Welcome to Joni and Friends where this week we’re focusing on autism…
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I bet, I just bet, you know someone or you know a family member or maybe a neighbor, someone at your church, someone who’s affected by autism. Could be a child in your neighborhood, or a family who attends your congregation… it could be your son or daughter who has autism, or your niece or nephew. With nearly one in every 100 births resulting in a diagnosis of autism – and that statistic is changing rapidly – you’re sure to know someone touched by this spectrum disorder, as they call it.
And families are struggling. A church elder I know, a man named Greg, tells the story of receiving a call from a pastor of a church down the road. The pastor engaged Greg in a lot of small talk until finally he got to the point of his call. “Greg,” he said, “um, this family has been coming to our church recently; their little boy has autism. And, well, I was thinking your church might be better equipped to handle this kid’s needs and the family’s. What do you think if I suggest to them that they try your church out for a while?” Greg was taken aback, but he kind of understood what the pastor was getting at – he was really attempting to confess that his church wasn’t equipped, wasn’t prepared, and that this boy and his family might disrupt things. And you know what? It happens more times than you realize.
But that church – along with congregations across the country – churches can no longer afford to just “send that family to the church down the road.” For one thing, autism is much more prevalent than it was years ago when Greg took that call. In fact, no matter how small your church may be, it’s almost certain that someone in your congregation is touched by autism. And pastors and their churches today need help – I’m convinced most churches really want to help, but they just don’t know how or where to begin.
Well, I don’t want you to be sending some family to another church down the road. So, at Joni and Friends we have resources to help you, and one of them is a list of great information and guidelines on how to prepare the folks in your congregation to embrace a family with an autistic boy or girl. How to handle things when a kid has a meltdown in Sunday school or goes ballistic in Sunday services… how to best minister to the mom and dad. It’s a great list of things on how to get the rest of the kids in the Sunday school up to speed and prepared. Proverbs 23:12 tells us to “Apply [our] hearts to instruction and [our] ears to words of knowledge.” Listen, instruction and knowledge can go a long way to dispelling some of the misconceptions and myths that surround autism. And also to help, I’ve posted a video this week at joniandfriendsradio.org – that’s our radio website – which will give you some real insight from a parent’s perspective into the challenges of raising a child with autism; plus, on our website you’ll find that list of guidelines you can print or download right away. Finally, thank you for being willing to understand; so many people don’t care and they tell that family to go to that church down the road. But not you, I think you really want to understand the mysterious world of autism and what you and your church can do to help – it’s all part of a special outreach this week at Joni and Friends as we highlight National Autism Awareness Month all during April! I’m looking forward to explaining more when you visit joniandfriendsradio.org.
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