New Hampshire Joni and Friends Family Retreat
In August 2007, the third Joni and Friends Family Retreat in New England was held at the Barbara C. Harris Center in Greenfield, NH. These weeks of retreat are a great way for families affected by disability to connect with each other, with people from a variety of churches throughout the region, and ultimately, to strengthen their connection with the Lord. Families are refreshed by the Bible teaching, the fellowship in small groups, the recreational activities and the freedom to be themselves! Short-term missionaries (STMs) serve families, providing extra support to the family member with disabilities, thus allowing other family members to participate in programming designed for them, confident that the family member with a disability is being cared for and is also able to fully participate in his or her program. Go to our Events page for details about the 2008 retreats! Contact us for more information about attending one of the upcoming New Hampshire Family Retreats as a family or as an STM at 617-723-1750 or by writing the retreat director at lsmith@joniandfriends.org

Through the Roof
Joni and Friends Greater Boston provides training and resources for churches seeking to more intentionally reach out to people with disabilities and their families. Whether your church is just beginning to explore the area of serving individuals with disabilities and their families, or if you’ve been involved in disability ministry for many years, we’re here to serve you, to encourage you and cheer you on, and to equip you to take the next step.

We are available to provide training to individual churches and are planning future area-wide training events. (See our Events page for information about specific training events.) Just as the four friends on Mark 2 would not be stopped in finding a way to get their friend to Jesus, and even were willing to go “through the roof” to gain access to Jesus, you too can find creative ways to help people with disabilities come to know and follow our wonderful Lord! And as you do, you’ll discover that a church with a “busted roof” can actually have a beauty that you may not have experienced before!

Mom’s Morning Out
Joni and Friends Greater Boston offers Mom’s Morning Out, a bi-monthly get-together for moms in the Greater Boston area who have children of any age with disabilities of any kind. It’s held at the Westgate Church in Weston, MA, on a Saturday morning from 9:00a.m. till noon. We share brunch and conversation together, usually hear from a speaker who shares from her own experience as a mom, and then we gather in smaller groups for prayer. Check the Events page for upcoming dates.

Beyond Limits
Our office has also produced a one-year Bible curriculum called Beyond Limits. This 52-week curriculum is specifically designed for those who are teaching teens and adults with developmental disabilities, such as mental retardation or autism. It can be used in a Sunday School class or a mid-week class or discipleship group. It is also adaptable for use as Bible curriculum for parents who are home-schooling students with special needs.

Jesus' call to "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19) includes people with developmental disabilities. Beyond Limits uses Bible stories from the book of Matthew to present themes that are foundational to growing as a follower of Jesus. Salvation, Prayer, Worship, Witnessing, Obedience and Service are themes that are revisited throughout the year.

Using the Visual Bible "Matthew" series (available on video or DVD) as the central teaching visual, Beyond Limits will captivate your students as they watch the dramatization of the Bible lessons. But for all of us, discipleship is more than knowing Bible stories; it is applying truth to our lives. Through application activities specifically designed to relate to the life experiences of teens and adults with developmental disabilities, your students will be encouraged to apply truth in their own lives. Beyond Limits seeks to help students grow in their faith and to develop the gifts and abilities that God has placed within them. Designed for students with minimal or no reading skills, these lessons can be used with students of varying cognitive abilities. The teacher's guide is written for laypersons and can be used both by experienced teachers and by those who are ministering to students with special needs for the very first time! Although it is designed for use in self-contained classes, there are also suggestions of ways to better integrate students with special needs into the larger life of the congregation throughout the curriculum. We believe students need to be taught God's Word in ways that they can best understand, but it is equally important that individuals with special needs have the opportunity to be part of the life of the church as a whole.

Here is a sample lesson and the Beyond Limits brochure. For more information contact us at GreaterBoston@joniandfriends.org