This is the third post in The Search to Belong series about our search for a church home here in Colorado Springs.
Week four found us looking to visit another church with an established special needs ministry. This was another chance to see a different take on disability ministry. This church is probably the largest in the Springs and has a thriving ministry. We enjoyed the service and had no concerns about leaving Daniel in the children’s ministry.
At least by the time the service started.
We got off to a bit of a rocky start. They do things a little different than the other churches we have visited or been acquainted with. They require advance notice before visiting and they required us to fill our their intake forms before coming. I am not going to go into my thoughts on this again. If you want to see my take, you can read about it in The Search to Belong: The Element of Surprise.
We were excited to visit this church and see what they were doing, how they were doing it, and how God was working in Colorado Springs. I filled out the forms and emailed the director about our visit. This is when things got a little odd for us.
It seemed that only having a few days notice was not enough. It kind of threw the director for a loop. We were encouraged to pick a service to attend and assured she would be Super D’s buddy that morning. However, we were also told how short staffed they were.
Now, I do not think the director meant anything by it. But the subtle message she unintentionally sent almost turned us away. In that moment we felt like we were a burden. It felt as if we were being unreasonable because we did not give a week or two notice before visiting. I try to be thick skinned and not let little things deter me in this process, but this one almost did.
I’ll admit, I went into it assuming we would either take Daniel into the service in the end or we would leave before the service began.
In reality, the truth was we had a instant reaction and read something more into the email than was intended. Don’t misunderstand, we upset the apple cart by not giving a week or more notice, but we were welcomed in the end. Things went well, Daniel was cared for and we enjoyed the service. My wife told me it felt like home. This church was a place we could call home, if that is where God called us. We almost missed out on a great Sunday morning because of a knee jerk reaction to a the initial contact.
There are a few things I encourage families and ministry leaders to take away from this experience:
- Email is a terrible way to communicate: If in doubt about an email, have someone else read it or pick up the phone.
- Be mindful of what families really need to know. Sometimes a warning about being short staffed is needed, others it is not. Use discretion when relaying this information.
- Grace covers a multitude of sins! We, as families with special needs, need to work daily to extend grace and not let fear guide our actions.
For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you. Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:14-16
Life With Super D! 