Merry Christmas from Nurturing Care! We pray your final Advent service, Christmas Eve and celebration of the birth of Jesus provides a time of blessing and celebration. In keeping with our KC initiative, we do ask you to be mindful of autistic children in this season, many who often find our celebrations as moments of disequilibrium and confusion. May we all be mindful of neurodiverse children who treasure a consistent schedule during our myriad programs and events. Hopefully we can “adapt” and model hospitality to these children and their parents this season.
We also wanted to update you to our 2024 initiatives in Kansas City, celebrating ministry with neurodiverse children. February 26 Nurturing Care will host our annual Day of Learning at Nazarene Theological Seminary from 9:00 am-1:00 pm. Our guest lecturer, Dr. Amy Jacober, will explore the power and challenge of care in guiding autistic children in meaningful worship and prayer.
Amy Jacober serves as an outspoken advocate, author, and educator with many ministry interests including youth, disability, and increasingly mental health. Dr. Jacober teaches graduate, undergraduate, and professional students to consider context when looking at individuals and systems as well as faith and culture. She excels in connecting core beliefs with practical action, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Jacober’s academic journey includes lecturing in universities, colleges, non-profits both in the US and globally for more than twenty years. An author of articles, chapters, and books, Jacober’s recent writing includes Redefining Perfect: The Interplay Between Theology and Disability (Wipf and Stock, 2017). Amy embodies life as a minister and theologian as well as a wife and mother. She spends time in ministry with youth, people with disabilities, and those seeking to live out their faith for the good of others and the world. When not doing ministry, she spends time cooking, hiking, or playing board games with friends and family.
Register for the Day of Learning at
Also, look for our upcoming Preacher’s Conference, September 23-24 hosted by NTS Praxis and Nurturing Care. Titled “All God’s Children,” the conference is dedicated to preaching on the importance of disability ministry in the church, particularly among neurodiverse people who often “mask” their challenges and their strengths. How might preachers engage and motivate congregations to move from inclusion to belonging?
Our Keynote speaker is Dr. Lamar Hardwick. The conference includes four additional national preachers and eight workshops. You can find more information in 2025 by going to the conference website www.nts.edu/preach
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