A child in a wheelchair arrives at the opening. A deaf teenager wants to work on a class. A grieving father brings his son for the first time. And the club, caught off guard, starts to improvise — each board doing it its own way, each one asking the same question from scratch.
It doesn't have to be like this. The Adventist Church already has an official, worldwide structure for this: the Adventist Possibility Ministries (MAP). It defines which audiences to serve, how to start, and who coordinates at each level of the church. Your club doesn't need to create an inclusion policy out of nothing — it needs to connect to the one that already exists.
This article explains what this ministry is, its seven areas, the 3 A's strategy, and where the Pathfinder Club fits into that network. It's not about a specific case — to guide a father or mother of a child with a disability, see how to enroll a child with a disability in the club. Here the focus is the institutional structure. Data verified on 07/22/2026 in the official sources listed at the end.
What is the Adventist Possibility Ministries?
It is the official department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church dedicated to inclusion. Its mission, in the church's own words, is to "inspire, equip, and mobilize those who have a disability, suffering, or are caregivers to serve God and the community". Notice the verb: it's not just caring for someone who has a limitation — it's mobilizing that person as an active part of the church.
The ministry is not new, and its name changed on purpose. It was approved at the 1995 General Conference Council in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as a work directed at people with disabilities. In 2015 it became the Special Needs Ministries. And in 2019 it received its current name — Possibility —, a deliberate choice to focus on what the person can do, and not on what they lack. The motto sums it up: "Think different. Think possibility."
It's not a single country's initiative. In 2022, the General Conference Council approved, by near-unanimous vote, the inclusion of Possibility Ministries in the Church Manual — the document that governs the church worldwide. In other words: it is permanent structure, not a one-year campaign.
In South America it appears under the acronym MAP and works like any other department of the church: with designated leadership and its own materials. This is the ministry your club connects to when it needs to include for real.
What are the 7 areas of work?
Inclusion becomes concrete when you know whom it covers. The ministry works across seven areas — and the list is broader than "disability" in the common sense. It includes those who care for someone and those who have lost someone.
| Area | Whom it reaches |
|---|---|
| Blind and low vision | People with visual disability, total or partial |
| Deaf | Deaf and hard-of-hearing people; involves sign language and accessible materials |
| Physical disability and reduced mobility | Wheelchair users and people with movement limitations; focus on physical accessibility |
| Mental health and well-being | People living with mental disorders and psychological suffering |
| Orphans and children in situations of vulnerability | Children without family support or at social risk |
| Caregivers | Those who care for someone with a disability or illness — often exhausted and invisible |
| The bereaved | People in mourning, with special attention to the loss of a spouse |
Two of these areas tend to surprise outsiders. Caregivers are not the problem to solve — they are people who wear down in silence and also need to be welcomed. And the bereaved remind us that inclusion is not only ramps and sign language: it is presence for those who are suffering. Keeping this breadth in mind helps the club see needs that used to go unnoticed.
Note that ASD and ADHD do not appear as an isolated eighth box. This is not exclusion: these conditions cut across the existing areas — mental health, disability, caregiver support — and are addressed within them. The ministry organizes by broad fronts, not by diagnosis.
What is the 3 A's strategy?
Knowing the audiences is not enough; you need to know where to start. For that, the ministry uses a three-step method, the 3 A's — Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. The order matters: skipping a step is the classic mistake.
| Step | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| 1. Awareness | Equip the church and the club to promote inclusion in the family, in the community, and in society. Open your eyes before any work: understand that 1 billion people in the world live with some disability. |
| 2. Acceptance | Welcome the person as part of the body, not as a visitor. Draw close to real needs, listen to the family and to organizations already at work, and recognize each person's worth. |
| 3. Action | Do it: remove physical and attitudinal barriers, adapt programs, offer accessible Bible study, register and integrate the person, train reception and leadership. |
Why that order? Because action without awareness becomes an empty gesture — the ramp no one knows how to use, the sign-language interpreter hired once and never again. Awareness without action, on the other hand, is just talk. The 3 A's force the full path: understand, welcome, and then act.
For the club, this is a ready-made script. Before buying equipment or redoing the bathroom (Action), ask whether the board and the units have already gone through Awareness and Acceptance. That's almost always where inclusion gets stuck — not in the lack of money, but in the group's lack of preparation.
Read alsoThe 13 world Divisions and where Pathfinders fitHow is the ministry organized within the church?
MAP does not sit "up there" at the world headquarters. It exists at every level of the Adventist structure, like any other department — and that's why your club is able to reach it.
There is a designated person in charge at each layer: at the local church, at the Conference or Mission (the Field), at the Union, and at the Division. Each level receives the guidelines from the level above and applies them to its own reality. The one closest to your club is the MAP coordinator of your own church and that of the Field.
Like every topic with rules, three layers coexist here — worth separating so you don't ask the right thing of the wrong person:
- What is written and applies to everyone: the ministry's existence, its seven areas, the 3 A's strategy and, behind it all, Law 13.146. This is norm; it does not change from club to club.
- What varies by church and region — and who decides: how each church applies the ministry, which materials it uses, the pace of training. The one who leads is the local MAP coordinator, guided by the Field's department head.
- The principle that holds it up: the image of the body of Christ — "the body is not one member, but many" (1 Corinthians 12). Each person is a necessary part, not an extra piece. It is from this principle that the structure is born.
In practice: if your question is about which material to use or how to train the board, talk to your church's MAP coordinator. If the matter rises a level — an accessible regional event, training for several clubs —, it's the Field's department head. And always confirm who that person is: in a small church, the role is sometimes vacant, and it's worth helping to fill it.
How does the Pathfinder club lean on this ministry?
This is the point that changes a board's mindset: the club is not an island of inclusion. It doesn't need to invent a policy, write its own manual, or figure everything out alone. It connects to a structure that already exists.
In practice, this means three supports:
- The local MAP — the Possibility Ministries coordinator of your church is the one who guides, trains the board, and helps adapt the program. It's your first phone call.
- The law — Law 13.146/2015 and the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) require inclusion and prohibit refusing enrollment because of a disability. It's not a favor from the club; it's the child's right.
- The church's program — materials, sign language, accessible Bible study guides, and training that the club could not produce on its own are already available through the church.
The one who bridges it all is the club leadership, together with the MAP coordinator and the church board. The club does not decide alone "whether" it includes — the law and the ministry have already answered yes. What the club decides is how: which unit, which counselor, which adaptations at camp and in the class.
There's also an educational path within the program itself: there is an Adapted Sports honor, which works on inclusion and the history of para-sport with the whole unit. It's an excellent Awareness trigger — the first of the 3 A's — because it engages those who do not have a disability in understanding those who do. Confirm the current requirements in the official Honors Manual before planning; and treat the honor as a teaching tool, not as inclusion fully solved.
An honest caveat: the official Pathfinder Club documents do not include a dedicated chapter describing, step by step, the coordination between the club and MAP. This connection happens through the church's general structure, not through a club-specific rule. So always align with your local church and the Field — and put what you agree on in writing.
What does the law require and what does the principle ask?
It's worth separating two forces that push the club in the same direction: the law and faith. They don't compete — they add up.
Law 13.146/2015, the Brazilian Inclusion Law (also called the Statute of the Person with a Disability), was enacted on July 6, 2015. It defines a person with a disability as one who "has a long-term impediment of a physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory nature which, in interaction with one or more barriers, may obstruct their full and effective participation in society". Keep the logic of that sentence: the disability is not only in the person — it's in their encounter with the barriers. Removing the barrier is the job of whoever organizes the space. In other words, it's the club's job.
On the faith side, the foundation is the image Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 12: the church is a body, and "the members of the body that seem weaker are necessary." Possibility Ministries also draws on Mark 16:15 — the gospel for every creature — and on 1 John 4:8, "God is love." The practical conclusion is simple and demanding: to include is not optional charity; it's recognizing that the person with a disability already is part of the body, and a body does not discard its own member.
Put the two together: the law says you cannot refuse; the principle says you will not want to refuse. When the club understands this, inclusion stops being a logistics problem and becomes what it always was — part of the service.
Where does your board start?
Structure only serves if it turns into action. If you lead a club and want to get out of improvising, here is a sequence that respects the 3 A's and does not depend on a big budget.
- Find out who coordinates MAP in your church. If the role is vacant, take it to the church board — it's the step that unlocks all the others.
- Start with Awareness. A board meeting about the seven areas and the 3 A's is worth more than a renovation done in a rush. Preparation before construction.
- Map your club. Who is already there and needs attention? The child with a disability is visible; the exhausted caregiver and the grieving Pathfinder, almost never.
- Adapt what you can now. Position in the line, the pace of the class, visual communication, a reference counselor. A lot of inclusion costs attention, not money.
- Use the Adapted Sports honor to engage the entire unit — inclusion that teaches everyone, not only those who need it.
- Record and agree in writing the adaptations with the church and the family. Memory fades; a written agreement doesn't.
None of these steps requires the club to solve everything alone. They all point to the same place: the structure the church has already built, waiting for your club to lean on it.