Andy is the kind of guy everyone enjoys being around. When he enters a room at Longview Heights Baptist Church in Olive Branch, Mississippi, everyone knows he’s there. Andy loves people, and people love Andy.
An illness when Andy was young left him with brain damage, which means a typical adult Sunday School classroom would not meet his needs.
That’s one reason Longview Heights developed Sunday School classes for people with disabilities. While Andy is in his class, his parents are able to attend their own Sunday School class.
“They had never been introduced to the gospel,” said Lisa Wilson, the church’s special needs ministry director. “[Having a class for adults with disabilities] introduced [the family] to the gospel.”
Bible study
Lifeway’s Access curriculum, specifically designed for adults with unique learning needs, helps the church facilitate those Bible study classes.
Wilson says having a curriculum like Access is critical to the church’s ability to minister to the unique needs of adults like Andy and their families.
Wilson notes that adults with disabilities usually enjoy hands-on activities that might not work in other adult classrooms.
“They also need friendships with others,” Wilson said. “That’s a part of our ministry and our Sunday School experience. That’s their peer group. … It provides them with a place to be themselves.”
Alice Stegemann, who edits the Access curriculum for Lifeway Christian Resources, developed a lifelong passion to minister to disabled people through her relationship with her brother.
Helping her brother
Born in 1959, Stegemann’s brother is blind, autistic and developmentally delayed. Stegemann took on the challenge to help her little brother learn how to do many activities non-disabled kids could do — from riding a tricycle to learning musical notes.
By the time she was in high school, Stegemann knew she wanted to be a special education teacher. Today she has both a seminary degree and a post-graduate degree in special education. She believes it’s important for churches to think of the spiritual needs of adults with disabilities as they’re planning their Sunday School programming.
While these adults often have little trouble understanding their need for a Savior, understanding the Bible can be a challenge.
“You’re neglecting their spiritual growth if you’re not providing for them in a way they can understand the biblical message,” Stegemann said.
Hands-on activities
To meet this need, the Access curriculum includes hands-on activities that fit the Bible lessons, so students can learn in a tactile manner.
Written simply, the content strives to fit the students’ learning needs and life experiences.
“When you’re looking at curriculum, you do want to look at something that’s age appropriate. … But you also want something that’s appropriate to the kind of life circumstances an adult with special needs would have, so the adult would be able to relate to it, and more clearly see how it applies to their lives.”
Stegemann says churches of any size can benefit from the curriculum.
“From a teacher standpoint, it has ease of use,” Stegemann said. “When the curriculum asks for materials to use, we try to use things that are readily at hand, so it doesn’t create an extra expense. And as far as preparation, it depends on how much you want to go into it.
“You can spend a lot of time preparing, but if you’re limited in time, you can pull back on it and do a simpler approach.”
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