Stephen Grcevich, MD

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

President, Board of Directors, Key Ministry Foundation

President and Founder, The Family Center by the Falls, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 

As a member of a helping profession, have you ever struggled with the issues of how to share you faith in the workplace, or how to best use your time and talents to advance the ministry of your church? If you’re like me, you’ve pondered issues like these many times.

This struggle is especially acute for professionals who serve children and families. Physicians, counselors, therapists and teachers work in many instances serve in environments where a Christian world view is frowned upon, and attempts to address matters of faith with young people is openly discouraged.

I’d like you to consider if God is calling you to help support the development of ministry to children with hidden disabilities within your congregation.

The unique circumstances of your current work situation have placed you in position to champion outreach to families of children with special needs. Some issues to ponder:

1.    Your practice or workplace serves as a point of contact for children with hidden disabilities. Regardless of whether you’re a psychiatrist or pediatrician, speech and language pathologist or special ed teacher, you likely come in contact with kids on a daily basis who rarely (if ever) attend church because no one at church is trained or experienced in serving children such as these while the rest of the family is involved with other church related activities. Many parents are too embarrassed or fearful of being judged by others to attend church with their children. You may be a unique position to invite them to a place where they can hear sound biblical teaching while receiving the encouragement and support of a loving church family.

2.    You are in a position to champion the needs of children with hidden disabilities within your congregation. The expression “out of sight, out of mind” clearly applies to this population. If families avoid seeking out a church experience because of embarrassment and guilt, you may be in a unique position with the ministry team at your church to call attention to the needs of an underserved group of children and families. While multitudes of missionaries do noble work to honor and glorify God throughout the ends of the earth, we often don’t need to look past our neighborhood and our workplace to find those who need to hear the message of the Gospel.

3.    Your involvement lends credibility to the quality of ministry your church offers to children with hidden disabilities. Pastors and elders are more comfortable devoting resources to special needs ministry when members of the church experienced in dealing with special needs children are clearly identified with the ministry. Your involvement will also help to inspire and maintain confidence among parents as to the quality of the programming offered by your church.

4.    You serve as a specific source of expertise to your church staff in responding to the needs of children with hidden disabilities. Church volunteers may benefit from guidance in strategizing interactions with kids with hidden disabilities. Staff may benefit from a more thorough understanding of the needs of children with more unique disabilities. You may also be in a position within your community to direct parents to helpful services and professionals within your community. An example of a child psychiatry consultation service established to support the work of the special needs ministry at Bay Presbyterian Church in Bay Village, Ohio is attached to the end of this article.

Romans 12 discusses the truth that all members of the Body of Christ have been equipped with gifts intended for the benefit of the Church as a whole. The gifts that you use in your career to serve children and families may be of great benefit in reaching out to parents of children with special needs and inviting those currently outside the body to the joy and peace available only through a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The greatest honor we can experience this side of heaven is to allow God to use us as His instruments in the building of His kingdom. We at Key Ministry Foundation hope you’ll prayerfully consider the possibility that our Lord may be calling you to be involved in this unique ministry.