Preview of Compel Them to Come In

Planning a Disability Awareness Sunday

By Charlie Chivers

A Disability Awareness Sunday can be a milestone in the life and vitality of the local church. Unfortunately, this event too often becomes a token offering to fulfill an obligatory date on the annual church calendar and appease a few vocal constituents with disability ministry concerns. This would include Disability Ministry coordinators, special needs Sunday school teachers, and those individuals and families directly impacted by physical or mental disability on a daily basis. These two groups of people, one with a lonely ministry call and the other with a daily cross to bear, are often disenfranchised from the body. They feel unnoticed and unwanted because they ride an unpopular “hobby horse” that makes others uncomfortable. They are rarely included or considered in the overall planning of the church.

For some reason, reaching people with disabilities is the unwanted stepchild of church ministries. Here are some facts for consideration:

When people feel disenfranchised, two things occur. Individuals and families affected by disability react by becoming very private and retreating even further into their own world. Some may appear self-involved, strange, indifferent, unfriendly, and unwilling to fit into the church family. Others will become manipulative, abrupt, and ungrateful, marking themselves as undesirable to be around.

At the same time, disability ministry workers in the church tend to become vocal advocates on behalf of those they serve. They become warriors for their people who are sometimes more than willing to risk being perceived as offensive or belligerent in pursuit of their righteous cause. There is nothing wrong with being an advocate or a warrior, but constant extreme behavior accompanied by continual “harping” can cause one to appear angry, single-minded, deaf, indifferent to the needs and concerns of others, and insubordinate. Such attitudes and tactics will never win the heart of church leadership. They only alienate good people, pushing them away instead of drawing them into supporting the ministry.

If disability ministry workers become lobbyists, using political muscle within the church to manipulate the pastor into supporting their agenda, then disability ministry ceases to be a worthy outreach and is reduced to a token gesture of political expedience. That kind of pressure leaves a bad taste in the pastor's mouth and triggers a negative emotional response towards ministry to people with disabilities.

Whosoever Will May Come:

People with Intellectual Disabilities and the Worship Service

By Larry Campbell

Know Who You Are Trying to Reach

It is important to understand that ministry to people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities must be geared to their level. When they can understand and participate in it, everyone profits from the service.

Learning Characteristics of People with Low-Functioning Intellectual Disabilities

People with low-functioning intellectual disabilities are real people with the same basic needs all of us have. They need love, acceptance, and understanding to experience accomplishment. Because of sin, they need the message of the gospel. They can learn spiritual truths when taught on a concrete level and within their mental functioning range. Learning takes place very, very slowly for people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities.

Special Touch Ministry has fielded a team of its most experienced communicators and teachers to write Compel Them to Come In.

Editor and lead writer Tom Leach has had a lifetime of personal experience with physical disabilities. He was born with mild Cerebral Palsy and at the age of twenty-five a car wreck left him paralyzed from the chest down as a C-6, 7 quadriplegic. His understanding of these conditions has served him well in connecting with audiences through his speaking and writing. In addition he has had eighteen years experience in specialized ministry to those with mild intellectual disabilities. Among his writing credits is the Word Walk Bible curriculum. This is his second book.

Tom's wife Gayle combines twenty-six years of caregiving experience with thirty years of ministry as a missionary, teacher, pastor's wife, and speaker.

Over nearly thirty years Special Touch President, founder, and nationally appointed missionary Charlie Chivers has invested thousands of hours in ministering and teaching in front of audiences, preaching the gospel and speaking on the subjects of disability ministry, advocacy and awareness. Charlie and his wife and co-founder Debbie have committed their lives to the development and implementation of a comprehensive vision of service, support and spiritual influence among people with disabilities and their families. Under their leadership, Special Touch Ministry has grown from concept to reality as a national organization, ministering to thousands within the disability community every year.

Their passion and influence among people with disabilities has led many to discover their own calling to disability ministry, both full and part time, and has paved the way for hundreds to come to know Christ. They also personally coordinate the Wisconsin Special Touch Summer Get Away.

Nationally appointed Special Touch missionary Larry Campbell is acknowledged nationwide and across denominational lines as a pioneer and authority on leading people with intellectual disabilities in worship. Like other members of the team, Larry and his wife Carolyn have an extensive speaking schedule.

Paul Weingartner, the Executive Director of the Center of the Blind for the Assemblies of God oversees the production of resources for the blind is legally blind himself. He also travels internationally training others to minister to the blind and the visually impaired. His associate Sarah Sykes is certified in Braille transcription and is a key member of his team.