Best 51 quotes of Amy Fenton Lee on MyQuotes

Accessibility means more than adding a ramp between the sidewalk and the front door of a building. It includes the ease in which a product, service, or environment can be utilized across "diverse human populations, their abilities and their needs".

A church's efforts to start one aspect of the special needs ministry should be applauded.

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.

As a church, we need to be very careful about developing and expressing opinions on these topics.

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.

As church leaders, our opinions on these topics aren't necessary to effectively love and support families who have children with disabilities. Encourage ministry team members and volunteers to remember the calling of the church: to enable families to develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

As church leaders, part of our job is to create ministry where serving is a pleasure. And one way we can do that is by tempering the expectations placed on volunteers and simplifying their responsibilities. Eliminating any secondary agenda is always a good thing.

As ministry leaders and volunteers, it's our job to care mostly about a family's connection inside our church, and ultimately with Jesus Christ.

By simplifying the goals for the child's church experience, the child is more likely to thrive in church,

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.

By its very nature, special needs accommodation is more individualized than the typical children's 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

Even if the family is wrestling through theological issues related to their child's diagnosis, it is less important that the church leader be prepared to provide answers right now, than it is they enter into the pain with the family. Instead of searching for the right theological solutions in the moment, ask for God's guidance on what to say and what not to say. The single greatest desire from families was for their church friends to join them in their grief. Receiving validation for their feelings of loss was more important to parents than receiving an explanation of that loss.

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.

Few things feel as threatening to a mother as does something that jeopardizes others' love for and acceptance of her child.

Good people disagree on how a church should run virtually every ministry inside a church, and this is especially true for 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.

If the parents felt they had a healthy line of communication with the children's ministry team and the church was following up in a timely manner, they tended to reflect on the setbacks less negatively. Parents were more likely to continue their involvement with the church if they perceived the children's ministry leadership was working proactively to appropriately accommodate their child.

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.

In fact, God may be working in and through their circumstances, and we can't know completely how God is working through any situation during our earthly lifetime. But if the topic of healing is overemphasized, the family of an individual with special needs may miss the opportunity to be loved and accepted for exactly who they are and where they are in life. Again, the church's role is to provide a safe, nonjudgmental environment that enables families to experience the love of Jesus Christ.

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.

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.

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.

It's the church's responsibility to thoughtfully, intentionally, and respectfully engage everyone - because God loves them all. That's the gospel being lived out for all to see and experience.

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.

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.

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.

Parents feel a greater connection to their faith community when they observe visible ways the church makes accommodations for their child. Anticipating the individual needs of the child speaks volumes to the still-fragile family. And in cases where the parents do approach the church staff with requests or concerns, a warm response is crucial. While not every request can be fulfilled, the manner in which the concerns are received greatly influences how the family perceives the church's support. Even a small change can send a big message of love and acceptance to a hurting family.

Parents have a moral obligation to share knowledge about their child when that information could significantly benefit or protect the actual child, caregivers, other students, and the church staff.

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.

Please keep in mind that there is no "once-size-fits-all" prescription for conveying support to every family walking through a special needs diagnosis.

Remember that mourning is both biblical and healing. Doing anything that might repress a person's need to grieve is both uncaring and unhealthy.

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.

The best way to connect with such a family is to recognize what's unique about their life story. Your support is felt when they see your desire to join them in bearing their burdens.

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

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.

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.

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.

To avoid misunderstandings, let's talk about how we determine the goals of ministry. We'll start at the most important place - making it all about Jesus.

We as the church do not want to lag behind society today, in terms of welcoming people of different cultures, races, and abilities.

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.

When a child's needs fail to be met, undesirable behaviors may surface.

When a church proactively prepares for special needs inclusion, we make a more seamless integration of the person with special needs more likely, and everyone wins.

When a diagnosis is still fresh, do not pressure parents to focus on the positive about the situation. Doing so suggests that the parents aren't allowed to grieve.

When parents don't empower a children's ministry team with information to successfully care for their child, everyone loses.

When parents observe a church culture of acceptance, they are more likely to disclose their child's diagnosis.

When you nurture and prioritize relationship for the volunteers, the volunteers become the ministry's greatest recruiting tools, because they tell others.

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.

While grief is a natural part of any special needs parent's journey, it may be processed somewhat differently for the family affected by a diagnosis with a wide range of outcomes, such as autism. Every child with or without a disability is unique. And no special-needs diagnosis affects any two children the same way.

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.