here - The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

J DFM 2.2 (2012): 84-85
Equipping the Generations:
Maintaining the Message,
Modifying the Method with
Special Needs Families
SHANNON DINGLE
Shannon
Dingle (MAEd,
Special
Education)
coordinates
Access, the
special needs
ministry at Providence
Baptist Church in Raleigh,
NC (www.pray.org), with
her husband Lee. She is the
writer of a popular special
needs ministry blog (www.
theworksofgoddisplayed.
com, @specialneedsmin),
a contributor to the
Treasuring Christ curriculum
(www.treasuringchristonline.
com), and a long-time
volunteer in children’s,
youth, and music ministry.
She and Lee have two
young children, Jocelyn
and Robbie, and are in the
process of adopting their
third child, Zoe Amanda,
from Taiwan.
When my husband and I teach our
two small children, we adjust our
approach as necessary based on their
different ages, genders, temperaments,
and personalities. The message
of Christ remains the same, but the
strategies we employ are occasionally
different as we consider God’s unique
design in each of them. As we seek
to train Jocelyn and Robbie in the
way each should go (Prov 22:6), we
acknowledge that God’s perfect design
as he knit each of them together in my
womb (Ps 139:13-14) resulted in two
precious but different children.
This approach of maintaining one
message through different methods
isn’t new. Christ taught in the temple,
on the countryside, by the well, on
the road, and from a boat. He taught
individuals, small groups, and crowds.
In the early church, the apostles considered
the context of those to whom
they preached; for example, when
Paul preached in the synagogue, he expected listeners
to have more familiarity with the law and the prophets
than he did when preaching to the Gentiles. If you asked
five people in your own church how each came to know
Christ, each testimony will be unique but Christ will be
the same in each.
In the same way, when we teach children and youth
and adults with disabilities in our homes and in the
church, what we proclaim (the gospel) doesn’t change
but how we do so (our strategy) differs in response to
God’s good and different design in each person. When
I taught writing to middle school students with disabilities
in Rio Grande City, Texas, I sought the same
outcomes through different means, depending on the
individual strengths and needs of each student. In the
same way, as I coordinate Access—the special needs
ministry of Providence Baptist Church—I modify my
approach as I teach each individual and equip their parents
and caregivers.
With my experience and graduate training in special
education, I am not intimidated by the idea of modifying
my methods while teaching the same message
of Christ. Most of our teachers don’t share my background,
though, so we created the Special Needs Min-
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