Stimulating conversation in which I am a part but where I don’t agree sets my brain to whirling in a good way. I’ve never been a part of a debate team but I think I would really thrive under that type of experience.
There is a problem with my debating skills, however. I’m not able to control to emotions that slip into my voice. I sound extremely angry, when I feel the excitement of debating. There is no measured meter to my tones but quivery, shrill underpinnings that shout, “Don’t you dare disagree with ME!”
Therefore, I was excited today to be discussing the concept of worship within the mentally challenged community and what should we strive to include in a worship setting. What makes an appropriate worship service for our members? Our conversation whirled around praise and worship in song. Because the folks debating have worked together for several decades, we understand each other quite well. Therefore, during much of the conversation, we spoke mostly in shorthand, as good friends often do.
There were, however, several items that we touched on. First, do the members of Special Gathering need some form of affirmation of faith? If so, what would this look like? What principles of the faith should be understood by every Christian? How can these be translated into a simplified form so that people with developmental disabilities can easily understand?
Second, we discussed the appropriate types of music that will most effectively minister Life to our members. Are hymns (songs that teach about or minister to HIM) the best? Do gospel (testimony) songs actually teach our members more effectively than hymns that instill theological principles about the personhood of God? While contemporary scripture choruses may be wonderfully singable, do our members actually understand such songs as “I Exalt Thee.”
What about you? What do you believe an appropriate worship service for the mentally challenged community would include? We’d love for you to join in the conversation. And, as an added bonus, with the wonder of the Internet, you won’t even have to listen to my shakey, shrill voice, when I become excited.
Specialgathering's Weblog 
July 30, 2009 at 10:46 am
I would love to hear your shakey, shrill voice!! Then you could hear mine…and see my lip quiver before I start to cry. This is a great discussion, very needed and important. We have tried to implement some of these things here…right or wrong, and with the understanding they can change if they are not working.
Our basic affirmation of faith, which is a starting point for those we serve to grow in, is this: God loves me, God made me, God has a plan for my life. With those three points of understanding anyone has a foundation to begin building a real relationship with God.
Those three sentences are then found in many of the songs we sing, in what we teach and in our conversation as leaders and friends. We sing mostly simple choruses, not children’s songs, but basic songs. We sometimes sing a hymn, which half of our congregation does not understand its meaning, but a hymn is sung in different reverence than when we sing choruses and that is understood by everyone.
I think this discussion is dependent upon our goals for our community we serve. Our goal here is to see people with disabilities growing in their relationship with God, understanding and using their gifts to help others in their community to do the same. Worship is part of that growth process on many, many levels. Is it more important to teach basic theology in song form? Is it better to teach reverence through hymns? Is it important just to sing and allow the Holy Spirit to work? Is it important for worshipers to see Jesus in way like them, or have a leader who is like them so they understand God can use them? All of these questions are important, some more than others, depending on our goals.
Our take is to help the process of making disciples, which is a lifelong process of growth. We want to hit every level in the process as we are all walking the path at different places. What I do know for sure is that singing a basic song about the love of Jesus impacts me as a leader with equal power as some of my favorite Hymns, which often are sung back to back in our services. I hope others contribute to this online conversation, especially those you have been emotionally debating with with!!
July 30, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I do not know if I am the one Linda is debating with, but we have had these conversations.
I am not sure how to respond here without taking up too much space. Worship is more than the music but I will limit my responses to music.
Some classically trained Church Musicians classify music into 3 groupings: 1) Hymns which is where you sing theology and it is more sophisticated music. 2) Gospel Songs which are songs about ME and Jesus. “I’ll Fly Away” being a good example. 3) Choruses are songs to Jesus/God often love songs. Linda uses the example of “I Exalt Thee.”
My wife has a firm opinion that (As Tony would say) “Is it important just to sing and allow the Holy Spirit to work.” I think those in leadership have a responsibility to try to make the songs we sing as understandable as possible.
There are songs I love that I would not sing in our chapel service because I think it is an abstract chorus that may be enjoyable to sing but meaningless to our members. Can the Holy Spirit touch the heart. YES! But I can be sitting in a Spanish speaking service and be touched by the Holy Spirit but that not the best place for me to be every Sunday. Why have service designed for mentally challenged persons if we are not trying to address their cognitive needs?
We can also change words. We sang the Gospel Song, “I Must Tell Jesus” last Sunday. The words go, “I must tell Jesus all of my trials; I cannot bear these burdens alone” What is a “Trial or a Burden?” I do not think you do damage to the song to change both of those words into “Problems” so it reads, I must tell Jesus all of my problems; I cannot bear these problems alone
Is there a classification of Church Music that best serves our members? I would suggest Gospel Songs. My preference is Choruses. I just question if that is what is best for our members?
July 30, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Worship is the posturing of ones heart to adore God. Music is but one environment to find this posture. Worship can take place in silence or solitude, in community prayer or in communion.
As for music, We have found that adults with intellectual disabilities enjoy many of the current Christian songs listened to on Christian radio. in fact, we encourage them to listen to these stations throught the week, between Friendship classes and their camps and retreats.
We tend to use these songs in our classes and at camp. We choose the simplier songs with repeating choruses and purchase those recordings We use powerpoint for the lyrics and link and sync them to the recording on the laptop. We have found this to make for very meaningful worship!
Don Boden
July 30, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Thanks Don for your comments. You are exactly right. Worship is much more than singing. It is bowing our hearts to an almighty and all loving God. Thanks for reminding us. We should never forget that worship isn’t restricted to a “time.” Thanks also for the details regarding your praise time. Some of the SpG programs use a laptop. I’m low tech. I have a CD player and an overhead projector…ahh! maybe some day!
July 30, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Thanks Tony and SpG for your replies. Yes, it was SpG that I was discussing worship with and be assured there was no shrill sreeking from either of us.
Tony, I love your question about is it important to see Jesus in a way like them, or should there be a leader. I assume that you are asking if there should be a peer helping to lead worship. I personally think that peer leadership is an important element of worship. However, I also struggle with the fact that many of the members in one of the programs I lead don’t know all the songs that we sing and they don’t really want the discipline of practice or coming on time.
I use a person who are mentally challenged in the other program. She is excited about learning new music and works hard to know the music we are singing. I do believe that even mentally challenged persons should be willing to do the hard work of preparation for worship.
Great discussion. Thanks for responding.
July 30, 2009 at 4:46 pm
We have been working to develop original songs for worship, for people with disabilities and look toward developing songs by people with disabilities for worship. Everything we know as far as religious expression has always been from the point of view of people with average minds and relating to a God who is closer to that reality than the reality of some one with a disability. In fact most of Christendom has historically been perceived through the eyes that a mental disability is defect, curse or evil. The Bible has been taught, songs written and theology developed with that bias. If we believe that those with mental disabilities are a culture or sub culture it would seem we would develop ways to reach the culture in ways acceptable, understandable and accessible to those in the culture.
Our ministry up here is meant to take the culture of disability and turn it into a community. A big part of community is having a voice in the wold, and worship is one of those voices. While we know that the Holy Spirit can minister to anyone anywhere, we also know that order in worship is important, and order for those with mental disabilities means, having the ability to understand, participate and grow in worship. The Holy Spirit will do His Job, but not often in the chaos which the average worship service presents to those with mental disabilities. Richard’s example of sitting in a spanish service is great, we would never go to spanish speaking country and try to convince someone from that culture to accept Jesus as their saviour in english song or sermon if they only could understand a few words. We send missionaries into a culture who then work within the culture to present Jesus. Do not people with mental disabilities deserve the same loving gift? Paul exhorted us to do whatever it takes to see some saved, for him that meant changing to suit the culture he was ministering to, Jew or Gentile. For us that means changing to suit the culture we minister in either those with mental disabilities, at whatever level of understanding they have or those with average intelligence. If we can raise our sights higher, together, and have a vision of unity to reach more people in order to save more people God will give us the tools, the songs or whatever else we need. We just cannot settle for the same old thing that is mediocre in it success at best.
Lt
July 30, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Hurrah! Tony, well said. There are some songs that become very powerful when sung by persons within our culture. A few that have great impact are “Make Me a Servant,” “I can do all Things,” “I Am Somebody,” “More Love, More Power,” “Here is My Heart,” “Change My Heart O, God.” There are others. I try to find and use these songs (most of them would be considered Gospel Songs) that speak to our disability and how God can use us with our disability, not inspite of our disability.
August 3, 2009 at 11:10 am
When we think about the worship service for persons who are mentally challenged what factors drive us?
1. What we like
2. What is educationally sound
3. What is theologically correct
4. What is meaningful to those attending
5. Principles of Normalization
6. What is not offensive to those attending (or hopefully attending)
I am concerned that too much of what I have done has been number one, “What I like.” What is meaningful to me. I do think there is also an issue of disabilities sensibilities. This may be impacted by the fact that many of the people we serve are higher functioning (it appears to me that while more and more people are living independently and working in the community they are seeking a place to connect with other persons with disabilities and we provide that). There may be approaches we do not use out of concerns of offending some of those we hope to attend. Puppets and Clowns are primary examples. Not that there is anything wrong with puppets and clowns, there isn’t. Not that we do not have members that would enjoy puppets and clowns, we do. The fact still remains that we also have members that would think we were trying to treat them like children.
Not that we have never used puppets and clowns. We had this black light puppet team that had been a finalist in a national competition minister one time and they blew me and our members away. But as a rule I stay away from things that shouts children ministry.
Just another thought for the conversation.
August 3, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Hummm, I remember some sermons that I’ve done where I think our members would have preferred a clown or puppets.
August 3, 2009 at 6:07 pm
3% of the population is mentally retarded. On a Bell Curve, 2 standard deviation below an I.Q. of 100. I.Q. 0-69. The higher the I.Q. the greater the number of persons. Those with the highest I.Q. have a greater population than those with a lower I.Q.
For the most part ministries that target the mentally retarded population do not have those with higher I.Q.’s. If that was because they were active in local churches that would be fine. I fear it is because they do not want to be treated like children, but they do not fine a place in the “regular” church either.
Are there mentally retarded people that like puppets? I would say so, but at what cost – hopefully not the loss of higher functioning people.
August 3, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Thanks so much for your comment.
Actually, I think most people love puppets but it isn’t considered adult. And it certainly isn’t considered “cool” for the higher functioning members of the mentally challenged community. Therefore, that is why we don’t do puppets at Special Gathering. In our Special Gathering programs, most of our people are higher functioning. We find that if we target our praise and worship and even our sermons to higher functioning people, with the smaller Bible classes divided into functioning levels, we are able to “catch” almost everyone with the good news of Jesus.
At camp for years, the founder and director of the camp grounds had a puppet called Danny. A lower functioning member named Billy loved Danny and everyone loved Billy. Therefore, it was great fun to have Danny show up at our camp on Sunday mornings for Billy. This gave everyone an excuse to enjoy Danny’s corny jokes. Billy and the camp director died about the same time, therefore, we no longer have Danny at camp.
At Camp Daniel, Tony Piantine and Georgie (the puppet) are a great team and it really works. Georgie has attitude and the people attending camp love it. Tony and Georgie skillfully wrap the topic of the sermons into a skit that makes fun of everyone and everything. Georgie is always late and forgets to comb his hair or brush his teeth.
Georgie gets fan mail; Tony doesn’t. Georgie get birthday cards; Tony doesn’t. Georgie even has his own facebook page complete with a fan club. Needless to say, no fan club for Tony. Of course, it is the higher functioning campers who write the fan mail, birthday cards and join the fan club.
August 6, 2009 at 11:56 am
I do not believe that most people in high functioning mental disabilities group stay away from church because they are treated like children. It comes back to that concept of some one who speaks english not wanting to be in a spanish speaking service week after week. It is mostly a matter of communication.
I think that most churches speak over the heads of most of their congregation, Many people with mental disabilities grasp spiritual concepts even better than many new Christians. Every church needs to communicate in many ways, not in ways just for the smarter, wiser, more mature attendee. When church becomes a quest as to who can be the most spiritual, than that is when there becomes the haves and the have nots. Church is about saving, growing, and sending. All people fit into that, and all people are needed to use there gifts to make that happen. It is a community based on relationships, that are more important than anything else.
We use puppets at Camp Daniel Church but with the attitude that many of todays animated movies are made; there are many levels of humor and thought in their “personalities”; adult humor, slapstick, child like. Our crowd responds to our main puppet Georgie, because he has a disability number one. Secondly, he asks questions they have, that only a puppet would be bold enough to ask. Our puppets have down syndrome, are blind, have CP and use wheelchairs. Half of ministry is reaching people where they are at. Most of what exists as far as material and tools for people with disabilties is based in children’s ministries and is child like. We must not be willing to allow seconds for those we serve. As leaders we must set the bar, the rest of Christendom will not top us they will line up slightly under us.
Consider this, ore people in the world have gone to Disney on vacation than anywhere else in the world? It is for kids, it is based on cartoons and kids stuff but it is presented in a way everyone loves. No one walks away and says that was for kids, they treat me like kid, I am not going back. We must be willing to rise to that level in order to see change happen.
LT
August 7, 2009 at 12:10 pm
If you are going to do puppets “Georgie” is the way to do them. He event made a visit to our camp.
I also want to make two notes in response to Jesus For All. The first is off topic.
The 3% figure that is used a lot is a hard number to substantiate. I am not sure where it comes from. The bell curve will give you a number more like 2% and I have seen studies that reference 1.5%. We like many groups have taken as fact inflated figures for years.
I would also like to note that I think there is a group of people in all of our cities and towns that refuse to become part of the mentally challenged community and become loners. I see them riding their bikes or walking the mall. I hope we can find a way to reach them.
August 7, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Regarding the 3 percent figure, I checked the ARC website and ARC quoted the last US census to obtain that percentage. Perhaps the 3 percent figure was a questimate on the part of the US census. It would be a good study to find out from where that percentage comes.
August 8, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Music is A big part of our Worship Service at The Church of The Exceptional. We open the Worship service with the Song “OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD”. We put it up on the wall with an over head projector and Almost all the of the members have learned the Song.
We sing some of the old hymns: “WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS”, “AMAZING GRACE,” I HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS”,”JOY DOWN IN MY HEART”, and “I”LL FLY AWAY”. Most all the members know the words to these songs, Because they grew up singing and listen to them.
We also have groups to visit and sing for us. The members love music worship and sometimes members do Solo’s. We also have a nine member choir that travels thur out the mountains and foothills of north carolina and upstate South Carolina spreading the Message of The Church Of The Exceptional that God Loves You!
September 29, 2009 at 1:59 pm
The correct number according to the bell curve should be 2.2%. The numbers that are 2 sd or greater above the norm should be the same as the number that are 2 sd below.