Rick and Abbie Smith have gotten a good bit of attention recently because of Rick’s blog Noah’s Dad, which recounts the couple’s experience with their son Noah who was born with Down Syndrome. The blog has become popular, and the family has been interviewed by a couple of local TV news outlets as well. It’s a great story and an excellent witness to the value of each person. It’s also a story of real joy. Today on their facebook page, people are posting photos of their children with special needs. These photos are beautiful, and they will probably some tears to your eyes.
Reading through the blog makes me think about how the church should minister alongside families who have children with special needs. How should we partner with these families to help their children develop spiritually? That’s an important question, and it’s one we need to examine. But I think a question that sometimes gets overlooked is how the church can work to involve families of children with special needs in ministry. We all need the opportunity to serve, not just to be served. What is the church doing to help all of our families find the space to serve? That’s a good question for us to talk about.
Thanks so much for your post, and for helping people to think through issues like these.
It’s so important for us to love everyone, and to help those with no voice.
Keep doing what your doing.
Thanks for what you’re doing. I talked about your blog and how guys guys are approaching parenthood yesterday in my sermon. We had lots of really good responses, and it was an encouragement to at least one family with a son who has special needs.