342 Quotes About Inclusion

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Justified and unjustified articles written about how one or many churches fail the individual or the family with special needs can create the perception that this population is difficult to please and has zero tolerance for well-intentioned trial and error.

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.