Video Transcript: Lunch Bag Framework

If I had to consider visual and illustration, I believe that churches are typically masters at building cans of things. So they have a can, and they call it children's ministry. They have a can and they call it oh, this is our worship ministry. They have a can and they say this is our seniors’ ministry. And then they have another can and they call it I don't know, evangelism, youth ministry, whatever it is, and your congregation. But it's almost always true that overseeing these cans, they either have a staff member or a volunteer. So you're in charge of the seniors, you're in charge of the you know, you're in charge of the kids, you're in charge of the worship, we have pastors or volunteers that take charge of this. They're in charge of worship, or you oversee the children, whatever that can, may be. And then churches hear about this thing called disability ministry, and they say, Oh, my goodness, we just need to add another can. Oh, that is where I think we run into big trouble. 

Remember from our last session, if it's true, that in this children's ministry can at least 20% of the children already have some sort of a designated disability. Or maybe you're a church that does a lot of multicultural opportunities, and you have people for whom the language that you speak in your community is not your first language. So maybe we already have children who have languages that they are learning and that is not really the one spoken within your community. I know I was visiting, and working with the Chinese church in Vancouver, Canada, and they were saying to adults are worshipping in Mandarin, the children are worshipping in English. Wow, talk about some variants within a can, right? And that it's not a disability, but it certainly is a difference in instruction. When we put the seniors, here's our seniors, the seniors with the children, wow. We need to think about that if we're worshiping together, we're learning together. What is that like? 

So already in these cans, each one has a percentage of people who are already known as having some kind of a disability much less, using that term varied ability; could be in language could be in preference about how we learn how we take in information, whatever that may be. Our cans are filled with varied abilities, cans of all abilities. And that line just goes higher and higher as we think of all of the possibilities of the way people may learn or worship or express themselves or take information in. It's a fascinating thing to think about. 

So I always say, Well, okay, you're going to start a disability ministry can. Who are you going to put in there? Are you going to take that two-year-old with Down Syndrome and put that person in that can along with, you know, maybe that 57-year-old who's just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder? Really? You know, we're going to build a room 7. Who are you going to put in room 7?  So I think there's a better analogy. Understanding that each one of these cans already has people with designated disabilities, much less to think about people who have varied abilities of all sorts. I think we're much better off thinking about disability ministry as shredded cheese. 

Shredded Cheese is one of those things that you get a chance to sprinkle within all of those portions of your church. Perhaps you have children of all abilities, and you say, look, as the children's ministry director, you'll get to own 100% of the children in this can. But have we got to deal for you. We have some people in our church; we have a person who maybe they work in special education or social work or occupational therapy, they're gonna come alongside you and we're gonna figure out how we can have a children's ministry of belonging and find a place of belonging for each child who steps into our children's ministry area. 

What about that worship pastor, right? Oh my goodness, what a job. We're worshiping with people of all abilities, but have we come up with a worship service that only uses words. Because there are so many people for whom that is not going to work well. Perhaps a worship service that is thinking about people of all abilities will have a great opportunity to do some brainstorming or recognition that we're going to plant some things into our worship service so sprinkle that cheese in there so that people have access points to worship today. And it's not just going to be spoken words, because we know that's not going to suit 100% of the worshipers who have gathered together on that day. 

Seniors ministry.  Maybe we have a person that goes and visits an individual from our community who has been diagnosed with dementia, and need some tips and tools for going to do that visit. I don't know what that looks like. Each can is going to require some expertise, some tools, some shredded cheese, either in people or equipment or whatever that might be like so that we can truly have cans where each one can say yes, we are community, everyone welcome. And we mean it we stand behind that sign. 

So again, I just a visual, I wanted to leave with you about a cans and shredded cheese. I think I also put this on our visual for today on the PowerPoint. But again, it's an opportunity to say okay, we have these cans, let's get some shredded cheese going in each one of our cans, each one of our cans, and as often have put through the Spirit's power, that cheese gets baked into our congregational casserole, and it is a pleasing aroma to God. So we're going to learn a lot about that.

Again, a few examples, and I've already mentioned a few. But I think this topic of shredded cheese is important. Again, the theory is many churches say let's build a can called disability ministry. I would say don't do that. You already have people in each can who have some kind of an identified difference. We might as well come alongside each of the leaders of these cans and equip that person to say, look, all of the worshippers in here are mine because I'm the worship pastor. I need some help, some expertise, I need some tools. But then we're going to create this beautiful congregational casserole. 

So again, let's just think about children's ministry. And quite honestly, as the course unfolds, you're going to get a ton of ideas for all of these cans. And I'm excited about that, and part of a three-part plan that I'm going to share next. But this is the shredded cheese component of this. So in children's ministry, let's just imagine that we're going to acknowledge right from the beginning, from the minute you meet a parent, that you know what? We recognize that every child comes with areas of gifting and areas of challenge or need. And so even on the intake form, we might put in some questions that are going to signify that we're expecting, we’re expecting our can to be filled not with not with little carbon copies of one another, but with a diversity of children and, youth and so on our intake form that parents maybe fill out once a year, or whatever that looks like, will you say have typical things like what's your address? How can I get a hold of you? Those kinds of things. 

But then very specific questions about each child: what are some of your child's strengths and gifts? And behind that the listing is quite specific, giving suggestions to parents are some of those gifts, drawing, writing, encouraging reading, attitudes, social relationships, paying attention, technology, athletics? Right there, again, we're acknowledging every child that walks into our children's ministry has gifts to share. They have strengths and interests. But also we're going to ask this question? What are your child's struggles and challenges within this environment? What might that be? 

Again, the list is very similar. We didn't ask, what kind of disability does your child have? No, we're acknowledging that 100% of the children come to children’s ministry have gifts and needs and we know that some will also have a designation perhaps as a disability, but even as God’s master design, that’s who we are.  We’re going to talk about that more. But behind this question, what are your child's strengths, struggles and challenges within this environment, drawing, writing, encouraging reading, attitude, paying attention, social relationships, technology, athletics, as well as allergies, and medical needs. 

So again, we're asking parents to give us some information, not just about certain kids, not just about that child that walked in, and it looks to us like perhaps that child has Down syndrome, but about every child acknowledging that each one has areas of gifting and areas of challenge. So again, how can we spread that cheese within children's ministry acknowledging the gifts that each one springs, but also the areas of struggle? 

So that's just one example of shredded cheese. Another example may be some expertise that people bring into that environment. Perhaps you have a child, or several children that you know are going to struggle with louder noises. How can you factor for that? What tools can you put in place so that children aren't running from the room screaming when you start your worship experience, but everybody can enter into that worship experience. So again, we're going to talk a lot, in fact, we've dedicated nearly a whole week to thinking about children and youth, and another whole week thinking about worship, with intergenerational settings with adults with children. So again, I think that we're going to cover this shredded cheese well, but I wanted to whet your appetite just a little bit because even from the minute a parent fills out a form can be one of those plain and clear statements, we are expecting people of all abilities to be part of our children's ministry. 

So yeah, let's talk about worship. You know, so many times, and I'll just put these pictures out. Well, okay, let's start with this. Whether we're talking about worship in a children's setting or an adult setting, having some tools available can be so helpful. Acknowledging the fact that every worshiper is not created equal, that we have people who are going to worship by being able to sit for 25 uninterrupted minutes and do just great. In fact, sometimes I think about worship that there's this entryway, and it says Everyone welcome. But then we put up a whole bunch of other signs that cover up that everyone welcome sign. You must be able to read in order to do worship here. You must be able to write, you must be able to speak, you must be able to sing, oh, and it helps a whole lot if you know how to read music because we, you know, put it out in four-part harmony for you. 

You also need to be able to sit, stand, kneel at our request. You need to be able to sit and gather information in primarily an auditory-only presentation mode for at least 20 to 30 minutes. You know, there's just all of these requirements that we don't even think about. And yet I know several individuals, children and adults, that simply cannot sit for 25 minutes, they can't do it. There has to be some movement built in.

One congregation recognized this, and they made up something called pew pouches. I'll talk a little bit more about what was in those later. But they simply put items in these bags on each one of the pews. You'd be amazed how many children and adults just, you know, use some fidget pencils or pipe cleaners, something else that's in there, stick it back in the bag at the end of the worship service, and they're done. But again, we're not handing them out to Jordan and, you know, Cassandra, because those two need to move. No, we're just making it available. We're acknowledging that within our 100% of worshipers, we have some people who are going to need to move more than, you know, once every 30 minutes. 

So again, another thought, some people come able to read words others will come to worship focused on pictures. I know that I'll tell this story as part of our course. My father recently passed away from dementia. And one of the things that I knew about my father is that he began to rely more heavily on pictures and pictures of things. So again, to have an order of worship that has both words and pictures, is one of those great solutions that would just again, say, hey, some of you will read this, others of you will watch the icons that are on here.

One of my favorite opportunities was in an intergenerational setting, again, shredded cheese for worship. We've got a lot of different abilities here. And in this particular setting, we've got a three-year-old standing next to a 56-year-old. That has the very definition of varied abilities, right? The experiences and the energy and the bank of knowledge that they bring to that experience. But they handed one of these out, and they happen to have a little line in front of that. And oh my goodness, how many people took that and they would check it off:  Hymn 342 – check. Prayer - check. One of the little ones came up to the person who had come up with this idea after the service and said, We need way more checkmarks in front of that thing called sermon. So they did. They put five checkmarks in front of there. 

There are so many different ways to think about this, but acknowledging even with the order of worship, acknowledging by the tools we have available to us in our meeting areas, we are worshipers of varied abilities and each one belongs. We have been expecting you.

Another worship thing that some might consider is just the wording that we use. And I was speaking to a friend of mine who's done some research about out these words in other countries. Even in other countries, these words don't always translate the best. So please, I count on your linguistic skills to make this available in your community and in the language that you speak within your congregation. 

But so many times you get this really perky worship leader who gets up by the microphone and says, Okay, everybody, please stand. Right there, we have just drawn a line, haven't we? With those that are able to do that, and those that for whatever reason, it could be chronic pain, it could be that you're you've got an infant in your arms, it could be that you've are wheelchair user, whatever that is, please stand and let's worship together. Well, who was invited into worship? What if we just made one simple change, and we said, please rise or please stand in body or in spirit. Now, we've invited everybody, everybody could choose to do that as you enter into worship.

Another community said, we put four to six pictures up on our PowerPoint, biblical forms, postures that we might use in worship, and we'd say we're about to enter into a time of worship; choose one of these worship postures as we blend our voices together, whatever that may be. So again, I would encourage you, as we go on, way more examples in worship and children's ministry, but right there, those three things, perhaps not totally complex, right?, we could probably pull that off by next Sunday if we needed to, would acknowledge the fact that we were expecting close to 100% of the worshipers that are part of that can.

I also think seniors’ ministry, again, you know, this becomes a can where many of the seniors will tell me I don't have a disability. And yet, yeah, well, you've got two hearing aids, your vision requires that, your mobility requires that, there's a whole bunch of things that would say there are some differences in the way you take information in and get it out. But again, statistics would say it's definitely one of the largest percentage of persons with disabilities will end up in the seniors can and the truth is, if we all live long enough, it will happen to us as well. So this is not an us-them sort of thing. This is always us, all of us. But some things, you know, to acknowledge that, to say, look, we're just going to have, when we have seniors present, or if we're having a meeting, we're going to make sure we produce what we're going to study in large print. We're going to order some large print Bibles or hymnals to have available if that's a tool that we use. 

And also just becoming aware. We've noticed that we have some families where an individual was diagnosed with dementia, they had done some unexpected things during worship service. And so that individual in the family is feeling much more isolated, unwelcome in that place. But how can we just even create an awareness with the community as a whole, so that when that situation comes up, we're ready to say, No, we're prepared to welcome each person.

I've spent a lot of time because of my father thinking about that area of dementia. And I'll be mentioning some tools as well. But so often, the tools that we're going to talk about in worship in general, can be applied to persons helping and supporting persons with dementia. So I would often go and visit my father with pictures with my iPad where I could make those pictures much larger. We would often arrange things so that dad could see it. And we would almost always do those things that were at his core. My dad was a lifelong believer. So we spent our time with Scripture and song, and bathing ourselves in those things together. I'm going to talk more about that and give you some very specific tools as we go along the way. 

But again, these are tools that should work not just with that 20 to 25%. What we're going to talk about are tools that really are beneficial to 100% of the people who gather in your community, in the section that you oversee, or in your congregation as a whole. 

So please, the next time somebody comes up to you and you think they say we really need to start a disability ministry, you're gonna say Nope, but we're not having a can. Let's think about shredded cheese. Let's think about what that looks like within our existing ministries. Let's resource our overseers. Let's get them this information. Please. If you are a person on staff, maybe you'll go into your next staff meeting with a bag of shredded cheese and some cans and talk about that, that polling people with what? Who are you going to poll?  Who are you going to put in that room together with one another.  It just doesn't make much sense to do that. 

And while there may be some individual also who would benefit from having a particular space, so that there can be a break area or an opportunity for that person to learn something in a different way, I'm not suggesting we never provide spaces for people. I am suggesting that by lumping people with quote-unquote disabilities, varied abilities, whatever, into a can, is simply not an effective way as we think about our congregations and what works there. 

So no, I'm not turning this into my lunch, in case you were trying to figure out how cream of mushroom pizza sauce, tomato paste, and can have chicken breast fit together. Although I would say most things are better with cheese, right? So if we just would put it all in a pan, throw some cheese on it, there's a good chance it would taste great because of this. 

So anyway, something to think about. In fact, I would challenge you to do that a minute as you reflect. I would challenge you to keep some notes as we're gathering. What does that mean? We talked last session? Are you in that Yes, that Maybe, or that No category? Where has your experience been as you think about this topic?  We talked about statistics. What are those statistics for persons with “disabilities” in your community? 

But as you think about persons of varied abilities, let that grow your imagination. Who are you worshiping with? Is it intergenerational? Are you worshiping with people with a variety of languages that are spoken in the home? Oh, you have just increased the importance of thinking of these tools, just as you think about variation within your own church and community? And then, perhaps your congregation has already been thinking about this. 

Maybe you already have a can. It's called disability ministry. And you're going to work to say, Oh, wow, how can we take some of what we've learned and sprinkle this through, you know, the other cans that exist. Maybe you’re a community that just hasn't thought much about this at all and it's time for you to sort of put structure with it. So, don't build a can. Take the structure in your church, sprinkle the cheese, in large doses in some cans, especially that seniors can, and then we'll go from there. 

Hope you enjoyed this and hope you didn't get too hungry as I was pulling this out of my bag. Find a snack, and we'll join together in the next session where I would like to introduce to you something that we'll be talking about for the bulk of the course, which is a thre- part plan for ministry. So we'll meet back soon.