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Everybody Belongs.
Everybody Serves.

Disability Concerns helps churches become healthier communities that intentionally seek:

• To end the isolation and disconnectedness of persons with disabilities and their families;
• To nurture the spiritual lives of people with disabilities so that they become professing and active members of their churches; and
• To encourage the gifts of people with disabilities so that they can serve God fully in their churches. (more about Disability Concerns)

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Where do we start?

A brief handbook for inclusion: The staff and volunteers of Disability Concerns have worked together to produce a brief, idea-packed resource for churches to get started with disability ministry. All Christian Reformed Disability Advocates have already received a paper copy. We offer it free for download here: Handbook for Disability Advocates. Feel free to print it yourself, or to include sections of it in your church newsletter. If your church would like one or more paper copies, please contact us.

News

  • Disability Week October 11-17, 2010: Disability week will provide your congregation with an opportunity to learn about mental health issues and to learn better ways of ministering to people with mental illnesses when they are in a season of suffering.  Click on Mental Health Resources. Let's Talk! Breaking the Silence around Mental Illness in Our Communities of Faith is a new 4-part series for small groups that is available for free download.
  • View the newest Disability Concerns' video (2:44 minutes) which gives a brief description about our ministry. This video or our What's That? video would work well for use in a worship service at which an offering is received for Disability Concerns.
  • The summer issue of Breaking Barriers, a quarterly resource with stories and information for inclusion of people with disabilities in churches and ministries, features stories about how the Americans with Disabilities Act has affected churches since it was adopted 20 years ago. View the printer friendly version of this issue, or subscribe to the electronic edition. 
  • Teachers: engage your students in God's restorative work! Search CRC resources by subject matter and grade including many disability-related lessons: Justice Curriculum Resources.

 

Disability Ministry Workshops

Healthy churches train their members in warmly welcoming people and encouraging them to use their gifts. Disability Concerns encourages you to consider the following workshops:

  • September 12, 2010 - "One Body Together in Christ." Trinity Christian Reformed Church, Grandville, Michigan. Four sectionals will be offered -- on spiritual formation, on worship, on caring, and on mental illnesses. Participants will spend most of their time in one sectional. The workshop will conclude with worship including the celebration of communion. Our website has all the details and online registration.
  • October 9, 2010 - "More Than Imagined!" Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinois. Keynote speaker: Erik Carter, author of Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities. Co-sponsored by Joni and Friends Chicago, Trinity Christian College, and CRC Disability Concerns. For further information or to register, visit the website or call Rita Houston at Joni and Friends, 630-573-2900.