meeting the immediate needs in their midst, and for expanding their accommodation to any degree, and striving to do it well.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“A church's efforts to start one aspect of the special needs ministry should be applauded.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“We help all children learn healthy ways of relating when we create environments that reflect real life. In contrast, we re doing the child with disability as well as the typically developing peer a disservice if we aren't looking for opportunities to facilitate their interaction. And as Christians, I would add that the church is naturally set up to adopt an inclusion mindset, because we follow Jesus and know He modeled love and value for all children.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“While full inclusion inside our churches is ideal, that goal is secondary to making the gospel fully accessible. When considering the proper placement of any student of any ability, the first concern should always be positioning that individual in the setting with the culture and the teaching methods that est facilitate meaningful spiritual growth for them.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“The self-contained special needs environment may be the one and only venue that facilitates the spiritual growth for some students because it's the only place that Jesus is shared in that individual's native language.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Good people disagree on how a church should run virtually every ministry inside a church, and this is especially true for special needs ministry.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“In churches that care about special needs inclusion I have found that the single biggest determinant for a child's success is the strength of the relationship between the church and the child's parents. When church leaders and parents are in general agreement regarding a child's abilities and needs, problems tend to get solved with greater speed and ingenuity. But when parents view their child's special needs as nonexistent or insignificant, it creates extra work (and stress!) for everyone serving that child. This is the reason that it is sometimes easier for churches to successfully include children with complex needs that are obvious than it is for churches to successfully include high-functioning children whose disabilities are less obvious. When parents dismiss a child's legitimate need for even occasional assistance it makes it really hard for the child and the volunteers serving them to experience success.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“By its very nature, special needs accommodation is more individualized than the typical children's ministry.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry

“Of all the goals and outcomes for a special needs ministry, there is one that is most important: To enable parents of kids with special needs to attend their own worship and Bible study. After all, any child (with or without special needs) has the greatest opportunity to experience the love of Christ when they are raised by parents with a mature faith of their own.”
― Amy Fenton Lee, Leading a Special Needs Ministry