2023–2025 Mission Grant #23
A Legacy of Love for Special Needs Children
Lutheran Special Education Ministries, U.S. — $100,000
About This Mission Grant
One in five children in the United States has a learning need. Each child is unique, they all learn at a different pace, and some require different approaches to learning. Parents often must make the choice between public school that addresses their learning needs or Christian education that develops their spirituality.Â
Lutheran Special Education Ministries (LSEM) serves schools, churches, and families to advance the success of children who have learning needs by providing resources to benefit them in the classroom but also in their church communities. They have served God’s children with special needs for 150 years.Â
This grant will allow LSEM to continue to develop and research tools and techniques so they can provide resources to Lutheran churches to welcome, integrate, and support children with specialized needs and their families in their church bodies.
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In 2023, Lutheran Special Education Ministries is celebrating 150 years of serving God's children with special needs. They have a rich and full history which began as an orphanage for children after the Civil War, turned into Lutheran School for the Deaf, and has grown into Lutheran Special Education Ministries now serving children with all kinds of learning needs across the country and internationally.
More Mission Grant Photos
LSEM says: "Over the past 150 years we have continued God's mission for us by looking to do what we can for His children at the time and planning on how to adapt to their needs in the future. We used to be a residential school for deaf children, but our leaders had the foresight to see God could use us to serve even MORE children by opening our doors and serving children with various learning needs."
Many things have changed in the past 150 years, but LSEM's mission has remained the same: serving God's children with special needs. These photos, both old and new, of children smiling as they learn are a witness to that.
Now, LSEM's programs and resources are designed to welcome and integrate children with learning needs into local schools and churches across the country and around the world. Instead of having them coming to LSEM, LSEM is reaching out to them to serve them in their communities.
LSEM says: "As we reflect upon the ways God has used this ministry over the last 150 years, we are called to prepare for the doors He will open so that we can continue to serve His children. Each child is unique and no one child learns the same as another, so we need to have the vision to adapt to their changing learning needs so that we can serve them in the best ways possible."
Children with special learning needs should be able to be welcomed into our Lutheran schools and churches. LSEM is here to partner with those schools and churches to provide resources, support, and connection so that these children, their families, and their communities can have a successful and positive experience. Let's work together to see more of these big smiles!
