{"id":3204,"date":"2012-10-19T05:27:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T09:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=3204"},"modified":"2012-10-23T20:30:55","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T00:30:55","slug":"different-strokes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/10\/different-strokes-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Different strokes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For me, one of the best things that happened at the Disability Leadership Gathering that I attended this week at\u00a0Sonrise Retreat Center in Anderson, Indiana,\u00a0<\/a>was that I was griped with the amount of passion shared by the leaders who have a genuine concern for the Church. \u00a0They have a consuming desire to help the Church to understand the great gifts that the intellectually disabled community brings to local congregations.<\/p>\n

In honesty, this is not my passion nor the prevailing passion of Special Gathering. \u00a0Our one goal is to evangelize and disciple people who are mentally challenged. \u00a0All our efforts and passion revolve around that concern. \u00a0I am deeply grateful, however, for the many ministries around the US who feel an equal passion for educating the church regarding the needs of this important culture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>However, Special Gathering\u00a0does<\/strong>\u00a0feel the need to communicate with the local churches or with congregations. \u00a0The divide\u2013as I see it\u2013comes with the people with whom we communicate. Most of the disability leadership attending the gathering in Indiana desire to communicate with the people in the congregations as individuals. \u00a0On the other hand, The Special Gathering purposely does not communicate with the individual members. \u00a0We speak at local churches when we are invited. \u00a0We bring our choir to sing. \u00a0 But we don\u2019t solicit finances from the individual congregants. \u00a0We solicit funding from the missions committees or pastors. \u00a0We desire to become a part of a church\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

Over the years, this has proven to be a consistently stable way to raise funds. \u00a0It may not, however, be the most financially beneficial way to raise a ministry budget. \u00a0In addition, there was a great passion for the Church communicated by these men and women who have a more direct contact with individual members that was extremely appealing.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is a discussion that needs to be held by pastors and ministry leaders. \u00a0Which method benefits the local congregations most in raising a budget for para-church ministries? \u00a0Does it seem best to by-pass the church\u2019s budgeting process and make appeals to individuals? \u00a0Or does it make sense to seek out pastors and missions committees for funding? Or should a parachurch ministry\u2013such as a ministry to people with intellectual disabilities\u2013seek to do both?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For me, one of the best things that happened at the Disability Leadership Gathering that I attended this week at\u00a0Sonrise Retreat Center in Anderson, Indiana,\u00a0was that I was griped with the amount of passion shared by the leaders who have a genuine concern for the Church. \u00a0They have a consuming desire to help the Church…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,186,49,16,8,4,41],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,555,699,715,701,694,709,689,6,556,700],"class_list":["post-3204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-disability-leadership-gathering","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-leadership","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-sonrise-retreat-center-of-anderson-indiana","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nDifferent strokes - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Different strokes - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For me, one of the best things that happened at the Disability Leadership Gathering that I attended this week at\u00a0Sonrise Retreat Center in Anderson, Indiana,\u00a0was that I was griped with the amount of passion shared by the leaders who have a genuine concern for the Church. \u00a0They have a consuming desire to help the Church…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/10\/different-strokes-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-19T09:27:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-24T00:30:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/10\/Tony-and-Laura-Lee-224x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Different strokes - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Different strokes - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"For me, one of the best things that happened at the Disability Leadership Gathering that I attended this week at\u00a0Sonrise Retreat Center in Anderson, Indiana,\u00a0was that I was griped with the amount of passion shared by the leaders who have a genuine concern for the Church. \u00a0They have a consuming desire to help the Church…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/10\/different-strokes-2.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2012-10-19T09:27:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-24T00:30:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/10\/Tony-and-Laura-Lee-224x300.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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