There are nearly 50 million people caring for someone who is sick, aging or disabled in the home. Caregiving is the fastest growing family dynamic, effecting men, women and children of all ages. The need for outreach into this area is great. The divorce rate among families who have a child with a chronic illness or disability is 85%! Depression is rampant among caregivers. Families are leaving the church – not because no one wants to help, but because no one knows how.

The idea of starting a “special needs” ministry can be daunting – funding, staffing, training, space, liability, etc. Too often, churches see “special needs” ministry as being just for little handicapped children on Sunday mornings. Oh, no! It can be so much more. It can be a source of great joy, learning, bonding and blessing for your faith community. Serving the weak, aging and sick can take many forms.

Let me propose a NEW way to start special needs ministry.

1. Instead of trying to minister to the person who is chronically ill or disabled, start by meeting the needs of the caregivers. Launch a small group for the caregivers of all kinds in your church and invite folks in from your community as well. I suggest men and women create their own separate gender groups, but combining the variety of caregiver experiences and wisdom can be a rich environment.
2. Connect this group to the Resources and Ways to Connect from this website. They can find devotionals, books, films, etc. to study and share. As this group bonds, they will share resources and support one another in amazing ways.
3. Encourage the existing ministries at your church to surround this group with love. The prayer ministry can provide healing and intercessory prayer. Outreach and hospitality ministries can meet need (food, funds for special equipment/treatments, throw a birthday party, offer to sit, etc.). Now caregivers are re-connected with the faith community and your church is gaining understanding of how to best meet need. The special needs ministry will grow out of the heart of your flock, not from a pre-set formula.
4. It may not seem like you are doing much at first, but it will grow faster than you think and the next thing you know – the “special” families will have become the catalyst for something wonderful for many in your church. What a testimony – that their need blessed an entire faith community and something good and lasting grew out of it. God is so good!
5. Connect with me – the.caregiver@comcast.net. I will help you in any way I can, connecting you with other pastors who have been successful facilitating ministry to all kinds of special needs, pointing you to resources, and offering prayer and advise where I can. I am also trying to make myself available for retreats, workshops, launching Bible Studies, etc. One day we hope to have extensive materials and resources for you and your flock, but for now, we welcome your prayers for us as we grow and help equip the Church to meet need.

(for serving families in your church touched by chronic illness and disability)

JUST THE BEGINNING

Families who are caring for a member who is sick or disabled can struggle with many things. One of the biggest struggles is having the humility to admit they need help. Another is having the grace to receive the help they need. As you serve these families, remember that it is OK, even best, to begin with small acts of kindness and consideration and allow trust to develop on their end and confidence to develop on yours.

INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE

Begin by caring for the person who is the primary caregiver in the family, telling them you will be praying for them and their family. Let them know that you are part of a group who will be surrounding them with prayer and care. Give them your contact info and offer some simple suggestions on how you might help. For starters:

• Just offer to come for a visit to listen and pray with them and begin to understand their situation.
• Offer to bring food – once a week, once a month, whatever. Or just make something special and take it without asking (unless there are food allergies) – soup, cookies, casserole, etc.
• Offer to spend time with the person they are caring for. At first, suggest that you hang out with that person while they are around and as you become more comfortable with the person who is sick, offer to give the primary caregiver some time off to run a few errands or go to a movie or church. This is called “respite.” It is also called “a gift from God” for most caregivers. It is such a blessing to a caregiver to have someone else who WANTS to get to know the person they are so devoted to. It will be hard for them to give up control, but if you have developed a trust level, the Lord will help them let go.
• Offer to meet them at church and go to Sunday school with their child or assist them in getting their loved one in a wheelchair into church.
• E-mail or call the person and let them know about church or community events that might be of interest to them. This lets them know that they are top of mind with you and not forgotten as is so often the case.
• Send the caregiver or the person they are caring for birthday cards – or help organize a simple celebration.
• Offer to lead a Bible Study/Small Group in their home. Caregivers are hungry for God’s Word, but can so rarely make the time to get away for small group time.
• Offer to “babysit” siblings. So often the other child spends hours in waiting rooms with their sick sibling.
• Get your children to know these people as well. Disabled children love normal peers and elderly love children as well.
• Offer to shadow their special needs child to youth group.
• Once you get to know the family – clip coupons for some of the essentials they may need and send them with a note. Things like diapers, Ensure, baby food, etc. get very expensive over time.

GROUP ASSISTANCE

• Have a special needs VBS. There is nothing for special needs adults and children to do in the summer.
• If you have talents and can get friends together to help – it would be such a blessing if your church offered dance, jazzercise, art, music (special choir or praise and worship time) for people with disabilities.
• Host a respite night weekly, monthly – where set age groups can be dropped off for a night of fun activities.
• Start a fund to help families pay for alternative treatments, equipment, respite care, travel (to see specialists or get treatment).

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE

What are we, The Body of Christ, meant to do for people with disabilities, the sick, the poor, the weak, the rejected?

James 5:11
We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. Job is an example of a man who endured patiently. From his experience we see how the Lord’s plan finally ended in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy.

Galatians 6:2
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Psalm 82:3-4
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Romans 15: 1-3
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

Psalm 41:1
Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble

Luke 14: 12-14
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Acts 20: 35
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ "

Matthew 25: 40
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

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