(Matt 22:34-40)
The final sermon was delivered on March 13, 2022, and was designed to bring everything together from the previous five sermons. The previous five sermons consisted of passages pointing to the ultimate understanding of love. In Matthew 22, the lawyer wants to test Jesus about the traditions of Moses. Jewish traditions acknowledge Moses as a hero; and is the main hero in many of the Jewish traditions. This, of course, was always in anticipation of the Messiah. So, testing Jesus on the law could easily discredit him not only in front of the Pharisees but also in front of his followers. But Jesus answers the question with two commandments, one is found in Deuteronomy 6:5: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Jesus said the second is like it, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Jesus answers with potentially two of Moses’s most well-known verses to all the Jewish believers, then Jesus finishes by saying on these two commandments all the law and prophets hang, which is an incredible statement.
On these two simple commandments hang all the teachings of the law and prophets as Jesus stated. With the understanding that everything circles around loving
God and loving God’s creation of man, we can begin to understand Christ’s intention behind this comment. Although some could make the point that there is a great deal of variation between loving God and others, they all come down to these two commands.
The Ten Commandments laid out by Moses are divided up into these categories already.
Commandments one through four are all about loving God and how Christians are to express that love. Commandments five through ten are about loving others and how Christians are to express that love. The divine nature of love is our goal. Within that very goal lays the purpose of a special need’s ministry.
When we look at special needs, we are seeking the very commandments of God. When we create such a ministry it, shows the love we have for God by glorifying his name to the poor, the weak the destitute (Prov 31), the blind, the lame (John 9), those in the streets, those beyond the highways (Luke 14). Such a ministry also shows love for those that are in need to hear the gospel following the Great Commission. These two commands are the essence for the reason behind a special need’s ministry. With the conclusion of this sermon series the hearers were challenged to not only seek to love God and love one another, but to do it through a divine love, which looks different from anything else we might have called love. We are to love those with special needs, and we are to do so by providing them an opportunity to seek God.
Implementation of Sermon and Surveys
During the process of developing the sermon series potential participants for the survey were created. The criteria for these individuals were as follows: (1) They had to be an active member of SBC, (2) They must be willing to view all six sermons, (3) they must be able to exhibit a willingness to have an open mind regarding special needs and a ministry for them. Each participant received the “Individual Survey” (appendix 3) two weeks prior to the start of the sermon series, and they were instructed the survey was to be completed prior to February 6. With the original number of participants being
twelve, additional members asked to participate in the survey, taking the number up to seventeen. With word spreading, the interest in a special needs program grew; thus, the number of participants grew as well. The final number of the surveys taken were
seventeen pre-sermon series and seventeen post-sermon series. It was critical to the study to accurately account for the gender gap that is present in caregivers. In a 2009 study the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP suggests that women are 66 percent of all caregivers.2 With that understanding, the participates where split between 40 percent male to 60 percent female regarding gender and the age group ranged from eighteen years to seventy years old.3 There were approximately five individuals that have a disabled or special needs individual in their immediate family.
The participants were given the pre-sermon survey (appendix 3) between January 23 and January 30, with all surveys being returned the morning of February 6 prior to the morning service. The sermon series was scheduled to be conducted at the morning service on February 6, February 13, February 20, February 27, March 6, and March 13. During the service normal nursery and childcare was given as an option for the participants if needed. The service was held each week at SBC, in Wiggins, Colorado, with the average sermon length of 37 minutes.
During this time there were no additional meetings required for attendance.
With the participants given anonymous status there was no gatherings or discussions during this time.4 After the last sermon was conducted, the participants were given a post- sermon survey, which was the same as the pre-sermon survey. They were encouraged to
2 National Alliance for Caregiving, “Caregiving in the U.S. 2009,” accessed March 10,2021, https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/general/2011/caregiving-09-fr.doi.10.26 419%252Fres.00062.001.pdf.
3 While 66 percent of women are caretakers in the home, that number increased within the special needs community; thus, having a higher number of females taking the survey gives a more accurate understanding of how special needs and the church function together.
4 The reason the participants were given anonymous status is address in chapter 5.
provide feedback of any kind on this survey and the sermon series in general. All
seventeen participants were asked to and have completed the survey by March 27, 2022.
The process in which the sermon series was implemented was designed to help guide the listeners through the process of understanding God’s design for the church and special needs. The order in which the sermon series was to be delivered was critical in this process because it was intended to walk the listener through the various levels of responsibility the church has to all individuals including disabilities and special needs.
The process and order of the sermon series was approved by the deacon body on January 22, 2022.
Creating a Reproducible Ministry Plan
The fourth goal of this project was to develop a ministry plan to include special needs individuals and their families and welcome them to be a part of SBC as a whole.
The ministry plan (appendix 7) was formed on March 23 and presented to the Deacon body on March 27 along with the evaluation rubric (appendix 8). The rubric asked the deacons to assess the goals, functionality, and actions steps of the plan. The deacons approved the plan on March 27, when over 90 percent of all the rubric evaluation indicators met or exceeded the level of sufficient. The deacons played an important role in evaluating the ministry plan, because of their expert understanding of the congregation.
The deacons understand the culture of the church members, they are in continuous contact with their deacon families gathering critical critiques and affirmations of what direction the ministries in the church need to head. Additionally, the head deacon was a charter member of SBC forty-seven years ago, which makes him extremely qualified in understanding the members at Summit. He has seen every pastor come and go, he has seen all the ministry tactics in the church, along with the failures and success within the community. With his leadership and the other deacon’s knowledge it was critical that they took a lead role in evaluating the ministry plan.
To develop this plan, the researcher contemplated the unique cultural, structural, and training barriers to members of SBC. The church calendar was also considered in the planning. The result was a plan with five goals to create and implement and “Inclusive Ministry.” These goals include, cultivating the correct culture,
preparedness, training volunteers, invite and implement and keeping the ministry in the forefront.