Salvation or not?

At The Special Gathering of Indian River, we strongly believe that people who are mentally challenged can and should have a vibrant relationship with the Lord.  We additionally believe that this relationship is not part of their birthright, unless they are born-again into God’s family. 

There is a popular belief that mentally challenged people don’t need a salvation experience because they are forever children.  Therefore, God would never shut one of them out of heaven. 

Many years ago, when I first began to try and acquaint the local church community with The Special Gathering, which is a ministry within the mentally challenged community, I made a call to a local church.  The secretary who answered the phone was cordial and even seemed excited about what we were doing.  This was clearly an evangelical church that I had close ties with. 

When I mentioned that we do classic ministry, evangelism and discipleship, her tone changed drastically.  “My nephew is mentally challenged.  Are you trying to tell me that the wonderful people that he lives with aren’t automatically going to heaven?”  The more I tried to explain; the more adament she became in her argument that this population of people had a special dispensation which gave them a direct pipeline to the Father.

Unfortunately, you only have to work with us for a few weeks or months to realize that we share in the adamic nature with the rest of mankind.  Of course, there are some folks who will never reach an age of accountability; but I am convinced that by and large most mentally challenged persons need to be born-again.

Sylvia is an example.  She is extremely low functioning.  She does not speak.  In fact when you first meet her, you would assume that she has no ability to communicate in anyway.  Yet, as you associate with her and make friends with Sylvia, you realize there is a great deal of activity in her mind.  She is simply not able to let you know what it is, except through subtle and not so subtle ways.  She has been attending our Vero Special Gathering for about six years.  Over that time, I’ve seen Sylvia progressively enter more and more into worship with her smiles and joy. 

While Sylvia often shows her displeasure and frustration by becoming angry and agitated, she sits quietly during the worship services and Bible study.  She is clearly engaged during the sermons and praise and worship.  She allows our deacons to pray with her during the prayer time.

Her mother reported to her caregiver that after coming to Special Gathering for a while, she would sit for long periods of time listening to Christian music that came on the television.  This had never been her habit, neither did she sit and listen to just any music.  She understands worship and she clearly enjoys praise music. 

Of course, there is clearly a measure of understanding that is needed to accept the gospel.  Yet, the simplicity of the gospel allows for a clear understand of Christian principles that often boggles a more sophisticated mind.  Has Sylvia had a salvation experience?  I don’t know.  This I do know.  Her behaviors have been altered for the better through her times of sharing worship.  Aren’t those the fruits that the New Testament tells us that show we have entered into new life with Christ?

Have you seen changes in behaviors which have helped you to see the validity of the salvation experience within the mentally challenged community?   

 

Serving a vulnerable population

Many families have found that abusers don’t often look like an abuser.   Unfortunately, the abuser may look more like the good guy/girl than the good guys do.  The typical abuser is the person you would be least likely to suspect as someone who would do anything to harm a vulnerable person. 

The management instructions of The Special Gathering of Indian River make it clear that everyone who is considered a person with authority must have a security clearance.  This is provided through a contracted company working with our insurance provider, Guide One.  In addition, our paid staff must become a medicaid provider in order to obtain an FBI clearance.  The Special Gathering is a ministry within the mentally challenged community.  We do classic ministry, evangelism and discipleship. 

At SpG we are innately cautious because the personality of most people who are intellectually delayed makes them ripe for exploitation.  This is a generalization but by and large, people who are developmentally disabled can be termed as compliant and ”people pleasers.”  Almost by nature, they want to please people they believe are “in authority.”  

Two incidents that happened on Sunday during SpG prove my point.  Ansley refused to come into the gym where we have our worship time.   She was crying and saying she wouldn’t go into the gymnasium.  “Can you help?”  a volunteers asked.  I walked outside the gym over to Ansley’s wheel chair.  She was still sobbing from her mini-temper episode.  I smiled as her, asked if I could give her a hug.  She agreed.  As I was hugging her, I asked, “May I push you into the gym?”  She wiped her eyes and said, “Yes, please.” 

As I was positioning Ansley into the back of the room, another volunteer came over.  “Saul has decided that he doesn’t want to sit with the other members.  He wants to sit in the back of the room.”  Saul was mumbling to himself and sitting on a bench about 50 yards from the rest of the group. 

“I don’t think so,”  I said. Saul is autistic but he is able to mix and mingle with the other members.  For some reason he had decided to try something new.  I walked over to Saul, took his hand, which he extended to me.  “Let’s go sit down so we can start the service.”  Saul smiled, stood up and moved with me to his usual seat.

My volunteer asked, “How did you do that?”  All I know is that there is an authority that accompanies leadership and our members are especially sensitive to it.  The scriptures often speak of that authority.  The same is true with abusers.  Only their “authority” is evin and it doesn’t come from the Holy Spirit. 

That is the reason that anyone in ministry within the mentally challenged community must be proactive in regard to abuse.  An abuser often sees the church as an place where they can have easy access to prey.  By nature, we are accepting and loving.  Yet, it is because of our love for our members that we must be sure that our members are protected.  Our motto at SpG is that we trust NO ONE. 

If you are interested in ministry within the mentally challenged community, don’t be offended if the ministry you want to become involved with requires a security check.  In fact, you might be alarmed if they don’t.  Are your working toward beginning a ministry within this vulnerable population, be proactive in regard to abuse.  If you have a specialize ministry and you don’t have a security system in place, what are you waiting for?

 

Kindergarten teacher or Preacher

I was called to ministry with persons who are mentally challenged while reading Corrie Ten Boon’s book, Common Sense Not Needed.  I was 25 years old, a wife and mother of two children and soon to be pregnant with my third child.  I was reading with interest Dante Corrie’s essay.  When I came to a certain spot, I began to weep.  I didn’t feel sad but I couldn’t stop crying.  I asked the Lord, ”What is wrong with me?”

Immediately, the Lord spoke to my heart.  “This is what I’ve called you to do.”  I thought, of course, that I was to begin immediately.  I tried but I couldn’t seem to find an inroad into this cloistered sub-culture.  I knew no one who did this and there were only two or three people (over two decades)  who were mentally challenged in the churches we attended.

It was 20 years later that I discovered The Special Gathering which is a ministry within the developmentally disabled community.  The minute I walked into a Special Gathering chapel service, I knew I’d come home. 

Several things had stuck with me from Dante Corrie’s book.  This little booklet discribed her ministry before World War II.  She used The Special Gathering model. (That is, we use her model.)  Each Sunday afternoon, she would gather all the mentally challenged people in her community for a church service and Bible study.  

One of the things she described made sense to me.  She said that often she would have a guest speaker who would come and speak to her members.  It would be a preacher or a Bible teacher.  She had come to realize that she preferred having a kindergarten teacher teach her members rather than a theologically trained preacher.  Her logic made sense to me.   

Preachers often become wordsmiths, needing eloquence to woe and to maintain their audiences.  Kindergarten teachers are forced to break down every day, complicated principles to simple ideas in order to teach their students.  She believed this was the reason that a kindergarten teacher seemed better equipped to teach her members the scriptures.  

Our members are adults who need to be taught with the same dignity of any other adult but they do learn on a third or fourth grade level.  Jan has no formal training but her love for mentally challenged people makes her a natural asset to our ministry.  She is a gifted teacher who strains to make the principles of the gospel clear to her students.  Her students are learning.

Do you find that one teacher is effective and the other does not seem to connect with their students?  Do you know why this happens?  Do you sometimes feel as though you are not able to reach your students effectively?  Do you know why? 

 

Reflections

While much of the history of the African-American population mirrors the history of the population I serve, I found this reflection from Tribal Church moving.

Race, Religion and Politics

I was serving a small church in Cajun Louisiana. Think The Apostle, Robert Duvall’s masterpiece from eleven years ago, and you’ll know where I was. It was literally filmed down the road from my church.

When I was doing some community organizing, I made friends with Prophetess Perot. She asked me to preach at her revival at the House of Prayer, and I (of course) accepted.

I had no idea what was in store when I drove up to the tiny clapboard house. The building had been transported from a plantation and its walls were soaked with history. Houses of Prayer were the one place on the plantation where slaves met, without any oversight or fear of their owners.

This House of Prayer was where the Bible was read and preached, where revolutions were planned, where hope was reignited. Within those walls, in that safe place, men and women told their stories. They could cry about the beatings, they could whisper the truth about the rapes. The sanctuary was a refuge in every sense of the word.

Upon entering, I found out that the walls were now filled with posters, with the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. written on them, next to the words of the biblical prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah. I read them as the heat from the room enclosed on me.

The series of services was not a revival in the sense that they were out to save anybody. It was a week to revive the pastor. All the speakers and singers were there to encourage the congregation and the prophetess in her work. The gathering was made up mostly of women, and when we talked, I found out that most of them were professional cleaners.

The deacons had starched white coats on. They lined the walls to make sure everyone was helped. I was thankful that I wore a dress, and my husband was in a suit, otherwise we would have felt quite out of place.

We began the service with singing praise choruses and spirituals. And there’s so much I could write about—how the prophetess entered twenty minutes late and was seated in a large wicker chair, how the singers were a family act who traveled about from revival to revival–but I need to get to the point, so I’ll skip all that and tell you about the deaconess who got up to pray.

She was beautiful. Thin, black, with perfect posture. I was about 27 at the time, and she was the same age. When she opened her mouth, there was some sort of power behind her words. A force I can’t explain. But, the preachers reading this know what I’m talking about. She prayed through every part of her body, that her mouth, and nose, and ears, and hands, and feet would all serve God. It was poetry. It’s a prayer form that I’ve tried to copy a hundred times since I first heard it. Except for one part. When she referred to God… at first I didn’t understand it… I couldn’t figure out what she was saying.

And then it hit me. She was saying, “Massah.”

Oh no. It can’t be. I thought. And she said it again. And again. She’s my age. She grew up in the same country that I did. She’s smart. This can’t be.

I had this gut-wrenching urge to plead with her, “You can’t do that! You cannot refer to God as your Master. You can’t, you can’t, you can’t. You are God’s daughter. You are not God’s slave.”

I recall the incident frequently in my mind. And sometimes I still wish that I had been brave enough. But I wasn’t. It was not my place to enter into that sacred house and begin telling her what to do. To tell her how to talk to God. I didn’t think of myself as a descendant of slave owners; that historical fact was far removed from my reality. I keep it there, because of the shame. But she knew that she was a descendant of slaves.

Our history was in the walls, and it was in her veins. And she would pray to God, who was her only Master, in the way that she wanted. It was not my turn to speak. It was my turn to listen, and to pray with her.

There was so much in those walls. We were sitting in a context of history that I could never understand.

And, so to answer the question, I’d say that we cannot have a responsible discussion on race in America in the media, by extrapolating sensational sound bites and listening to them over and over again. It’s not just the full context of Jeremiah Wright’s sermons that we are missing. We are missing a beautiful, sorrowful, and complicated history, an entire tradition of people who could speak freely in their sanctuaries without the fear of censure.

I do not agree with Jeremiah Wright. I am saddened by the damage he has done to Barack Obama’s campaign. I shudder at what he has said about AIDS. I fear when he says, “God damn America.” There’s just something deep within me that worries that God will hear him. That God will honor his plea. I watch the National Press Club clips and shake my head. Rev. Wright has been flippant when he should have been serious.

But I also acknowledge he’s speaking in a context that I will never understand, one that pulses in this country, and goes far beyond the context of the sermon. It is a tradition that began in those Houses of Prayer. In the one place where people could speak freely. Where no one could tell them what they ought to say, and how they ought to pray, and how they ought to sing, and how they ought to talk to God.

And so, it is again my place to listen. Not only to Wright’s sermons, but to the vital tradition of liberation that scares me and gives me hope.

We cannot have a responsible conversation in the media. But we can have it in our spiritual communities. And the words of Rev. Wright have stirred up that opportunity.

While tribalchurch asked what are the theological implications of Rev. Wright’s word, my questions is what are the implications of this controversy in regard to the population we serve?

 

Ups and Downs of Following Jesus–Sermon for Mentally Challenged community

The Ups and Downs of Following Jesus

Matthew 3:16 to 4:1

 

Central Theme:  Jesus faced hardship and was tempted after he obeyed God.

 

Introduction

       1.     Bring a small model of a see saw.

       2.     Talk about a see saw. 

       3.     The main problem with a see-saw is that you can only go up and down.  And going up and down can be tiresome.

       4.     In our Christian life do you feel like you are on a see saw?  Up and down, up and down.

       5.     If you do you are in good company.  Have a member read Matthew 3:16 to 4:1.

 

       I.     Jesus had a wonderful moment with God.

 

              A. He obeyed God and was baptized.

              B. God even spoke from heaven, “Follow him.”

              C. Then a terrible thing happened he was forced into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  Up and Down, Up and Down. 

 

      II.     I understand that because some of the greatest things that have happened to me have been followed by tragedy.

              A.  The night I was baptized, I go sick and threw up in the church.

              B. About three weeks after my first book was published, my son started using drugs.  Up and down.

          C. After some of the best times of ministry I have had, Frank and I have had the worst fights.  Up and down.

              C. But I am no different from you.

                   1.  I have watched you get a job at the Patrick, then have tragic things happen.

                   2.  I have seen you recommit your life to Jesus, to have the old   boy friend call you.  You know the one who is not a Christian.

 

     III.     Jesus met temptation head on and so can we.

              A. Jesus did not give into temptation and we can resist also.

              B. Jesus got victory in the desert after Satan came to him; and we   can too.

 

Conclusion–The ups and downs of a see-saw take us no where.  But the ups and down of our Christian life force us to trust God every day.

 

Where are they?

Often when people want to start a ministry within the mentally challenged community, they think of one place to begin–a special education classroom.  It is true that the public school is a place where teachers and aides can show love and help to educate a child who is mentally challenged.  Yet,  the public school teacher is limited or even prohibited in regard to evangelism.

At The Special Gathering of Indian River, which is a ministry within the developmentally delayed community, we strive to evangelize and disciple mentally challenged people.  There is a great need within our population for ministries that specialize in classic ministry.

But where do you find mentally challenged people?  How do you become a part of the community?  First, realize that most parents are not willing to let their children become a part of a specialized ministry until they are adults.  Then, families begin to see that their children need friends among their peer group–other young adults who are intellectually delayed.  Within the school system, mentally challenged students are surrounded by people who also have disabilities.  They may be active within a church youth group or part of a youth drama program or sports program.  But once high school graduation is over, much of that camaraderie is gone. 

Their job in the community means that they work hours that are different from their friends.  There are transportation issues.  Their youth group friends have their own cars.  They are in college or have full-time jobs, probably both.  Young adults with disabilities are now faced with loneliness and the prospect of years of loneliness ahead.

Therefore, it is when a person becomes an adult that specialized ministries begin to make sense to families.  We have opted for the community-based ministry because we can reach a wider range of people.  How can Melbourne Special Gathering have 60 to 70 people each Sunday?  It is because we draw from 35 local churches which support us. 

Again, where can you find members?  This is cloistered, sub-culture.  Most special needs ministries are started by family members.  However, there is a growing trend for full-time, trained ministers to develop and run ministries within the mentally challenged community.  This is usually a paid position–either full-time or part-time.  If you are like I was, you may feel a call to this population but have no idea where to initiate the process. 

I have started programs in two cities where I knew no one.  Because I was a part of an established ministry, it was easier for me.  I could point to The Special Gathering where seven or eight established programs gave us credibility.  I could give references from pastors and agencies in other towns who knew me. 

If you aren’t part of the mentally challenged community, I would begin with Special Olympics. They may be hard to find but a local agency may help to direct you.  Offer to become a volunteer to transport, become a coach or assistant coach.  Also, find out where the bowling leagues meet.  (I went to the local bowling lanes and asked.)  Go to the yellow pages under rehabilitation facilities.  Call your local ARC or Easter Seals program. 

Most rehabilitation adult work programs don’t have a volunteer program.  Find out if they do.  Ask to meet with someone regarding the volunteer program.  Go with specific things that you can contribute to their programs but be open to hear what their needs are.  Volunteer.  Look in the paper (want ads) or over the internet to find programs that work with persons with disabilities.  Call your county government to find out if there is a county recreation program for persons with disabilities.  Try to find a local support group for families with autism spectrum. 

Okay, I know that I have opened a large can of worms here and there are many questions that I haven’t answered.  No matter where you go to find members, the most important thing to remember is that the best way to reach people for the Lord is to genuinely love them with his love.

 Now it’s your turn.  Where have you found your members?  Have your found that the school system is a good place to develop relationships?

 

 

Lunch anyone?

At Brevard Achievement Center (BAC) in Rockledge and Melbourne, Florida, the staff have found an excellent way to communicate and reward the people who are developmentally disabled that they serve.  They take them out to lunch.  Occasionally, Special Gathering staff is asked to join them.  I love being invited to be a part of that time.

I believe that the meal serves as more than a place for your body to be nourished.  Traditional worship found in the Bible centers around the meal.  The Jewish celebrations took place in homes, involved an elaborate meal and family fun.  The Old Testament feast of booths was a seven-day family camping trip which celebrated the fall harvest. 

The Lord’s Supper or communion was instituted by Jesus after he and his disciples had shared a family meal.  Whenever an angel appeared, in the Old Testament, they were offered a meal.  Most of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection, involved or took place during a meal.

There is a purpose behind this.  Barriers are broken down during meal time.  People bond in a unique way.  Our members also respond in a unique way to sharing a meal together.  During our parties, we decorate and have table cloths and good food.  Our members are extra careful and incredible grateful. 

Each time we have a party during Special Gathering, it centers around food.  I’m sometimes asked by volunteers, “Why do we always have to eat whenever we do anything special?”

My response is usually,  “Have you ever gone to any party where there is no food?” 

Perhaps the most holy time in Christendom–communion–revolves around a meal.  In our churches, we have sanitized communion, packaging the grape juice and pressing the bread.  In the process, I believe we have lost a good portion of the meaning and joy because we have eliminated the meal.  Yet, in ministering to people who are mentally challenged I’ve found that they have the ability to make every occasion festive. 

How have you found that meal times are important to you and your members?  Do you have a certain time that you make sure that you share a meal with your members?  Do you ever have one-on-one meals with your members?

 

Confused about your services? Here’s an answer

Are you confused about what your support coordinators will be doing for you?  Do you wonder if the services you receive from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities in the state of Florida will change?  Do you know what tier will you be placed in? 

There is a wonderful new website full of information that you need.  Whether you are persons who receives services from APD, a parent, family member, support coordinator, or service providor, check out this new webpage.  There is great information at Aaron Nangel’s new website:  supportcoordinators.com.  This is a must see for anyone involved with persons with developmental disabilties. 

In regard to your services, we suggest that you get the name and phone number of the person who is doing your new support plan.  This is an APD employee, not your support coordinator.  Under the new cost structures, your support coordinator’s responsiblity has been altered.  S/he will be paid significantly less to give you services.  Therefore, you must know the person who does your support plans and is responsible for billing of your services. 

 

2009 APD Budget

To view the new Florida APD budget  click on this link.  There is an increase of a little more than $13,000 in the amount allocated and an increase in the number of employees. 

 

People of the Book

Christians and Jews have always been known as people of the book.  But most of the members of Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community, do not read.  The Melbourne and Vero Special Gatherings have about 100 people who are developmentally delayed who attend each week.  We do classic ministry, evangelism and discipleship.  Because of their inability to read, I have a difficult time selecting different people each week to read the Scripture text. 

While some of our members can read the words slowly, there are probably only three or may four who are comfortable reading in front of a group.  Even the best readers must be prompted and given help.  So how can this small band of dedicated Christians be “people of the book?”

The early Catholic church faced the same problem in the early centuries.  Most of the people they evangelized were not able to read.  In fact, it is the Christians who have been the largest proponent to education over the generations.  It is considered essential to the Christian faith to understand the scriptures.  Growing in grace is deep wrapped in becoming a part of the Word of God.  However, the developmental disabilities of our members make this difficult. 

There are things which can be done, however.  My father was a brilliant man with an 8th grade education who taught himself to read, only after he became a devoted Christian.  He wanted to be able to read the Bible.  He used tape recordings of the Bible to help him.  He would read along with the Bible tapes.  He not only became knowledgeable about the Bible but a great reader.  

In the same way, we encourage our members to purchase Bible CD’s and listen to them.  The Dollar Stores have Bible CD’s for $1.  For Christmas this year, we gave all our members a Bible CD.  We encourage our members to get additional CD’s and listen to them.   The whole Bible on CD’s can often be purchased for a nominal price.

I have begun to incorporate one Bible verse each quarter as our Call to Worship.  In this way, they are exposed to an essential Bible verse 9 times a year.  One of our Bible teachers in Daytona took well over a year to teach his lower functioning members one Bible verse. “I will pray morning, noon and night.”  What a great verse to learn.  At first, I thought he was really wasting their time until the verse began to penetrate my spirit.  I came to love hearing his recitation of that verse.  Often, it comes back into my mind, reminding me of the importance of prayer and reminding me to pray.

What are some of the methods that you have used to teach your members the Bible?  Do you teach Bible verses or the principles of the scriptures?  Which do you think is more beneficial?

 

From Disaster to Fun Again

Choir yesterday was fun again.  We are learning the new music that we’ll be singing in 2009.  These new arrangements are not our typical style.  Therefore, our first couple of practices learning this stuff have been hard.

The choirs of Special Gathering of Indian River are the outreach extension of our ministry.  We are a ministry within the mentally challenged community.  Our members are developmentally disabled.  Choir consists of people who want to go into churches and the community to help share the gospel and to help educate the local church to the spiritual needs of people who are mentally challenged. 

Anyone can join the choir who has shown a commitment to The Special Gathering.  However, choir is hard.  We are keenly aware that when we perform we represent the Lord Jesus to the community.  We represent the mentally challenged community, Special Gathering and, of course, ourselves.  Much of what we require from our choir members goes against the grain of the overarching principles of The Special Gathering.  For instance, at SpG, we want our members to question and to give input.  If at all possible, we are repsonsive to the needs, desires and requests of our members.

However, that is not the case in choir.  We need to have a commitment level that is deeper than we would ever ask from our members.  When I stand before the choir as their director, I expect their full and undivided attention.  During rehearsals and performances, they are to look at me.  In addition, I require that when we are performing they are to obey without questioning me. 

Of course, they still have a choice in all of this.  They are given the rules before they join the choir; and they are not required to stay in the choir. More than one person has left the choir because it was too difficult.

Last month, I tried something new and let the choir pick out the musical selections they liked.  That’s a good thing; because otherwise, I believe they would’ve all walked out in exasperation.  In these new pieces, the timing, the beat, the words are all different from what we are accustomed to and, consequently, harder to learn. 

The new arrangements are modern day choruses wrapped around familiar hymns.  The problem:  My members only know the Christian music I’ve taught them.  They like the hymns but they don’t know the words.  Also, the words in the typical hymn are more complicated than the choruses I choose for them to learn. 

But yesterday, we turned the corner and it was fun again.  “It’s time to go,” the timekeeper/member said.  There was a collective groan.  No one wanted to stop. 

Have you found that hard work seems to produce the most satisfaction from your members?  Is there something that you do that demands a greater commitment from your members?  What is it?

 

Loose or Stiff?

I don’t think Greg liked The Special Gathering. He was enthusiastic when he called me inquiring about becoming a volunteer.  Special Gathering of Indian River is a ministry within the mentally challenged community.  We do classic ministry, evangelism and discipleship.  Greg spoke about his ministry in northern Florida and was eager to come and be a part of our Vero program. 

After attending one chapel program, he took me aside for a serious talk.  “Your members aren’t able to participate and join into the worship,” he said.  “They can’t enjoy what you do.  You have to loosen up and let them be a part of the ministry experience.  You should let them come to the front and sing during praise and worship.”

Of course, I understood where he was coming from.  There seems to be two schools of thought in ministry to people who are developmentally delayed.  The first is the lassi faire school that believes that mentally challenged people should be allowed to have free rein over the ministry.  They should be able to come and go as they please.  They should be able to interrupt the speaker with questions and comments.  They should be able to come up front to “lead” in praise and worship, if they desire.  Whatever they desire is fair game. 

This can be an effective way to minister to this population.  There is a wonderful ministry in Canada that allows this kind of freedom of movement and expression during the ministry time.  The members are effectively discipled and trained in Christ-like living.

On the other hand, there is the more structured and discipled type of ministry.  This is much the way The Special Gathering functions during our chapel time.  There is a program leader who conducts the meetings.  Members, who are among the leadership, elected by the members, are invited to conduct our prayer lines.  Members take up the offering.  Choir members may be asked to help with praise and worship or they may sing special music.  Members are not allowed to interrupt or come to the front without permission.  They are discouraged from leaving the room during worship.

During Bible study and the small group studies, however, the members are invited and encouraged to discuss the lesson.  They ask questions. It’s exciting for our teachers to see a member press an opposite point of view regarding a Scripture.   

I personally like the form of worship to which SpG subscribes.  There are several reasons.  One stems from my childhood.  My father had a mentally challenged cousin who occasionally visited us.  He was also a self-proclaimed evangelist.  On the Sundays that he would come to church with us, he would sit on the podium with the preacher.  Even as a child, I felt that this was out of line and that the visitor should’ve been corrected and asked to sit in the pews with everyone else.  But because of his disability, our pastor never corrected him.   I guess that even at 7 years old, I made a pretty good pharisee.

Later, as I become an adult, I saw non disabled children and adults who were allowed to push and shove their way “to the podium” demanding attention during worship in a way that was rude and inconsiderate of others.  Often, their behavior wasn’t corrected and people generally tried to avoid them. 

I appreciated that the members of Special Gathering and the volunteers were asked to follow the same rules.  Volunteers aren’t allowed to interrupt and rudely take up everyone’s time–neither are our members during the chapel programs. 

At Special Gathering we have found that our members act in a discipled manner and they are able to behave appropriately.  Even those who don’t have much disciple at other places seem to enjoy the limits.  In fact, staff and volunteers seldom have to remind the members of the rules because our members effectively monitor each other. 

What is the form of ministry that you feel is most effective?  Why do you feel this form works best?  What Christian principles do you think are being taught in the manner of worship your program uses? 

 

The 2008 Legislative Session and Prayer

Birgitt commented yesterday on the Special Gathering blog.  She was concerned, of course, about the great effect that the new tier system will have on our most vulnerable citizens.  I know we all share her deep concerns.  She also commented on the need for prayer for our legislators.  This made me stop and think.  Here are a few of my reflections. 

I sincerely believe our legislators do have nightmares regarding the decisions they’ve had to make over the past months in the 2008 Legislative Session.  And I do believe that they would appreciate our prayers. I remember when Bill Clinton became president.  He had taken firm stands on several issues during his campaign that he later reversed. His explanation: “When you get into the position of President and you understand the multitude of concerns worldwide, your perspective changes.”  That sentiment has been echoed by most of our presidents and lawmakers.

I’ve known many men and women who have been and are in office.  I knew them before they even considered running for office.  All of the people I know ran for office because they saw needs and they genuinely wanted to make a difference. 

Yes, they ran for office to make these kinds of hard choices; but I suspect that the lawmaking process during this legislative session was much harder than they thought it would be.  Birgitt suggested that we pray for our legislators and that is also my suggestion.  Because Birgitt is right, “What goes around, usually comes around.”

Once in office, state lawmakers have an entire state to consider and they must do what is best for everyone, with a shrinking budget.  As much as I hate the tier system and as much as I hate what has happened within our population and as much as I am deeply concerned about our wonderful populations who have had to take these cuts, I truly feel sorry for the men and women who had to make these hard decisions.  They need our prayers.

Have you ever had to make a difficult decision that you later regretted?  Have you ever helped make a decision for one of your members that you later regretted?

 

Someone Greater–Sermon for Mentally Challenged Community

 

There is Someone Greater Than We Are

Luke 3:16   

Central Theme: Jesus is the greatest person who ever lived not just because he was also God but because he is the only one who can change lives. 

Introduction–I have known a few important people in my life. Bring out magazine or books with pictures of important men and women. Ask who they are. Why do we know their names? Of course, it’s because they are important people. We know who they are and we know about them.

I. I want us to talk about the importance of learning     that we are not as important as we might like to be.

    A. Have a member read Luke 3:16.

    B. John the Baptist was probably the most important celebrity in his country.

    C. He was like a rock star.

        1.  He dressed funny and wore his hair weird.

        2.  He had mobs of people who came to where he was–in the desert.

             a. It was as though people from Los Angeles, New York City and Orlando walked to Holopaw, Florida where he lived to see him.

     D. But John knew there was a person who was greater than he.

     E. That person was Jesus.

II. Too often, I want to be like Jesus, rather than point people to Jesus.

    A. Let me explain.

        1. I want the attention and favors Jesus got.

        2. I want people to like me and follow me and want to be like me.

    B. John wanted only to point people to Jesus.

III. Jesus said that John was the most important man who had ever lived up to that time.

    A. But John only wanted to show people who Jesus was.

        1. He talked about Jesus.

        2. He encouraged his followers to follow Jesus.

1.         3. He even humbled himself to Jesus and said, “Jesus you need to baptize me.”

Conclusion–If the greatest man who had lived, only wanted to show people Jesus, should we do the same? To be liked is nice. To be important is okay but John choose to show people Jesus. He choose the best and so can we.