Disabled Youth

Inevitably, every youth minister eventually will have a youth in his or her church who suffers from serious mental illness. It will be of inordinate relief to leaders to learn they can be used by God to alter the course of that mental illness by early recognition and intervention.

As many as one in 200 children and adolescents have OCD; and according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, between seven and 12 million American youth suffer from mental, behavioral or developmental disorders at any given time. Besides OCD, such disorders include depression, attention...

This past summer, I watched a young man with muscular dystrophy fly down a zip-line into a lake. A group of guys had carried him up four stories of narrow, winding stairs to get him to the top. Once he reached the bottom, his leader lifted him from the water anxiously asking if he liked it. “You bet!”...

“What? IMPOSSIBLE!” The puzzlement was real. Although his parents dragged him to church for his entire life, there was no interpreter, and he had little understanding of the gospel. I assured him God signs and reads sign language with incredible skill. God knows his thoughts, feelings and experiences;...

The United Spinal Association UnitedSpinal.org offers a free booklet, “Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users at Work and at Home” addressing fire prevention and planning for all people with mobility impairment in recognition of Disability Awareness Month and the FDNY Fire Prevention Week.

Youth for Christ/USA is happy to announce the new strategic partnership with DeafYouth Ministries for creating effective and sustainable ministry with deaf and hard-of-hearing teenagers. Ministry with deaf teenagers is tough! Once a youth worker is able to cross the language and cultural barriers between...