Focus Follows Interest When You Design Ministry For ADHD Brains

We flip the script on ADHD by moving past the usual negative labels and naming what helps ADHDers thrive in church settings. We share science-based strategies that make discipleship more accessible through interest, urgency, meaning, and autonomy. 
• why ADHD is often framed through deficits and behavior 
• focus following interest rather than importance and how to build on it 
• using short deadlines to create urgency without adding threat 
• meaning as motivation that reduces resistance and shutdown 
• autonomy as nervous system safety that improves focus 
• designing ministry spaces that support an accessible gospel 
If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the indispensable-people blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People. 

Transcript

Welcome And The Accessibility Gap

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral, and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, a mom, a wife, and I believe that every person should have access to the gospel so that they can know Christ, grow in him, and serve him with the gifts that he has given. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 15 to 20% of every community. And over 85% of those individuals do not attend church. 90% of pastors believe that they are a disability-friendly church, but only 20% of parents and families agree. Let's dive deep into hard topics, big questions, perceptions, stereotypes, and so much more.

Why ADHD Gets Misunderstood

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Hey, hey, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People. Today we're talking about some of the most common diagnoses that you come across. And I don't know about you, but one of the most frequent, well, two, there are two really that I hear most about. And that is autism and ADHD. And especially with ADHD, you hear all the negatives, right? Can't focus, can't sit still, wiggleworm, you know, all negative behavior, all of that other kind of things. And so today I want to flip the script in instead of thinking of what people with ADHD struggle with, what they can't do, which we have to know those things, right? We have to understand the difficulties that come with it so that we can utilize the tools and the things that will come together. So here's what I want to highlight what makes ADHDers thrive, right? Because we're not out here just trying to survive, just trying to get through life, but how can we thrive? And so here are some science-based things that can help individuals with ADHD thrive within the context of the church. How can we grow? How can we engage? How can we disciple through some of these strategies?

Build On Interest For Focus

SPEAKER_00 2:19

And one of the easiest kind of things to do is to capitalize on interest, right? When we have a network in our brain that has connections that get excited about a specific interest, we can build upon that. The ADHD brain locks into what is new and exciting, and that interest can be based on something that they know, and maybe there's new interest and information about it. And we can't focus follows that interest. We would think focus follows importance, but focus follows interest for someone with ADHD. And listen, the Bible is full of all kinds of pieces of information, whether it's mathematically based, whether it is historically based, whether it is drama-based, whether it is life strategies based. There's so much that we can build upon and connect to that make it easy to do all the things.

Use Urgency Without Pressure

SPEAKER_00 3:24

So another thing we want to take into consideration is that urgency, urgency pushes, urgency gets people going and moving and getting things done. So a lot of times you'll see students in a classroom who have ADHD, and one of the strategies that they're given is extra time. That's the worst thing in the world that you could do because it takes away the urgency and then they don't get things done. So for example, in a classroom full of little, little guys and girls, you could say, okay, let's see if we can get this cleaned up in 30 seconds, right? That brings urgency. That puts, you know, something like that. So task-based things with time constraints are very helpful. And urgency really helps the prefront pre-frontal cortex initiate tasks. Short deadlines work better than distant ones.

Meaning Turns Resistance Into Action

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Another thing that we want to take into consideration is meaning. When something has meaning, it gives motivation. There is the there is purpose and it increases that motivation and helps with emotional regulation. And this matters because it reduces resistance and shutdown, right? If there is meaning, that makes connection and we can get it done. And value drives action more than instruction. So understanding why it matters really makes a great impact. And the Bible gives us the opportunity to do that, right? We're not learning information for information's sake. We're learning so that it can grow, that it can impact our lives, so that it can change our lives, so that we can be discipled. Those are all great pieces. The Bible is full of meaning, which gives us opportunity to make connections with an ADHD brain. Okay.

Autonomy Creates Nervous System Safety

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Autonomy. This is nervous system safety. Okay. When it when the person feels like they have control, like they can understand, where they are not pushed based upon fear and anxiety, then we lower the stress and we allow the brain to be able to think. And we have control over how work is done, and it that improves focus. When we reduce a threat, we reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed. And that reducing the threat is not the same thing as urgency, right? It's not a life or death situation. It's not an ending thing. It's a time constraint, and that provides a different

Four Takeaways For Ministry Design

SPEAKER_00 6:12

set. So what are the big takeaways here? Number one, ADHD isn't a lack of willpower. It's a brain that thrives when it can have interests, urgency, meaning, and autonomy supported. And we can create that space in our ministry settings, whether we're in kids, youth, with adults in women's ministry or men's ministry, to keep some of those basic things at hand as we approach how we teach, how we set up activities or events, and creating responsibility and setting so that people can thrive because those interest, urgency, meaning, and autonomy create an accessible gospel. And an accessible gospel creates disciples who then disciple others. And that is what being a part of the body of Christ is about. I can't claim to have all the answers. I can't claim to know all the things, but here's what we are gonna do we're gonna keep this conversation going. We're gonna make the accessible gospel available to individuals with disabilities in our churches and in our communities so that every person has the opportunity to know Christ, to grow in him, and to serve him.

Keep The Conversation Going

SPEAKER_00 7:29

If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the indispensable people blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.