One of my favorite things about working here at PazNaz is the fact we have a Special Needs Pastor here on staff. Her sole job is to help create a ministry for families with special needs and provide a space where these students are a part of the Body of Christ. She even has a class designed specifically for people that have special needs within our community. I'll be honest, it's one of the ministries I brag about most because it makes such a statement about the inclusion of ALL people. While it's something many of us verbalize, it's the actions that help speak validity into it.
A big reason a lot of new people attend here is that we have a space for families with kids that have special needs. For some it's such a gift that they can come to worship with the rest of the Body of Christ and feel comfortable there are trained people walking alongside their kids. Yet that has implications for me as a pastor in student ministries.
Because we have a special needs ministry here it means we may have a few more students with special needs that are a part of our youth ministry. Allow me to be confessional for a moment and admit this isn't easy for me. I (like many of you) may just tend to shy away at times from people with special needs out of fear. For me that fear lies in my lack of understanding or education of the person that has a special need. What we don't know we tend to avoid.
Within our ministry we have students that carry all types of special needs. For many they have a volunteer shadow that walks alongside them through their experience. We have a point person on our youth staff that is aware of most of these students and makes a point to see that each student has a healthy experience within our ministry while they attend.
No student there has the same condition. Each is a unique person and each deserves the space offered to them alongside their peers. Here's a few things I feel our students have learned in the last few years.
Each year in October we take an emphasis on a Sunday to highlight our special needs ministry and each department and class has someone that is either a part of the ministry or volunteers to share his/her story of the impact special needs is having in the lives of our students.
We had one student who is high functioning autism share what the world looks like through his eyes. As he shared his story it was obvious that the students were trying to understand him well. I'll never forget the moment he said, "Just because I talk slower doesn't mean the person behind the voice is invaluable. Come talk to me." We could have closed in prayer right there. Offering the space for students to listen well creates greater understanding for everyone.
A few weeks ago another one our students with autism was leaving early and in the middle of the teaching expressed he was leaving because he was being baptized that day. The youth room erupted in applause for him and in that moment he was validated as "one of us." In church that day the youth section went crazy after his baptism declaring to the rest of the body present that he is one of us.
Our adult special needs class recently went to serve at our weekly Church in the Park where 200 homeless are fed. One of the adults was expressing what he learned that day in his experience. While he shared, there was no declaration of his own special need as he expressed the fact the homeless needed loved and fed.
Out of this we have students that regularly volunteer to shadow these students because they recognize the importance of ALL as a part of the Body of Christ.
This year in an effort to move closer to them, I'm working alongside our special needs pastor to ask her to help educate me on each particular individual and their need so we can have greater understanding as a volunteer staff of the value of ALL within our student ministry.
Last weekend we attended a Jr. High Event and one of our special needs students attended. It was amazing to see her reckless abandon to love Jesus openly and express that with other students her age. In fact, that reckless abandon is a model to those that watch her passion for Jesus. Nothing would stop her. There's a great lesson for all of us there.
They continue to teach me regularly. For me to be a pastor to students means I reach out in all ways to uphold the calling placed on my life to see humanity expressed in ways we may be unfamiliar with. It's a part of that calling. The moment we avoid educating ourselves on particular students is the moment we dismiss the very people Jesus died for.
I've sure got a lot learn as I move and grow, but one thing is sure, our special needs students are a gift to youth ministry. Hope they are in your ministry as well.
If you are ever in the neighborhood in Pasadena, swing by around 5pm on Saturdays and watch our special needs wheelchair bound students play basketball. You'll be changed forever.
You're loved.
Wow! Your post just warmed my heart. Praying for you and Julie and your teams as you ministry to ALL.
Posted by: Marbs | 02/01/2011 at 07:43 PM
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Posted by: G HUBBARD | 02/09/2011 at 07:46 AM