Actscelerate.com

Why a worship service for SPECIAL NEEDS and HANDICAPPED is drastically needed.

Acts-celerate Owner Posts: 6957 **2/16/16 12:15 pm**

This is in response to an excellent and thoughtful thread by Dean
Steenburg http://www.actscelerate.com/viewtopic.php?t=84608. I brought it here to bring more attention to it.

One of our excellent Moderators for years, was Penny4yourthoughts. Bonnie has since passed from this life, but several times in back-channel emails, Bonnie shared that she had a daughter she loved with all her heart. Her precious daughter was mostly bedridden.

Bonnie and Paul McKensey, both graduates of Lee College back in the late 1950's, attended an Assembly of God church in the L.A. area. Each week they took their daughter to a "Special Needs" worship service at a nearby church. She said there were about a hundred participants. I'm not sure if the church they attended was the same church conducting the Special Needs worship service.

The Special Needs service had it's own pastors; a couple who had a burden for ministry to Special Needs and handicapped people.

THE REASON for the special service, was not to isolate those with Special Needs, but rather to provide a safe and accepting environment where they would not feel like they were on display. It was incredibly encouraging for them to learn that there were others who struggled with physical and cognitive situations.

The term "handicapped" is somewhat out of vogue these days but I am intentionally using it to illustrate that there are different levels to Special Needs. Some may have cognitive struggles but some have very difficult physical handicaps, or both.

Bonnie said some parents of those with Special Needs, traveled over 100 miles to get to that special service. They were not aware of other places that had special services for them. IN ADDITION, there were support groups and classes for the parents and care-givers of those with debilitating handicaps. Those parents and care-givers often felt completely cut off from society.

A time for them to get together and form friendships, was vitally important to them. PLUS, now with internet, email and things like Skipe,
a local church that took the handicapped to heart, could probably reach around the world to help people who are often warehoused and or isolated from society.

I do not remember the name of the Assembly of God church where Bonnie and Paul took their beloved daughter. Possibly some of our viewers will remember Bonnie and may know the church they attended.

THERE IS NO attempt on my part to come across as an expert on any of this, but for a long time I've been thinking about the best time to bring the idea before our viewers. Thank you Dean for bringing this to my remembrance.

Doyle
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The largest room in the world is the room for improvement.