Tyler Tooley and Blake Dorchester were born with Down syndrome, but the boys do not let that prevent them from participating in ministry and missions.
Blake Dorchester, left, and Tyler Tooley were instrumental in helping launch the special needs ministry of a church in Germany. Both are members of Alsbury Baptist Church in Burleson, Texas. (Photo/Texas Baptist Communications)
In March, Tooley and Dorchester traveled across the globe with their church, Alsbury Baptist Church in Burleson, Texas, to help develop a special needs ministry at City Church, an Alsbury Baptist church plant in Germany.
Alsbury Baptist has captured attention for its thriving ministry to children and adults with special needs. On any given Sunday, about 10 percent of the people in the congregation have a special need of some kind — and that is something Pastor Scott Sharman is honored to say.
“Every person deserves to know God’s love,” he said. “Every person deserves the opportunity to grow in relationship with God, and that includes people with special needs.”
When City Church began noticing people with special needs in their German community, its leaders and members felt an urgency to develop a ministry much like their sister church had done.
“City Church is trying to connect families who feel like they don’t have a place in the church,” Sharman said.
So Sharman, Tooley, Dorchester and 21 other Alsbury Baptist members traveled to Germany to help City Church begin developing that ministry.
While there, they conducted vision casting and training events, delivered insight on teaching children with special needs, hosted recreational events with local children with Down syndrome and helped with a soccer match that included special needs children.
At the beginning of the week, people were reluctant to connect with Tooley and Dorchester, Sharman said, but that quickly changed.
“As the week progressed, you could see the people’s connections with those two boys change,” he said. “By the end of the week, it was like they were saying goodbye to their best friends.”
Tooley and Dorchester’s presence was undoubtedly the best part of the trip, Sharman added.
“No one did a better job than Tyler and Blake,” he said. “God just used them mightily.”
Members of Alsbury Baptist Church and City Church, a German church plant, participate in special needs ministry training. (Photo/Texas Baptist Communications)
Special needs ministry does not come easy, Sharman said. It can be tiring and demanding, which is likely why few churches, in the United States or anywhere else, have one.
Often, special needs ministries make other people in a church uncomfortable. It is not uncommon for someone to make a sporadic outburst during a Sunday morning service, and that can cause distraction, Sharman said.
But knowing the gospel is for everyone inspired Asbury to pursue special needs ministry, he said. That’s why they strive to make their congregation a family where everyone is welcome.
“If we don’t intentionally provide an avenue for families with children with special needs, then we just cut those people out of the family,” Sharman said. “Parents aren’t going to go if their kids aren’t welcomed. If you don’t do some sort of modification based on need for children then you leave those kids out.”
Evidence that God can and will use anyone, including special needs children, was demonstrated by Tooley and Dorchester’s successful participation in the German mission trip, Sharman said.