Resources for Advocacy

Questionnaires for Ministry Review

To engage people in ministry, the church's leadership needs to know who in their congregation has a disability, and what their needs and gifts are. Here are three questionnaires which church leadership and care teams can use:

• questionnaire for parents of children with a disability
• questionnaire for people with disabilities and caregivers
• check list for councils and church leadership

Advocacy Handbook

Handbook for Disability Advocates. The staff and volunteers of Disability Concerns have worked together to produce a brief, idea-packed resource for churches to get started with disability ministry.

Disability Advocate Job Descriptions

Some 600 volunteers serve as advocates for people with disabilities in Christian Reformed churches and ministries. 

• Church advocates (doc) work within their own churches toward greater inclusion of people with disabilities.
• Regional advocates (doc) support the church advocates in their work.
• Agency advocates (doc) are staff of the Christian Reformed Church who raise awareness and assist with the inclusion of people with disabilities in the ministries of Christian Reformed agencies and educational institutions.

Articles

The Mouth of the Lord, by Gerry Koning 
"Sometimes God speaks to us loudly through a burning bush, and at other times through a young child."

Made Like Us, by Rev. Mark Stephenson
In Christ's disability, we recognize him as true God and find in him a compassionate companion who dwells with us in our limitations.

Classis Reports

Regional Advocates: do you need to prepare a report for you classis meeting? On this page are links to reports made recently by Regional Advocates to their classis meetings. Some were given orally, some written. If you make a report to your classis meeting, please send it our way so that we can share it with others too.

Workshop Recordings

Below are recordings from workshops led by Disability Concerns staff and volunteers:

Church Advocacy 201 (mp3). Leader: Ralph Bus, Orangeville, Ontario. Bus, a Regional Disability Advocate for Classis Huron, provides practical suggestions and strategies for increasing the effectiveness of the disability ministry in your congregation.

Dementia (mp3). Leader: Elly VanAlten, Edmonton, Alberta. VanAlten explores this complex and difficult aging disorder. She is a Registered Nurse with over twenty years experience working in a long-term care facility with persons with dementia and the Regional Disability Advocate for Classis Alberta North.

Biblical Basis for Inclusive Ministry (mp3). Leader, Mark Stephenson. When congregations are intentional about including people with disabilities in their life and ministry, they grow in unity and maturity. Stephenson, the director of Disabilty Concerns, explores the biblical foundations for inclusion of people with disabilities in the life of the church.

Radio Broadcast

How to Treat People with Special Needs (mp3). Our director, Mark Stephenson, was interviewed for this segment of Crossroad Connection by David Schuringa, President of Crossroad Bible Institute, a ministry which disciples people in prison. In this broadcast, Mark and David reflect on valuing all people as image-bearers of God.