Disability Ministry Goes After the One

by jphilo | Feb 7, 2024 | Different Dream, Special Needs Ministry, Special Needs Parenting, Spiritual Support

Disability Ministry Goes After the One

Disability ministry goes after the one according to guest blogger Mark Arnold. In this post he explains how we can be like Jesus and do it too.

Sometimes I get asked why churches should make an effort to reach those with special or additional needs, when it means balancing their needs against those of the rest of the group. I always say the same thing.

Jesus told us to go after the one.

In the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus told of a shepherd leaving 99 sheep to find the one that was lost. Here’s the version from Luke 15:4-7.

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ” (New Living Translation)

Jesus uses this parable to explain how heaven rejoices more over one person who repents and comes to faith than for ninety-nine people who have never strayed. I like to think it can represent some children and young people with special or additional needs too.

They can sometimes be marginalized, overlooked, and “lost” to the rest of the church. They are sometimes sent away and excluded by the very people who should love them and care for them. I’ve heard stories of children with special or additional needs being told not to come back next week, or their parents told “this is not a special needs church”. I’ve even heard of children being excluded because “they might be a health and safety risk.”

But Jesus said to go after the one.

Disability ministry goes after the one by valuing the one: Too often, children and young people with special or additional needs are looked down on as of little value in our churches. The Good Shepherd valued the one sheep that had wandered off. In a way he valued the one more than the ninety-nine because he left them to search for the one. We need to value them, prioritize them, love them as Jesus does.

Jesus said to go after the one.

Disability ministry goes after the one by investing time and effort: The Good Shepherd scoured the wilderness looking for the one. We need to invest the time and effort needed to reach the children and young people we are journeying with. We can’t expect them to adapt, to change, to find the way themselves. The lost sheep needed the Good Shepherd to find it where it was and bring it home. Children and young people with special or additional needs require their leaders to do that too.

Jesus said to go after the one.

Disability ministry goes after the one by rejoicing in and with them: The Good Shepherd brought the lost sheep home and rejoiced because it had been saved. All too frequently, we don’t think about the spiritual welfare of children with special or additional needs. Their time in our groups becomes babysitting. But heaven rejoices for each person who is saved. We should do all we can to bring children and young people into God’s presence to show them their spiritual home and rejoice with them when they make little steps of faith.

Jesus said to go after the one. Will you?

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Photo by Hiu Yan Chelsia Choi on Unsplash.

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Mark Arnold is the Additional Needs Ministry Director at Urban Saints, a leading national Christian children’s and youth organization. He is co-founder of the Additional Needs Alliance, a national and international advocate for children and young people with additional needs or disabilities. Mark is a Churches for All and Living Fully Network partner, a member of the Council for Disabled Children and the European Disability Network. He writes an additional needs column for Premier Youth and Children’s Work (YCW) magazine and blogs at The Additional Needs Blogfather. He is father to James, who has autism spectrum condition, associated learning disability, and epilepsy. To find out more about how Mark’s work can help you, contact him at: marnold@urbansaints.org or @Mark_J_Arnold

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What Does My Child Remember about EA/TEF Treatment?

What does my child remember about EA/TEF treatment? That’s a question parents ask themselves often. In today’s EA/TEF Awareness Month post, guest blogger Valeria Conshafter reports on what her daughter says she remembers as they celebrate her 16th birthday.

She doesn’t remember anymore.

That’s what she told us, the other day at her birthday dinner when I mentioned this month was EA/TEF Awareness Month. I was surprised. I was surprised because I have not forgotten a single thing.

I remember everything.

Every month after receiving the news that our baby was born with a rare birth defect known as Esophageal Atresia/Tracheoesophageal Fistula (EA/TEF). I remember.

My only child, my daughter Sofia, was born 16 years ago in January. She is a bright and vigorous teenager. Full of life. Thankfully, I believe, the worst is over.

“All I remember” Sofia said, “is that I wanted that pink, butterfly, rolling carry-on suitcase from the hospital’s gift shop and that Daddy was carrying me, and then I got it. I got the pink butterfly suitcase. But I don’t even know what I was there for. I don’t even think about this EA/TEF stuff anymore. It’s like it doesn’t even exist.”

“Oh, the other thing I remember” she continued, “is that I had to drink that nasty stuff for an x-ray and then afterwards the doctor told me I didn’t have to come back to see him anymore.”

“I remember it too, honey,” was my reply.

I remember everything.

I remember that was the day of her last surgery. The 12^th one. She was 4 and wanted that pink suitcase for her first trip to Brazil to visit her grandparents. I also remember the day that she got clearance from having yearly esophograms, which happened just 5 years ago.

I remember each of her hospital stays, ER visits, and the many frightening moments at home.

There were too many to count. The life-threatening ones where I thought I was going to lose her.

Sofia may not remember all that we went through with her in and out of surgeries, all the holidays and important dates we spent in the hospital, the multitude of doctors, diagnoses, or all the choking episodes. But I do.

I will never forget; I know that as well.

I am certain that all that she went through is part of who she is and who she is becoming. Her strength doesn’t come solely from her genes or great personality, but from years of enduring treatments, recovering from surgeries, and all the suffering she endured too.

My girl is strong. My girl is amazing.

She is also full of scars and carries trauma. Her determination to do her best in all she puts her mind to comes from the warrior energy that she had as a child. A child who had to fight for her life.

Her narrative is different from many other teenagers her age.

It’s even different from mine—her mother who’s been there for her ever since. But for her, what she remembers is that she came out of that last surgery with a prize and that she did not have to ever go back to drink that nasty liquid. From now on she is gathering new memories and adventures to remember later. She will then be able to tell whatever part of her story she wants to tell and how she got to be the strong woman she’s sure to become from all her experiences.

Even when I remember it all, for her what matters is the here and now.

For those of you who are going through the difficult times right now, who are asking yourselves, “What does my child remember about EA/TEF treatment?” know that your babies will most likely remember very little of all what they went through. They will most likely not remember the hardships you went through or those difficult days you remember.

They will remember life differently than we do.

I know it is hard and there’s trauma along the way, but there’s healing too. Oh, am I still healing! But the truth is that your child’s story should be theirs to tell, however they remember it.

Your story and how you dealt with everything will have a space of its own; to inspire and to encourage those who are in it right now. But for this moment I want to sit with the fact that she is here and that she is okay. That she does not have remember anything as I do. She is free.

Happy Birthday, Sofia!

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Photo by Sime Basioli on Unsplash

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Valeria Conshafter is a native of Brazil. She has a background in Counseling Psychology and currently works for a women’s organization providing emotional and spiritual support to women all over the country. She loves writing, cooking, and praying for her family and friends. Valeria lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband Todd, their 15-year-old daughter, Sofia, and their two Standard Poodles, Chocolate and Oreo. You can find Valeria on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.