A Year of Great Strides in Nazarene Disability Ministry Resourcing

I can hardly get my mind wrapped around the fact that it is already September! It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since I had a conversation with Scott Rainey about disability ministry in the Church of the Nazarene. God has been so good during this first year. We have made some great strides in making disability ministry resources more accessible to the local church.

Website: We officially launched the Adapted Discipleship Library website in August. If you have not seen or heard about this resource, I will share information in this article about these resources. I will also share the link to the website so you can access the materials directly. There are four sources of tools for equipping the local church for disability ministry found on the Adapted Discipleship Library (training videos, social narratives, classroom tools, and adapted Bible story videos).

Did I mention access to the library is completely free!

Training Videos: This section of the library is focused on providing training to your local church leaders and volunteers. We realize that we don’t know what we don’t know. So the team at Wonderful Works Ministry has put together training videos to help our local churches gain a better context and understanding of disability ministry. These videos cover a wide range of topics and scenarios. There are also videos for recruiting volunteers and how to set your church up for successful ministry. These videos are designed to be short and engaging to provide the local church resources/training needed to be successful in disability ministry.

Social Narratives: This section of the library provides a multitude of social narratives (also referred to as social stories). These narratives are designed to teach individuals about specific situations that occur in the church setting. The narratives will walk through what commonly happens in a specific scenario, behaviors or emotions that are commonly felt in these situations, and proper ways to behave or interact in the scenario. The stories are told from the student’s point of view.

Classroom Tools: This section provides resources such as visual schedules, first/then boards, additional visual aids, and more.

Adapted Bible Story Videos: The Wonderful Works team has created short Bible story videos. These videos use universal design, a process of creating products that are accessible to people with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics. In short, these universal design videos are helpful for every student but are critical for the success of students with disabilities. The videos are animated, brief, and use multi-sensory storytelling and interactive learning. Included with the videos are adapted discussion questions. These discussion guides come in two levels, one for verbal and one for non-verbal students.

How To: You will also find “How To” or instructional videos in the Adapted Discipleship Library to guide you in the use of the resources that are available.

Check the link to the Adapted Discipleship Library:  https://library.wonderfulworksministry.org/

Thank you for praying for Disability Ministry in the Church of the Nazarene! Contact me at rnelson@nazarene.org