Friday, June 17, 2016

News from UM Association of Ministers with Disabilities, 6/17/16

Widespread effect of violence
https://theconversation.com/heres-how-witnessing-violence-harms-childrens-mental-health-53321

UM Disability blog: unexpected directions
http://umdisability.blogspot.com/2016/06/unexpected-directions-diane-mettam.html

Me Before You (again)
https://stephenkuusisto.com/2016/06/11/me-before-you-benedict-arnold/

Hearing loss and public health:
https://livingwithhearingloss.com/2016/06/07/new-report-highlights-hearing-loss-as-public-health-issue/

Disability theology: taking the body seriously
http://iym.ptsem.edu/disability8/

More faith and disability resources
https://davidfwatson.me/2016/06/16/more-faith-and-disability-resources/

Mass shootings and disability
http://cdrnys.org/blog/disability-politics/on-mass-shootings-and-mental-disability/

News from Pen-Del conference: First Deaf CLM
http://umdisability.blogspot.com/2016/06/first-deaf-clm-leo-yates-jr.html

Advocacy:
NCD seeks input
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/2016/ncd-seeks-input-poverty-public-policy-and-economic-independence
--


Click here for a list of events of interest to people in disability ministry.
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United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities,
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First Deaf CLM -- Leo Yates, Jr.

First Deaf CLM
By Rev. Leo Yates, Jr.

Karen Miller, a member of Grace United Methodist Church of Wilmington DE, was recently commissioned as a certified lay minister (CLM). She is thus the first Deaf person certified by the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference. She will have responsibilities in deaf ministry in her community.

Bishop Peggy Johnson, episcopal leader of the conference, stated “Karen has a heart for doing servant ministry.” For her part, Miller was delighted to have completed the training, and stated “Carol Stevens played an important part in me becoming a CLM, as she not only encouraged me but interpreted for the meetings and trainings. She was a blessing to me, as was my home church for supporting me,” says Miller. She goes on to say, “Rev Anne Pruett-Barnett, my pastor, was very supportive to both my ministry and my pursuit of becoming a CLM.”

picture of five people standing next to each other as listed in the caption.
Bishop Peggy Johnson, Rev. Anne Pruett-Barnett (pastor of Grace UMC), Ms. Carol Stevens (new CLM), Rev. Derrick Porter (District Superintendent of the Wilmington District), Ms. Karen Miller (new CLM). Karen Miller is the first Deaf Certified Lay Minister in the history of the conference.


Also supportive of Miller was her district superintendent, Rev. Derrick Porter. To become a CLM, candidates meet with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry, who approve and recommend them for the CLM track.  Often, CLMs serve in small membership churches or work within a team ministry as a part of the church’s mission to its faith community and/or its extended community.* CLMs provide servant leadership, offer care ministry, and/or are witnesses to the community. “I feel like I am living out my call in lay ministry; after all, the Apostle Peter said we are a priesthood of believers,” says Miller. Miller explains that as a CLM she will continue to be the lay minister for the Deaf community in her area. She often provides compassion and care to individuals, assists with case management needs, and coordinates Deaf-related events at her church, among a long list of other ministry activities. For example, Miller provided support to a Deaf woman who is a survivor of domestic violence by providing her with education, care, and through prayer.
picture of a large group of people in a room, some are sitting on the floor, some on chairs, and some standing, they are members of the Deaf Bible study at Grace UMC.
Attendees of the Deaf Bible study at Grace United Methodist Church
Miller is also the president of the Northeast Jurisdiction United Methodist Congress of the Deaf (www.umcd.org), a caucus recognized by the denomination. No doubt, Miller will be a wonderful CLM, and thus a helpful and caring asset, to her community.



* Discipleship Ministries. (2016). “Certified Lay Minister.” Retrieved from
        
www.umcdiscipleship.org/leadership-resources/certified-lay-minister.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Unexpected Directions -- Diane Mettam

The head of a missionary family our local congregation is supporting spoke at our church recently, telling us about their work in southeast Asia.  Seeds, he said, grow best where the soil is all busted up.  That is what life is like where he and his family are living and working - all busted up. The ministry, and its results, aren’t exactly what this missionary family anticipated.

It reminded me of my first ministry, a cooperative effort between several churches to do  outreach in the Hispanic community.  Most of the people on the committee didn’t understand the Hispanic culture, so when I asked one of the pastors if I could hold an Easter service at that church, I was told I had to guarantee a minimum of 30 people in attendance.  The reasoning was I had to have a certain number of people to serve as ushers, to take the collection, to read the Scriptures, etc. and to collect enough of an offering to pay the organist. 

I couldn’t help this person understand that many Hispanic congregations are quite small, especially at the beginning, and don’t follow the formal structure of our Anglo worship services.  Oftentimes there is no music but the clapping of hands, or a single guitar.  The answer was still no, I couldn’t use the church. 

I wonder how often we start a new ministry or outreach with preconceived notions of how the results should (or must) look.  When the soil is all busted up, the seeds have a better chance to grow, but the crop might look different than we expected. It doesn’t make it wrong. 

Jesus certainly sowed seeds in many unexpected places - a Samaritan woman, Zacchaeus, the woman caught in adultery, a Syrophoenecian woman, a couple of centurions.  After his death, when his apostles believed only Jews should receive the good news of Jesus, God changed the game plan - first with Paul and then with Peter’s vision of the descending cloth.

grey sign, reads reserved parking on first line, walking impaired visitors with an arrow pointing backwards on the second

While drawing up a mission plan for a new ministry is important, I think it’s just as important to be open to new and unexpected ways that ministry might develop and look.  Instead of counting it a failure if things develop differently than we planned, it’s important to evaluate and even appreciate those different developments and prayerfully consider how God is leading us.  Our plans are not necessarily God’s plans.  And our ways are not necessarily God’s ways.  I’m sure that Paul never planned to establish the church in Europe with a group of women at the river in Philippi, but that is what God provided.  And despite Jonah’s protests, God cared about the 120,000 people in Nineveh.

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11


We thank you, Lord, for the opportunities you give us to minister in this world.  Help us to remember to look at each other with your eyes, not our own.  If we will just follow you, and trust in you, the kingdom of God will grow and prosper.  Help us, we pray.  Amen.

Friday, June 10, 2016

News from UM Association of Ministers with Disabilities, 6/10/16

 NAS Hearing Healthcare report
http://hearinghealthmatters.org/hearingnewswatch/2016/iom-nas-hearing-aid-accessibility-affordability-healthcare-report-0602/

Random Acts of Expression: When Disability Enables
http://randomactsofexpression.blogspot.com/

PSA on "Me before you"
http://cdrnys.org/blog/press-releases/center-for-disability-rights-creates-psa-on-assisted-suicide-in-response-to-me-before-you/

Accurate media coverage and disabilities
http://www.startingwithjulius.org.au/967-2/

Design plays a role in highlighting accessibility:
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/activism-by-design-the-accessible-icon

Newsletter from Mental Health Ministries
http://www.mentalhealthministries.net/spotlights/index.html


Advocacy areas:
South Dakota has an outstanding--and successful--program that encourages disability hiring and is well on the way to eliminating sub-minimum wages. It features videos of government and business leaders, success stories, and people with disabilities who work, and is integrated into a single-contact program. "The possibilities are endless." How can your congregation, cluster, or district advocate and assist in a similar program? http://abilityforhire.com/ Call for papers that may interest some of our members: https://networks.h-net.org/node/4189/discussions/128439/cfp-academic-bravery

Photo from Baltimore-Washington conference:
http://www.umcdhm.org/pa2016/ac.html

Click here for a list of events of interest to people in disability ministry.
UMAMD logo with the UM Cross and Flame and several disability symbols
This newsletter is generally issued weekly by the
United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities,
a caucus of the United Methodist Church.

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Friday, June 3, 2016

News from UMAMD, 6/3/16

PTSD: healing and hope (Mental Health Ministries, auto caption only)
https://youtu.be/yP08jh6LK48

Sometimes the best medicine is another veteran
https://theconversation.com/sometimes-the-best-medicine-for-a-veteran-is-the-company-of-another-veteran-60092

Mental illness and God's grace
https://sarahgriffithlund.com/2016/05/28/mental-illness-and-gods-grace-2/

My problem as a disabled (UMC) pastor
https://crippastor.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/my-problem-as-a-disabled-pastor/

Don't judge me for depression
http://www.bphope.com/dont-judge-me-for-my-depression/



--

Click here for a list of events of interest to disability ministry.
UMAMD logo with the UM Cross and Flame and several disability symbols
This newsletter is generally issued weekly by the
United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities,
a caucus of the United Methodist Church.

Click here to join this e-mail list.
Visit us on the web or Facebook.