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unSeminary Podcast
Making Church Work for Every Family: Building an Inclusive Ministry with Jason & Nan Britt
00:48:51
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- [00:03]
Rich Birch
Do you feel like your church or school facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path to expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt like you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the needs of your community? Well, the team over at Risepoint can help you. As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is literally a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to move your mission forward. Check them out@risepoint.com that is RisePoint with an E. While you're there, schedule a free call to explore possibilities for your needs, the vision, your future, that sort of thing. Risepoint believes that God still uses spaces and they're here to help you again. Reach out to them today. That's RisePoint with an e.com RisePoint.com and Schedule A call today.
- [01:22]
Unseminary Podcast Host
Welcome to the Unseminary Podcast, the place where church leaders get practical insights, tips and strategies for ministry. Today, you're stepping into something bigger than just a conversation. This podcast is part of a bold mission to help 100 churches grow by 1,000 people. Whether you're dreaming of increasing your impact in your community, empowering your team, or reaching more people with the message of Jesus, you're in the right place. We're here to bring you the stuff you wish they taught in seminary, ideas and tools you can put into action this week to see transformation in your ministry. Let's dive in.
- [02:02]
Rich Birch
Hey friends. Welcome to the Unseminary Podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in. I really want you to lean in today. This is one of those issues that we see in churches all the time that I really hope tons of churches that are leaning in or listening in today will lean in on this issue. Particularly if you're a growing church. This might be one of those just up over the horizon issues that you can get ahead on and work ahead on now and actually create more space for more people in your community. Really excited to have Jason and Nan Britt with us. They're from Bethlehem Church. It's repeatedly one of the fastest growing churches in the country with three locations, if I'm counting correctly, in Georgia. Jason is the lead pastor and Nan has championed a program called Bethlehem Buddies and we're really looking forward to pulling this apart they offer it at all campuses and they provide inclusive support to help preschooler child, teenager and adults with special needs transition smoothly into one of the church's worship environments. So, Jason, Nan, welcome to the show. So glad that you are here and we're thankful.
- [03:01]
Jason Britt
Thankful for that, for you having us. Yeah.
- [03:04]
Rich Birch
Jason, why don't you tell us, kind of give us the picture of Bethlehem Church, kind of tell us a little bit about the church, kind of set the picture. If we were to arrive on a typical weekend, what would we experience?
- [03:12]
Jason Britt
Yeah, it's a three campuses, hopefully four soon. They're all revitalization story. We just actually relocated our broadcast campus about a mile down the road. We're a year in now, December of when you're broadcasting this. And so we opened new and it's a revitalization story, multiple services. And it's just a church that had history. And all of our campuses rich are revitalization stories too. And it was a church with history that just had the courage, if you will, to envision a new future or be open to envisioning a new future. And we've been here for 14 years. It was my first senior pastorate, and it's been a phenomenal year. And the church has just embraced the mission of leading people to discover new life in Christ in all areas of our ministry.
- [04:06]
Rich Birch
Why don't we stick with you, Jason, and double click on revitalization, kind of pull apart that picture a little bit, help people, because I know there's people that are listening in today that are on the other side of revitalization and they're thinking, hey, you know, what were some of, you know, you first stepped into that journey? What were some early questions that you were asking that really about that kind of led you to the place of like, hey, this is what I think the church could become. Where, what started that journey for you?
- [04:29]
Jason Britt
Yeah, I think even in the process of, you know, how it goes in different denominations or tribes have different ways of calling a pastor. And so for me, as I talked with the group that was selecting a pastor, the church had been plateaued for a number of years. Plateaued, declining, kind of fell in that. And ultimately my question for them is, what's your limiting factor? Have you guys considered your limiting factor? You know, and I think our church, although the heart was there, it did not reflect the community as a whole. And so by that, I mean the heart for mission was there, but not the intentionality of mission, if you will. And so we really kind of began a two to three year journey of what would it look like for our church to reflect our community? In our community, Rich, we're outside. We're kind of the bedroom community of Athens, Georgia. All of our campuses surround the college town of Athens. And it's very family centric, very kid centric. I mean, it's not a high single adult population out here, if you will. This is where families live. And so we really needed to double down and become incredibly serious about the next generation and reaching families. And I think it was just the reality of getting intentional with what our mission and heart was. The church wasn't. I think I heard years ago, maybe on your podcast or somebody else, a pastor say when you take over a church, one or two things are happening. They either believe they won the super bowl or they believe they're losing every game. Either. He goes, neither. I think it was Judd Wilhite said, I'm not sure neither are true. Right. You have to understand their psyche.
- [06:08]
Rich Birch
Right.
- [06:08]
Jason Britt
And the way they see their ministry. So for me, the gift of Bethlehem, Rich, was they. Were they ready? They were ready to win. I didn't have to convince them they had to change a ton. I just had to, in many ways, give permission to see things differently. That, if you will, the local church tends to be drift toward insider focused.
- [06:27]
Rich Birch
Yep, that's true.
- [06:28]
Jason Britt
And the gospel is very outsider focused. And so for us, it was a lot of, if you will, deconstructing some things before we reconstructed. A lot of examining the fruit of what we were doing, not the intent. You know, that was a lot of the earliest, probably where a lot of the people that you're listening, your listeners, are in revitalization. A lot of it's not what we early on is not what we need to do that we're not doing. It's what we need to stop doing that we're doing. Right. And that's the hard part, deconstruct. And that was my first two or three years. It's when I had a full head of hair and no gray. You know what I'm saying, bro? And so it was good, though, man. And so that was our early days of really the heart didn't need a lot of work. The direction and the intentionality to mission, if you will, strategy and vision. So.
- [07:22]
Rich Birch
Well, I think there's a lot of churches that are listening in that I think can relate with that idea of like, hey, the heart of our church is. Is right. But we're not really taking intentional steps. And at some point, as a leadership team, you realize that there were families that wanted to participate fully but needed something different in order to do that. That's ultimately what led us to what we're talking about today. What opened your eyes to that gap, what kind of got the ball rolling for you as a leadership team. For you specifically, or for a leadership team, as you were think about this issue.
- [07:54]
Nan Britt
Yeah, so, you know, we've always been in ministry, Jason, in ministry, but really my calling has been early on in special education. You know, that was my training and experience. And so professionally, you know, that was my job as a teacher. And so really, for the first 10 years of our marriage, Jason walked alongside that road with me. And so the students that I taught really had a lot of needs. And so we really got to know those families. We were really immersed in the special needs community of families. And so as we came to Bethlehem, we knew, we just knew this was such a great need. This was really an unreached group of people in our community. And so we were excited at the opportunity to be able to serve these families. You know, with him taking that role as, as lead pastor, we wanted to make that a priority with our church. And so that was. That was an easy way for me to get involved as a volunteer. So I served as a volunteer for several years because that was just my experience and training and gifting and you know what I felt called to do, to take what I had learned and really use that in the church.
- [09:07]
Jason Britt
Yeah, I think we've been to some great. We served at two great churches before we came here. Awesome churches. If I said, many of your listeners would know they were awesome. And we have nothing.
- [09:16]
Rich Birch
Nothing.
- [09:16]
Jason Britt
But I remember us being there a lot of times. It was as we, as we were serving there, it was not a nobody's against special needs ministry. It just seems overwhelming. Right? That's what you find is nobody's against doing it. It's just kind of what. It seems overwhelming, if you will, or where do we even start? And so I think for us, when we came, our kids were young and as Nan began to. It just began as with one person and really beginning inclusion there, it was more of. Instead of being overwhelmed by it almost, if you will, taking a step in and give an example of it, of what that looks like.
- [09:59]
Rich Birch
Yeah, that's great. I love that. And let's, let's start. We're going to get into some tactics in a second. But Jason, I want you to think about from like at a 30,000 foot point of view, my impression as an outsider looking at this, you know what you guys are doing, it's pretty robust. You've created a pathway for children, students, adults with special needs to be fully included. And. And we'll talk about what that means in a minute. But it, to me, I think this could struggle if it's just a tactic. It seems like what you've done has been able to talk about it really at kind of a cultural. This is who we're trying to be. So talk to us how we do that as senior leaders. How do we move this from beyond? Just like this is another thing we do to like, oh, this is a part of who we are. This is how we see ourselves.
- [10:39]
Jason Britt
Yeah. And Nan could probably fill a little bit of the gaps here. But I think for me, I would say two things to senior leaders or senior teams, if you're talking about that. I think the cultural piece is when it becomes a kingdom of God, everybody's invited at the table. The least of these marginalized, which we know the gospel Jesus is more drawn to empty hearts and empty lives than he is full rooms, if you will. And so then in our society, the marginalized, or the least of these is not only poor and impoverished, but oftentimes it's families who have lived and wrestled with and walk through this. And so creating space for everybody, I would say was a very, for us, Jesus centric type thing. It was like this. If we are for the least of these, if we are for all people, that was one of our kind of core values is Bethlehem Church is a church for all people. Right. Gospel for God so loved the world. That's a pretty broad right there.
- [11:45]
Rich Birch
The world.
- [11:46]
Jason Britt
So then let's be intentional there. And the thing that I would tell you now, and as Dan gets in, the tactics, we didn't do this to start. This wasn't the reason. The reason was it was the right thing and we could do this. But rich man, I am telling you, when you begin to serve these families and you see the joy and the blessing and what it does to the heart of the church, you cannot exchange serving these families. When I talk to other pastor buddies that are stepping into this or some good friends that are in buddies network who do this, I'm like, man, what it does for the whole of your church when it comes to the heart of Christ, you know, and we've seen it go from one kid to serving 300 families a weekend now. And so it's been a crazy thing. But what it does for the overall mission and heart of the church and the volunteers and the church seeing this is a powerful Thing.
- [12:42]
Rich Birch
Yeah, I would agree. You know, we talked a little bit beforehand about when I started at Liquid Church for years and this has been a part of our story there and it's like of my proudest things that we had been a part of. But I want to take a step back and Nan, can you help us understand when you say the word inclusion, what do you mean by that as opposed to separation? So I'll paint a bit of a picture for you. Maybe I'm a church of, I don't know, 5, 600 people and sure there are some kids that we can see. There are kids with special needs. And I'm like, don't we just want to create a place where we can put those kids away so they don't bother us? Again, I'm using hyperbole, obviously I'm playing a bit of the devil's advocate. I don't actually believe that. Right, but what do you mean by inclusion, not separation? What does that look like?
- [13:30]
Nan Britt
Well, inclusion simply means that you are in the church setting, looking at preschool ministry, kids ministry, students, adult ministries, and really just looking for opportunity to include everyone into those environments. You know, and we know that some people, individuals with disabilities, just may need some individual love, care and support. But I think inclusion also speaks more importantly to honoring people and seeing people as individuals. And so for example, we know that a 30 year old man with down syndrome looks very different than a five year old with autism. And so inclusion is honoring and seeing a person for who they are. And so we want to invite a 30 year old man with down syndrome into the same opportunities that we're in inviting other 30 year old men in, in the church. And so I, you know, so that just gives an example and it actually simplifies things a lot. You know, you, you're really whatever is being offered, you know, at your church for each age group, you're, you're simply just opening up that opportunity for our kids and adults with disabilities and special needs to be a part of that. And then like we said, we just know sometimes that may mean they need some individualized support in order to be a part. A great ministry is happening, but it, I think inclusion really speaks to honoring that individual and seeing them what they can contribute to the body of Christ. And so we know everyone wants to be included, but belonging is really the goal, you know, people, we, we know the difference, you know, as people when we're included in a place, but when we're invited to, to, to contribute back and to use our gifts and strengths, you know, that's when you really feel a sense of belonging. And so I think that's the power of inclusion versus just, hey, let's just provide a separate space and. Because this is what we're supposed to do.
- [15:39]
Rich Birch
Right. So can you get tactical on that? What does that actually look like for. Because I, you know, I understand doing this at a one or two people, but at scale 3, 400, 500 every weekend over a year, like, that's. How do you actually, actually do that? We'll stick with you, Nan. If I'm. Yeah. What does that look like? How do we provide that care? How do we, how do we learn what, how we can best support people and then communicate with them and all that? What does it kind of. I know there's a lot there. I understand, but. Yes, but give us kind of an overview. We can start there.
- [16:11]
Nan Britt
Yeah, that's a great question. I think it's really important to first define your goal of like, okay, what is our goal and why are we, we providing disability. Disability ministry, special needs ministry. And what I believe is the goal of it is that so a family can attend worship, can attend a worship service together on a Sunday morning. That is the goal. You know, first, over other nights of programming happening at your church, we believe that we want our families to hear the gospel message, the hope of Jesus, to experience worship, prayer, sit under preaching. And so that's why we, we want to focus on inviting them and providing support around a worship service. We know most likely for parents to be able to attend the service, then that means their child or adult is going to need some individualized support and care. And so that's, that's where the Buddies team, the Buddies ministry comes in. And so you're going to need some, some volunteers. And so really, I think that simplifies it a lot because I think chur get overwhelmed to think, man, do we need to provide something every time the doors of our church are open. And I would say a great place to start and focus on is we want families to be invited to your worship service. And then equally, we want our individuals to experience the love of Christ, grow in their faith, be. Be in community with others. And so I think that's the place to start is while mom and dad get to attend a service and their siblings, then we provide a volunteer to pair up with kids and adults with disabilities. And then from there you already have these great ministries happening in your church, kids ministry, student ministries, sometimes on a Sunday morning. And then you're able to just join in the great ministry happening with that buddy support with a child. And then I do think that if you have the space at your church, you can also offer a classroom space for kids and adults who prefer a quieter setting or do better in a small group setting. Then you can offer another space that that also has the same great ministry happening. So I really think those volunteers drive the ministry and then just get to participate in with with all the great things happening on a Sunday morning at your church.
- [18:54]
Rich Birch
I love that. Jason, can you. Let's talk about it from the side because Nan was talking there about the volunteer side of the equation. Let's talk about it from that end. What have you seen? Kind of what impact has adding buddies and adding a really robust inclusion culture to your church. How has that kind of impacted the volunteers who are engaged in this ministry?
- [19:16]
Jason Britt
Yeah, I think a couple things and our kids will be examples, but they're friends as well. What you see is there, and we've seen this with male leadership is there are people that would probably not raise their hand and say hey, I want to be in preschool or kids ministry. But the chance to pair up and walk within a teenager with special needs to be included, to be a one on one individualized and walk into our kids town or our midtown which is our younger environments, it's very empowering. And I mean it just opens opportunities for connection. And that's one thing that we've seen that we see people who may not want more than handing out a if you will just on the Sunday service, if you were the Sunday morning weekend environment serving opportunities. Obviously there's more in the church but those coffee parking lot greater than kids ministry. A lot of your churches that you minister to look similar as ours, you know what I mean? And so what we found was that stream of empowering and inviting and candidly our buddy's ministry is stronger in the recruiting aspect than our kids or student ministry because it's so unique and it calls things out of people that maybe the other don't if you will. We've seen that. And so I would say that that was one of the benefits that we didn't know early on Nan maybe did just because of her background and special needs. But as we've seen it, I mean, you know, students seven, it's a powerful thing when you're watching a 16 year old, 17 year old high schooler. When you're watching walk with a five year old with autism or down syndrome into a children's ministry class, that's just a pretty powerful thing there. The humility the ownership, there's just empathy. The empathy that rich. The discipleship piece of that's incredibly strong. You know that just in this simple. It's not filling a hole, it's empowering. And so that's one of the things we've seen. I mean I know you've been around if you were at Liquid even the night to shine, obviously the tempting thing, even that that's probably the big mass on a mass scale we do where the church is incredibly involved. But then the opportunities it's opened up for us on the outside of the church to partner with other nonprofits and bring a nonprofits that serve families with special needs. But we get to bring a gospel presence to that and that's because of what we're doing internally. So I've seen both of those things that the mission fulfilled in ways that's not just serving those family with special needs, but taking the church to a place we've never been.
- [22:05]
Rich Birch
Yeah, I love that. And you know, to underline something you said there that we've seen through multiple conversations that I think when we cast a big picture and a big responsibility to volunteers, they will step up to that. In fact, they'll actually lean in. They'll be like, I'm extremely like this is great. This requires a lot of me. I would love to lean in. So Nan, what have you learned about. Let's keep on this whole topic here. Volunteers. What have you learned about recruiting, finding these volunteers, training them so they feel prepared, confident, like you know, this is your professionally, you said this, your, this is your professional background. But you know, you take your average 16 year old, they're not professionally equipped for this. And so how do you help them get to a place where they can be a buddy? Talk us through what that like looks. Looks like.
- [22:51]
Nan Britt
Yes, it's, it's really, it's so exciting. That's something that I've always been passionate about to connect people to purpose. And so, and then like you said, to take what I have learned and, and really put it into terms and, and easy ways, easy strategies for everyday volunteers to feel equipped and, and, and, and so I think that we, a lot of our training materials have come from that, that we love to share with churches because we, that's something that we prioritize is we, we have a many volunteers that serve that do have a background in special education, a lot like myself, with experience. And I think they're needed for sure in this ministry. But we have. The majority of our volunteers are teenagers and adults who are businessmen. They Own their own construction company, women who stay at home, moms, teenagers who, yeah, who would say, hey, I have a heart for this. I'm available. And we love that. We think that that is absolutely the right person to serve. And so we've just found some easy ways. We, we, we are highly prepared on our end as a staff to provide the best experience possible for the volunteer and the child on a Sunday morning. And so we do that with. We have a great family form that we have all our families fill out we've done in years. It's a really detailed form. And so we feel like that gives us so much great information about the child or adult that we're working with that the parent has given us their interest, their likes, things that their dislikes, what to do to help them stay calm and engaged. We utilize that every week. We get that in the hands of the volunteers so they feel equipped to know the child they're paired up with, with. And then we, we have great, just engaging activities and, and Bible stories and worship that, that just provide the best experience possible for, for an hour and a half on a Sunday morning while they're with us. We want our volunteers to feel supported, to just enjoy being with their child or adult. You know, we say your role is to be their best friend on a Sunday, to hang out. We really prioritize connection over compliance. You know, we're highly relational. It's very individualized. And so we, I think that takes away a lot of the nervousness for our volunteers and we really do have great experiences because church is different. Church is different and should be different than school, than therapy, than cancer. And so you really can have such a great experience, you know, for an hour and a half, you know, during a service. And people feel equipped. We encourage them, we support them. And as, you know, rich people step in to volunteer and. But they always come back to us and say they are so much more of a blessing to me. You know, they, they are really ministering to me because kids and adults, you know, just have such a, a peaceful presence, an unhurried spirit, gracious. They'll pray for you. And so they turn around and bless our volunteers and minister to them and in so many greater ways than we, than we ever really do for them.
- [26:32]
Jason Britt
Good.
- [26:32]
Rich Birch
Yeah, I love that. And you use the word buddy and I'd love to double click on that. You, you talked about this Nan, this idea of be their best friend that, you know, for that 90 minutes every week. It's not about compliance. Talk us about, talk to us about that a little bit more. Kind of unpack that a little bit. What does that look like? Because I, that's a nuance that I think people might, who have not been around this kind of ministry might not understand that. So unpack that a little bit more. What's that look like?
- [26:59]
Nan Britt
So that's, that's what we choose to call our volunteers Buddies. Buddy volunteers. And we, we think it's, it. It fits whether you're with a child or with your, whether you're with an, with a disability. And I think that the, the beauty and the success of the ministry is it's just individualized, you know, undivided attention for a whole, like you said, 90 minutes, where we want our kids and adults to feel seen and heard and valued. And so if you're a buddy volunteer, you, you have that permission to just celebrate and make that morning just all about their child and get on their level, play with them. You know, we, we give a lot of direction around ways to interact with people that have differences. You know, if they're in a wheelchair, if they don't verbally communicate, hey, here's some creative ways of, of how you can interact with your buddy and just to that, you know, to, to just place such a high value on that child or adult. And yeah, and there, there's so much celebration around it and so much joy. I think people who walk by buddies or around our ministry, that's the culture of. It's just so much joy and celebration even when they're. You're in the presence of so many complex needs. Needs. You know, this is a group of people who have a lot of hardships and, and very complex needs on paper, but yet you can still just have such a great experience as a buddy volunteer. And like I said, I think that the reason for it is it's so individualized and it's based around their interest, what they like and really valuing them and then sharing the love of Jesus, you know, that unconditional love. That is what we, we are, we strive to share, you know, as a buddy volunteer to our kids and adults.
- [29:10]
Jason Britt
And I think, Rich, I would add, I think into your churches that are listening now, you know, we're 10 years in the culture recruits. Early on, early on, I would say Nan, and she doesn't give herself enough credit for this. She shoulder tapped a lot of people and would say, hey, hey. You know, this is when the church was way smaller and it was, but in the early days it was a lot of just like there's individual care I would just say their recruiting was individualized by nan tapping shoulder saying, hey, I see this in you, or hey, I think you could help me. I mean, I think about, you know, our friends Richard, Andy, some of these guys who are men's men that are friends of mine. That. And she would just be very specific. Would you. And all of them were like, absolutely. Before they even knew what they were getting into.
- [30:00]
Rich Birch
Right.
- [30:01]
Jason Britt
I just think early, early on I would tell you now our culture does a lot of the recruiting.
- [30:06]
Rich Birch
That's good.
- [30:06]
Jason Britt
But early on it was individualized. I see this in you. That shoulder tapping. It was never necessarily my vision for it recruiting people. It was more of the individualized. And then now it's part of our culture. But I would say it didn't start, it just became a part of our culture.
- [30:26]
Nan Britt
Yeah.
- [30:26]
Jason Britt
Does that make sense?
- [30:27]
Rich Birch
100%. That's a great thing to underline, even just in general, but specifically in this, this ministry that those early people that we get involved really do kind of cast vision for the future of like, oh, we're looking for more of these kind of like you said, whoever those guys are, your management guys. It's like, well, that then creates a door for like other guys like that to say, hey, I want to be a part of that. And yeah, that's good. I was also. Don't underestimate the, the power of the person asking. I know you highlighted this celebrating your wife, but that, that's very true. Like that you want to. The person you put in, in charge of this wants to be the kind of person that is trusted and is loved and he's got some wisdom. So, Jason, sticking with you, I'm sure you get calls from leads from other lead pastors or executive pastors that might have some like, common misunderstandings or fears about starting a special needs ministry. What are some of those fears that they have and what do you say to them to try to say, no, no, you should do this? What are the things that come up in a conversation like that?
- [31:25]
Jason Britt
It's a great question. I think a lot of times it's not. It's if you don't have a background or awareness or someone in your family or close to you that has special needs or disabilities. There is a lot of what if, what if, what if? And so like what if the needs extreme, you know, they have a feeding tube or they kind of create the worst case scenario or the hardest situation to go. I don't know if we could ever. And what you realize is the vast majority the, the, the the needs not that extreme. So it's kind of almost right size and go in. No, no, no, no. I think you're. You're out thinking and you know, in church. You've been around church, Rich. You know, we have a way about thinking ourselves. Sure. Go well, what if what you're like, hey, hey, there's a really good chance, you know. And so I think that'd be one of going no, I think. But a lot of times it's not from against. It's just a lack of awareness. You know, it's not. We can't do this because I think liability something that comes up. I mean, candidly, Rich, you know, in this day and age of liability and stuff like that. And I think again, the reality is we are 10 years in 300 families. It's just not something we've ever dealt with. You know, you think these families love these kids more than we could ever love these kids.
- [32:51]
Nan Britt
Right.
- [32:52]
Jason Britt
And so we're going to be fully equipped and they're. They're not. If there's great needs that. That are. They're probably not going to check them in. They'll sit with them in the Sir. You know what I mean? Something like that. I think sometimes that would be one. And then.
- [33:07]
Nan Britt
Well, yeah. And I would just say, I think that's when it's important to have humility and invite in someone that. Like myself. That. And I only say myself. But because like a teacher, someone who has experience in training professionally in this field so that they're able to answer those questions and to really right size and give a realistic. You know, I've been in some of those conversations before to say, you know, in 11 years, that's not something that we've ever dealt with at church. But hey, here's something else that you need to think about that. And so I think it's really important I have a lot of respect for leaders here to show humility in saying, hey, I even admit I have some ignorance about this conversation. And I'd like to invite in someone, an expert in this area to help us move forward in this conversation. Yeah, yeah.
- [34:04]
Jason Britt
And that's been the. I think that's the. Yeah, that's what we have talked to again, it's almost permission. Nan's right. Humility and just going, okay, we don't know, we don't know. Let's just ask some questions. But the other thing I would say is, is like we don't have if you will, a room. We don't have space. We don't we're for it. And I think we go back to our early days. Neither did we. You know, it was all inclusion based and all still is. Before we had a safety room, if you will, or before we had. What do you call it?
- [34:37]
Nan Britt
We don't call it a safety room. It's just a buddy space.
- [34:41]
Jason Britt
Like, you know, if there's a kid that's having a, a issue or, you know, something we didn't. We have a little more now than we did. But back in the day it was more inclusion and just start where, where you're at. Yeah, yeah, you can do something.
- [34:55]
Nan Britt
That's right.
- [34:56]
Rich Birch
Yeah. I think that's a good word, Jason, that I think we get. We, we get way too far ahead of us and we're like, we, we picture 300 families and like, oh my goodness, what's going to happen? It's like, well, how about we start with the two kids that we're are right in front of us and what can we do to support those families? Families. Nan, you said this. I'd love to invite you in on these conversations. I'm sure there's churches that are listening in that are like, I would love Nan's help. Talk to me about the Buddies network. This is a way, I love this. You guys have stepped out to try to help more churches. Talk us through what that is. How do you help churches? How can you engage with them, that sort of thing.
- [35:27]
Nan Britt
Yes, I mean, you're exactly right. That's, that's where the idea came from, is that in our area, you know, around metro Atlanta, around Athens, and we are in weekly conversations with churches of how to start a ministry or just begin, like you're saying, what are some easy steps, tangible ways to serve families, bring awareness to it. And so we just decided, you know, out of stewarding, being a good steward of the great work God has done at Bethlehem, the resources he's provided for us, that we love. Jason and I, we, we are big kingdom church people. We love partnering with churches, we love knowing other pastors and, and so that's been exciting for me just to work with other churches and share with them. I think we've learned so much at Bethlehem, like Jason said, from being very small, with no budget, no space, being very conservative in, in what we've done to now having a huge ministry, a large ministry, having great space. Space. I think we just have learned so many ways to be able to equip churches. And, and that's really the heart behind it. And so we've done this last year really have. I'm leading that and, and kind of initiating that. We just have put in quarterly, quarterly lunches if you are nearby and close to us to join us for that. Quick things to your inbox that give ideas. We share our resources. We. Where we're. We don't want you to recreate something, spend time on that because like you said, a lot of it. A lot of times it's kids ministries. People who already wear a lot of hats at their churches, I mean they are overwhelmed. They are leading kids ministry. We have some. A part of our network that are family pastors. And then they have also been given this task of hey, figure out special needs ministry as well. So we or volunteers, they're not paid paid. So it's our desire just to get in there and help equip and to make it fit the structure of your church. You know, every church is unique and so we just want to make this tangible and easy. And so yeah, and so we, we walk alongside churches really at their own pace, you know of what they say, hey, we need help with this. And in. In 2026 we hope to keep expanding resources and more so online that really allow churches outside of Georgia, you know, to access more resources.
- [38:06]
Rich Birch
Yeah, that which you've provided. And we'll link to this, the Buddies volunteer handbook. I thought this was great. Kind of. I know I love this kind of thing. I'm always like diving deep on why it's so cool to see what people do. I love this. Talk to us a little bit about this resource. How does it fit in your. In your process with Buddies and all that?
- [38:22]
Nan Britt
For sure. You know, the first few years, like we're saying of our ministry that our. Our procedures and systems looked more like just a word document, you know, something that I would share Onboarding volunteers of hey, this is your role as a buddy. You know, this is what it means to serve in our ministry. This is. These are the expectations. This is. And then in time, you know, we created that it turned into a handbook, you know, a nicely, you know, printed handbook that. That matched really what our kids ministry handbook and our student ministry handbook looks like. And so that it is a great resource that that's how we onboard volunteers and kind of their. Their first invitation into the ministry of we go through that handbook with them. We it. We prioritize. Hey, this is what we say is your role and what a win is in our ministry. So it goes through a lot of our. Our systems put around the ministry, the procedures and what I like to share with churches is kind of what Jason was saying. And really, special needs ministry fits neatly into that, that umbrella of all the systems and procedures and policies that a church already has in place for kids ministry and student ministry, special needs ministry fits within that. And that is the way we function at our church. And so there, back when you said there really is not additional liability or additional policies for special needs ministry. So that's contained in our handbook. And yeah, it's a great resource to share with our volunteers and drives the, the goals and expectations of the ministry. And that's what we share a lot with. We, we share our handbook with churches and then our family form. Most churches are saying, hey, you mentioned, yeah, help us understand the parents, hey, can you share that with us? And we say, say, absolutely. Just, just take our logo off of it. You put your church logo on there and you just, just, just start using that. Because that's, that's another great resource we share.
- [40:32]
Rich Birch
Yeah, that's great. So as we're coming down to land, kind of a same similar question to both of you. I'll start with you, Nan. Let's picture that you're a leader within a church who's got a passion for this area and is like thinking, hey, we need to take some steps in the next, maybe the next six months, next three months to kind of move this from, hey, we're helping a couple kids to, we want to create a bit more structure there. What would you say to them to like, hey, here are some first steps that you should be taking to try to expand this beyond something that's informal to like, we're trying to make this a little bit more part of what we do, not just something we're kind of dealing with. It's like we're going to actively add this.
- [41:10]
Nan Britt
Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think something immediately that churches can do is, is to have a conversation, you know, around kids, ministry around the team on Sundays, and essentially just to have a plan in place of, okay, what would we do if a family visited our church? And just by having a conversation and being prepared really just allows you to welcome that family without the stress and panic on your face, you know, of that. We know it's unintentional, but we never want a family to feel like an inconvenience or a burden or unwelcomed at our church, but simply by having a plan of, okay, what would we do if a family came? And I think that that could easily be, we're going to get them checked in and they're going to go into our kids ministry environments, but maybe we can have two or three extra volunteers on call call that we would utilize or we might pull from our existing kids ministry classes to be a buddy for that morning for that child in the second grade class. That's, that's pretty easy to do. But if you have already talked through that, then when a family comes you, it doesn't send you in a, into panic mode.
- [42:28]
Rich Birch
Right.
- [42:29]
Nan Britt
And, and then after like, because as we said, the fam. The parents are still there. They're in search of service. You can always call them or text them with a question or a need that you might have. And then from there I think it gives you time to put some systems in place. What that might be like is you, you prioritize a Sunday morning service. If you, if you offer multiple services. I always tell churches, hey, you know, pick, choose a service and build your volunteer team around one service service. And then that is a service you can communicate to the community of hey, we're offering our buddies team at the nine o' clock service on Sunday morning. We'd love to invite you to attend at this time. That's pretty manageable for churches. Rather than feeling overwhelmed of, wow, do we need to offer volunteers at every service that we have on a Sunday? So just starting small.
- [43:26]
Jason Britt
Yep.
- [43:26]
Rich Birch
Yeah, that's good.
- [43:27]
Nan Britt
And, and then like I said, an easy step is, is getting access to a family form. And like I said, we can easily share that with you because you collect such great information that really helps you feel prepared for the hour and a half that the family's with you on a Sunday morning.
- [43:46]
Rich Birch
That's great. So similar question, Jason. Let's say you're, imagine you're a lead pastor and you know, somebody on their team comes to you and says, hey, we've, we had this conversation at a huddle, like, hey, what could we do? And we realized we've got to add some more emphasis on this. We, you know, if, if we had a family come today, oh, I'm not sure, you know, we might be able to serve one kid or two kids if they came, or one or two people if they came. But we're not, not sure if we had any more than that, that we, and we'd like to add some more volunteer time. We're not looking for money, just kind of some more emphasis. This, what would you say to a lead pastor who had someone come to them? How would you kind of coach them to respond to that? To a, to a leader that came with them with that Kind of request.
- [44:30]
Jason Britt
Yeah. I would say just because I know how to senior pastor when hey, we got this, we got there seems like there's always about five things pressing and it's like another thing, you know, I would say see the opportunity. That's what I would just go man, the opportunity. And you know, see the opportunity for gospel presence. I mean I think some of my favorite stories and we don't have time to get to them have been families that came or special brought their special needs, adult or student or. And they've been baptized because of that, you know. So the opportunity of it. It is a community of people that in the local church we are for but oftentimes unintentionally we haven't been prepared for or. And again, it's legitimate. I get it. I think it's the. Also there's just great resources like I just got. We just came off. I mean, you know this stuff Rich. There's just like there's people who help out. We just came off of a two year generosity initiative. And I need help, help thinking strategically. I don't need, you know, and, and they help that well. There's people like Nan. There's people that are out there that are there to help. And I think there's a lot more similarities in churches with people who can help than just like I needed in the general there that. That's the same thing I would tell a pastor. Don't be overwhelmed. See the opportunity in it.
- [46:07]
Rich Birch
Yeah, that's so good.
- [46:09]
Nan Britt
I would add, I think that's key that you know, in the same way that like you're saying in the world of production or other ministries, we are familiar with contracting with people who. That's their specialty, that's their skill, that's their experience. I think it's the same way in this conversation with special needs ministry. I think that is the quickest way to move along the conversation is to maybe to consider contracting with a person that. That is a professional in this. It will eliminate all of those what if questions, the fear around it and someone who knows this ministry and knows what to do, who's not surprised by the needs of people with disabilities and special needs. So I think that for churches that. And like we said, it's similar to contracting with other needs around the church. Right. So just as quickly as you can get someone in the conversation that is an expert and kind of knows, you know what, how to care. How to care for these kids.
- [47:15]
Rich Birch
So good. Well then we'll give you the last word. If people want to get in touch with with you with the church to talk about the network or just even learn more. Where do we want to send them online so they can access more information, you know that sort of thing.
- [47:30]
Nan Britt
Yes. So they are welcome to email me Nan Bethlehem Trust Church Us I would love I would love that to just like I said weekly that's really my role on our staff now is is talking and training and and just working alongside churches. So I would love to connect and then our website is Bethlehem Church Us which they can find our Bethlehem Buddies page. Just see a lot of great resources there and then get in touch with our staff there as well.
- [48:05]
Rich Birch
Yep, that's great. Appreciate you guys being here today. Thank you so much and thanks for what you're doing. Appreciate being on the show today.
- [48:11]
Nan Britt
Thanks so much.
- [48:12]
Unseminary Podcast Host
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Unseminary Podcast. If you found today's conversation helpful, I'd share it with a friend. In ministry, it's a simple way to spark new ideas and grow together. Also, don't Forget to visit unseminary.com to sign up for our email list. You'll get exclusive resources and practical tools delivered straight to your inbox to help you lead your church more effectively. Most importantly, take what you learned today and put it into action this week. Ministry impact starts with small, intentional steps. See you next time.