Wonderfully, fearfully knit together {Psalm 139:13-16}

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well. 

My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

{Psalm 139:13-16}

A how-to guide for hosting a prom for adults with disabilities

A decade ago, our church hosted our first prom for adults with disabilities. It was called the Joy Prom, and after that event, our church began a Sunday school class for that same group. I've written about Joy Prom before here and here and the Joy class here.

This is no small undertaking, so if you're interested in hosting an event like this at your church this spring, then now is the time to start. To help you out, here's the manual that one of our Joy Prom coordinators wrote a few years ago; it has been used by several churches across the country to plan their own events.

And here's a video I found on YouTube of news coverage from our 2008 prom.


I do want to share one note of caution in planning and executing an event like this, though: It's very easy to operate from the mindset of "look at this great thing we're going to do for them," setting yourself up as the doers of ministry and them as the receivers. I've seen this become problematic after the event when that mindset continues and can prevent full involvement of "them" as people who can do ministry too. I would recommend cultivating an attitude of "look at this great night we all get to have together to celebrate life;" then you're talking and thinking about each other as friends and partners in ministry from the beginning.

my office and officemates

Because I'm getting an IV treatment for my rheumatoid arthritis today (which means that I feel crummy right now but that I'll feel amazing by Saturday, praise God!), you're getting a shorter and more lighthearted post today.

Here is my "office" and one of my "co-workers."

And here are the other "co-workers."

Life is good.

What if being the church influenced how we live in our communities and not just where we go on Sundays?

Today, I'd like to call your attention to a recent report released by The Barna Group. This research is the result of posing the following question to 1,021 adults:

Many churches and faith leaders want to contribute positively to the common good of their community. What does your community need, if anything, that you feel churches could provide?

The number one answer (as provided by 29% of respondents)? Ahead of all other responses, such as cultivating biblical values (14%), serving youth/families elderly (13%), assisting in recovery (10%), addressing workplace/financial/educations issues (7%),  serving the community (5%), and engaging politically (1%)?

 

In case you're wondering, the arrow to the left (29%) represents all adults, to the top (31%) represents the response of churched adults, and the bottom (25%) represents the response of unchurched adults (defined as those who have not attended church in at least six months, not counting weddings or funerals).

Interesting points here:

• Both those who are churched and those who are unchurched seem to agree here. The church can/should be engaging with our communities on poverty-related issues. A phrase used a lot around my church this year is "engage the church. engage the city." We're not just about one or the other; both matter.
• Disability is only mentioned in the poverty category in this report. While it is true that factors like the financial hardships of special needs and the limited educational/vocational options for some individuals with disabilities can contribute to higher rates of poverty among this demographic, this doesn't capture all people with disabilities, and it only focuses on practical and not spiritual needs. (Don't get me wrong. We need to start with the practical needs. We just don't need to stop there!) We oversimplify the need if we toss "disability" into the "poverty" box and fail to acknowledge that it can be present in any box of ministry.
• There is certainly room to grow. Consider the graphic below. These are the folks who responded that they weren't sure what the church could do to meet needs in the community or who didn't think the church could do anything. I noticed first that a third of unchurched adults responded in this way. But then the churched number caught my eye. Sure, it's only 9%, but what is being preached in our churches if nearly one out of ten of those attending don't know what we could do to reach out to the community or think that we can't/shouldn't do anything? 
  
  
• One conclusion in the report was that those who were unchurched weren't typically hostile toward the church. They were just indifferent. Hostility can be harder to influence, but indifference? Imagine what could happen there if Christians were known more for being the church than simply going to church. If those 33% unchurched adults who answered "don't know" or "nothing" saw the church demonstrating the love of Christ as we serve those in our communities, what difference would that make in their indifference? And not only their indifference to the church but perhaps their indifferent to the head of the church, Christ?
• And, finally, in the words of the report: "Churches are not thought of as contributing to civic enhancement, beyond poverty assistance. Most people do not connect the role of faith communities to civic affairs, particularly local efforts like assisting city government, serving public education, doing community clean-up, or engaging in foster care and adoption, and so on. There are opportunities for faith leaders to provide more intentional, tangible, and much-needed efforts to assist local government, particularly as many services have been diminished by the economy."

From the report itself (which I recommend you check out) or the thoughts I've shared about it, what do you think? How would you answer the question The Barna Group posed: Many churches and faith leaders want to contribute positively to the common good of their community. What does your community need, if anything, that you feel churches could provide?

recent thoughts...

No organization here, just some things I've been thinking about lately (plus some hints at other posts coming in the next couple weeks)...

1) Today I'm ranting about injustice on The Works of God Displayed. It's written more in the style of this blog than that one, so if you're read this one, you'll probably want to check it out.

2) Robbie began throwing up on the way home from church on Sunday evening. And then pitifully looked down at himself and looked up at me and said, "It a lot of yuck, Mommy. A lot of yuck," in a distressed tone. Thankfully, he is running and jumping and bouncing today after 36 hours of tummy bug and fever.

3) We've re-prioritized house projects so that we have everything downstairs in order before we even consider expanding to add two bedroom to the third floor. And, while I posted a few weeks ago about our plans to stay in this house indefinitely, part of the reason for the re-focus is that we're toying with the idea of moving to a larger home closer to Lee's office and our church instead of making more room in our current home. (A new house would also ideally have a first floor master so that I can avoid stairs when my joints are flaring badly.) Finishing projects downstairs will make it so our house is ready to sell if we decide to go that route.

4) Today, though, I'm feeling more like we'd be better off staying put. Our neighbors are wonderful, and Jocelyn is hanging out with one of them and "helping" her with her chores so that Robbie and I can rest. So right now I'm feeling like we can only move if there are two houses available on a new street so that our neighbors can move with us (and then, of course, we'll need to convince them of that...).

5) I have a handful of book reviews, ranging for a quick evangelism book for adults to a young adult novel set in southern France during WWII to a kids' picture book, coming this week. And then next week's posts will be brought to you by Jocelyn's photography skills.

6) Overheard in our car a couple weeks ago: 
Lee: "So who's the dead person this time?" (referring to my Kindle, which has screensavers that frequently consist of pictures of authors...dead authors, that is)
Me: "Virgina Woolf."
Jocelyn: "Why's she not alive anymore?"
Robbie: "Because she's dead."

7) I love this post and how it relates to parenting. Yes, it is from the Onion News Network, but satire is one of my love languages: Very Lenient Umpire Tells Base Runner Next Time He Gets Tagged He's Out

8) And thank goodness I'm not applying to college right now. A tweet as an essay? I had trouble keeping college essays under the word limit; 140 characters would not have been enough for my word-loving soul.

9) I am really, really excited about our church's new Sunday school curriculum for little ones through high school.

10) I am very, very, very much looking forward to my IV on Thursday. My joints need meds. And I'm nearly at peace with the idea of moving my IV cycle from every eight weeks to every seven and adding a second drug (well, replacing the current second drug with a different, stronger one). Nearly at peace, so please pray, y'all. And I'm very, very, very thankful for insurance, because my meds would put us back $45,000/year if we didn't have insurance.

11) I like Google+, but I'm not sure I can handle another social media option. Either it needs to dominate something else quickly, or it's not going to stay on my radar.