Week 10 - The Weight of the World

This week’s reading was so good. These articles were so poignant and powerful. I was moved by these people. Also, these were easier to relate to our topic, since a few articles dealt specifically with issues of ageism and ableism. I chose to read the sections “Outcasts on the Inside” and “The Contradictions of Inheritance”. The two articles that specifically related to our topics are “The Sick Person as Object” and “Solitude”.

In “The Sick Person as Object”, I found myself relating to Isabelle and wanting to care for her. I’ve worked in hospitals and, for the first time, was able to see life in a hospital from the eyes of a patient, rather than the staff. It is sobering to think that Isabelle was so dreadfully accurate in her portrayal of most hospital staff. In our hurry to provide the appropriate medical attention, we fail to care for the actual person in the bed. How sad that she had to first dispense care to her own caregivers before she herself would receive the care that should have been naturally dispensed to Isabelle. I am glad that she was able to push forward and get the care that she needed, but where were the advocates? Why was she having to fight alone – without anyone to assist her? Even able-bodied people, when they enter the hospital, often have someone (family, friend, neighbor) who will come and support them in such a tough time. Her alone-ness was striking in a hospital full of people.

In “Solitude”, I was struck by Louise’s sense of burdening family and friends. Perhaps it was her years on the “other side of the bed”, if you will. As a social worker, she saw how other people carried the burdens of family members who needed aid and wanted to save her family from that stress. How sad that no one in her family was in touch with her needs enough to know how alone and needy she was. I was saddened to read of her time in the hospital with only a stranger interviewing her to speak with. Where was her family? Where was her neighbor?

Both stories highlight the impersonal nature of much of the care that is provided to both the aging and the disabled. This parallels closely with a major finding that we had in our research relating to the disconnect between people who are working for systemic change (governmental, legal, etc) and people who are caring for individuals (who often cannot provide much at all). We need to bring these two sides closer together in order to begin to make major changes in the lives of individuals. Part of our project will be to provide a simple plan that people can use to begin to affect change. Hopefully it was encourage people to make the small changes that are possible at first, in order to achieve the end result.

Week 9 - Inventing Popular Culture

In reading this book I was intrigued by the content and struggling to understand how to make a connection to our group project. Until something in Chapter 7 hit me – the whole conversation about mass art. In considering how mass art affects the culture, and specifically, the individuals in culture, Storey hits on the very topic that has been my main focus in this project all along – the disconnect between the power working for governmental change and the individuals seeking to affect one life.

Storey quotes Noel Carroll: “Mass artworks tend toward a certain kind of homogeneity exactly because they aim at engaging what is common among huge populations…” (Storey 96, Carroll 196). I think what Carroll is saying is that by attempting to find common ground with huge populations, mass art loses its potential to be powerful to individuals. In the same way, in trying to address the larger issues of ageism and ableism, rather than addressing the people, we lose the power to affect the lives of individuals; we lose the power to serve the naked, hungry, thirsty, etc. The disconnect that our group saw between the people working for overall, systemic change were not able to affect the daily lives of the individuals who would benefit someday from these changes. In response, I think that some people have attempted to serve the people, without any attempt to look to making sweeping changes.

What I propose, and what I think our group will finally propose, is that both sides are needed in order to solve the problems. It is not acceptable to only look at the bigger picture and work to change law; nor is it acceptable to only look to caring for the individual with no concern for making systemic changes that will have the opportunity to affect lives long after our life is spent.

In our final exhortation, I think that we need to spend some time on the plan that we are proposing and make sure that we encourage people to start at a local or individual level, but to then use that as a springboard to thinking on a larger scale. How can churches affect the lives of individuals and still work to make systemic changes? By narrowing our view to one side or the other, we create the very disconnect that we noticed in our research. Better to provide poignant thoughts and ideas that will get people motivated to act on their own, than to provide a bunch of blather that is not going to affect anyone.

I am excited about how the wiki is turning out. I know that we have managed to keep our focus to an appropriate level, such that we can hope to actually impact a few lives beyond our own. While I still don’t really know how this has taught me anything about Transforming Contemporary Culture on a larger scale, I am more aware of our imperative to do something about these issues, especially as we are now aware.

Week 8 - Global Transformations Ch 5 and Globalization & Culture

I am eternally grateful that this is the last chapter of this book that I must read. Perhaps someday this book will make more sense, but right now, it’s just making me feel stupid. And we finally got to read another book – yay!

Corporate Power and how it relates to ageism and ableism, eh? Ok… I think Jimmy hit this one on the head. As we continue to move in the direction of industrialization, we will continue to see the traditional family pulled apart. No longer are the grandparents and great-grandparents part of the family structure. As people move to chase down jobs in the global marketplace, family members are being left behind – those too old to relocate, those without the skills to work in that field, those without the self-reliance to support themselves in a new environment. And so our elderly and disabled are left behind in nursing homes and institutions. As MNCs relocate employees based on profit-margins and the like, only immediate family is provided for in the move – and so people are left behind. We have eliminated the relational aspect of our families; we have removed the need to care for people. And so our younger generations grow up not seeing a model of care for parents and siblings that used to be considered the ‘norm’. They don’t benefit from the wisdom that is gained with age. They don’t have the opportunity to interact with anyone who is different than themselves, because all those who are different have been removed. Thus, we have ageism and ableism – directly related to this separation that began to happen during the industrialization of our nation.

Also, as we begin to pull apart and move away from the stable family life that had been the hallmark of the agrarian age, we see that the effects are more wide-spread than just on the elderly and disabled who are left behind. As I already mentioned, since the younger generations are now growing up without the connection to the older generation, not only are they losing the wisdom and guidance that could be had, but they are loosing an opportunity to interact with someone ‘other’. Since they are not seeing their parents model care for their parents in their old age, they cannot honestly be expected to know how to care when their parents reach that point. We didn’t just break one generation, but we’ve broken the whole system and not replaced it with anything healthy. We created a huge imbalance in our culture – and no easy way to repair it. We, as a culture, have had to completely redefine what ‘family’ is and how to care for them. Maybe what we need to do is slow down, and learn from our mistakes. We have been so busy learning to cope in this broken culture, that we haven’t had time to step back and make some real decisions about how to move forward.

Week 7 - Global Transformations Ch. 3&4

I think I mentioned last week that I am NOT an economist; let me elaborate this week and say that I don’t want to be an economist… EVER. While I do think that the topics of global trade and global finance are important to know and understand, I have to re-iterate this week that I really do think there must be a better way to present this information to budding theologians and missionaries. Our minds are often learning and reading in a way that this presentation of material is ‘counter’ to. These chapters are all about global finance: which I don’t understand AND which has not-a-whole-lot to do with our topics of ageism and ableism (at least not directly). Sure, finances affect our senior citizen and disabled populations, I’m not naïve. But… this discussion of global finance brings little to bear on our topics. And still, I will attempt to make some connections… in order to fulfill the requirement at hand.

Perhaps the best connection that can be made from the discussion of global trade to ageism and ableism is one regarding the work-force. During the Wars and as a result of industrialization, our country shifted from an agrarian society, where most of our population lived on, worked, and made a living from farms, to an industrial society, where the majority of our population was now living in cities and working anywhere BUT a farm. As a result, we experienced a division in the family along generational lines. This eventually led to the devaluation of our senior citizens – where once they had the honor of helping to raise the family and the respect that comes with age and wisdom, they were now living apart from the family and no longer were seen to have a major role to play in our society. This led to our current situation of dropping seniors off in nursing homes and leaving them totally unrelated to family and unconnected to society as a whole. In the meantime, we are losing out on the wonderful wisdom and experience they have to offer.

Concerning global finance, I’m at a loss. I cannot claim to understand macro- or micro-economics at all. This chapter could have been in French, for all I understood of it. What I did get from it has little to do with our project – and more to do with me: the idea that the US has so much power, financially, actually concerns me… scares me, if you will. Somehow, we are the financial “linchpin”. To me, if that is true, then we have a larger responsibility to our own citizens and the citizens of the world who are living ‘without’. How can we hold the financial power so strongly and watch as so many people struggle to afford a bite of food?? What right do we have to make more and more money and not share it?? This has nothing to do with our group topic – and is just simply a heart-thing.

Week 6 - Global Transformations Ch. 1&2

I have no idea what I just read. Maybe I’m stupid, but this book is WAY beyond me. I’m a budding theologian – not an economist or poly-sci guru. Yes, I think the information covered in this book is probably helpful and necessary – but I also think that it might be found packaged in a way that is more accessible to theologians and missionaries! That said, I must attempt a synthesis of the material in order to get my points for this class. So…

After starting this book and feeling WAY overwhelmed by the language, I decided to skip right to the chapter summaries hoping to make some sense of where this was going. Apparently, chapter 1 covers the idea of government across the globe and how politics has evolved over time. The second chapter was a little more clear in dealing with the spread of organized violence on a global scale. Relating these topics to our topic of Ageism and Ableism is little bit of a stretch, but I supposed there are some connections that can be made.

In Chapter 1, as Held et al consider the move to global politics, what stood out to me was the short section (pp. 65-70) on the human rights regime. In some ways, what we are considering with ageism and ableism directly relates to human rights, simply because society often forgets to afford basic human rights to these people groups. All of the work to increase the relative value of people seems to be very governmentally based, in this book. They speak of the political groups and law-making factions that are affecting change at a larger level. Unfortunately, in the process, people are still suffering. This is similar to the disconnect that we have found in our research. While some people are pursuing legal and governmental changes to better the lives of women, children and other disassociated groups, the people themselves, whom we are attempting to serve, live in poverty, isolation and need. The apparent need, as far as I can see, is a re-connecting of this needed governmental work with the actual, immediate needs of the people. Instead of working only for laws like the American’s with Disabilities Act, we should be actively serving the disabled community – loving them and getting to know them.

Chapter 2 is a chapter on which I hope to be able to spend more time. The topics are very relevant to understanding where we are as a country today, given the war in Iraq. Connecting this topic to ours, more specifically, is a challenge. Perhaps the best connection can be made at the level of understanding how war affects the elderly and creates disabled people. The current senior citizen generation has experienced war in a way that our generation has not. They were involved in the last World War, as well as the controversial wars in Korea and Vietnam. It is necessary for us to understand how these wars affected this generation, since our understanding of war is so totally different. This could be an area where conversation and relationships can begin – with questions and honest interest in how the War affected them. What can we learn from this generation, before they are lost to us? And what can we learn from the vet, all the vets, who come home from war disabled in some way? How can we relate and provide for them? While war in and of itself is not a pleasant topic – perhaps it is one that we can use to develop the relationships that will allow us to serve these populations more effectively.

Week 5 - Analysis

In the past, I have studied American Sign Language and been involved a little bit with the Deaf culture. Because of this interaction, I decided that it might be an interesting addition to our research to look specifically at this group as an example of what ministries might look like as a result of our findings. In the Deaf culture, many Deaf people will not attend a hearing church because of past injustices and misunderstandings. The Deaf community is actually one of the largest populations world-wide in need of the Gospel. Mostly because churches were not well-equipped to minister to the Deaf – and so they were marginalized at church. Now there are churches that are working to change that attitude and to reach the Deaf community with the Gospel – so I was interested in how that was being accomplished and how effective it was.

I found several church and ministries that are working together to integrate the hearing and Deaf together into community. In most cases that I found, the Deaf community was considered a sub-group of a larger church community that was mostly hearing. But, the programs and outreach that was available was sophisticated and well-thought-out. It seems, on the surface anyway, that these ministries are working toward unity with the hearing community in the church. It has the potential, though, of becoming what Chap Clark would call a “one-eared Mickey Mouse”. In this case, the Deaf ministry would just be a group with an affiliation (in name alone, really) with the hearing church, but not have any interaction with the community as a whole – thus preserving the separation of the Deaf and the hearing and not integrating everyone into one community.

This was a good reminder to me that as we work toward a plan for our wiki, we need to ensure that our ideas and programs focus on integrating people together – no matter their age or level of ability. I think we all agree that what we are working on is a plan for people, not simply programs. Our passion relates to understanding this problem as it affects people, not just numbers in attendance or doing our Christian duty and caring for others less fortunate. Really our wiki is about people.

I had an idea regarding a concept I learned in Chap Clark’s classes – “the funnel”. There isn’t room to go into detail here, but I will continue to explore this idea in future postings – to see how we might integrate the concept. The main focus of the funnel is to plan programs and ministries that focus on bringing people (in Chap’s case, youth) into the body of Christ, the church; not alienating them on the outside as a separate ministry with no relation to the body as a whole. This funnel might be a good way of thinking about and structuring our plan, so that people have something concrete at which to look.

Week 4 - Analysis

This group of resources further developed the idea that there is a disconnect between people working and people thinking. The thinkers have great defenses and mission statements and core values; the doers have great programs (and, often, little info on the web).

The Lausanne Covenant is a popular document that many organizations use as a standard, or even as their own statement. In 1974, Billy Graham got a group of people together and this document was the result. Groups have continued to come together since then, and other documents have come from those gatherings (I.e. The Manilla Manifesto ), but The Lausanne Covenant remains the standard.

Other major finds for this week include the lists of resources. Since our project cannot presume to define Mission or Care Ministries for others, it will be very important to provide lists of resources that are useful, so that churches can write their own statements of missional theology.

With the sources from the last 2 weeks of my research, I think that we have a good overview of the Biblical principle of missions and care. While it cannot be a full exegesis, nor a standardized statement that everyone can adhere to, I believe that these resources are a good source of inspiration for people and groups that are looking at writing their own statements. Without a mission statement, I think that any program or project is missing a key element. Unless the people can express why it is that they are participating in care of others, the opportunity to be a light for Christ in the world is missed. Lots of people care for others – but as Jesus-followers, our reasons should be clear, so that there is no mistaking what we are doing.

Theologies of mission are available in many books – often through Seminary and other missions training programs. In most cases, these are good places for groups to begin – understanding what mission is and how the Bible speaks to the idea of mission. What needs to happen is for the practical groups to take the academic writings and “put legs on it”, make it live and breathe.

Much of our research to-date has uncovered a huge disconnect between people who are thinking about these issues and people who are actually working for, and with, the people affected by these issues. Starting with a Biblical Theology of Mission, our hope is to create a connection between the thinking and the doing.

Weeks 6-10 - Resources

It is my understanding that from this point forward, my 'resources' will be incorporated into my analysis posts, based on the assigned reading for the week.

Week 5 - Resources

This week I chose to look at the Deaf culture and how faith intersects with it. The Deaf community in the US is a separate culture of its own and so may provide us with some interesting examples of how this community relates to churches. Also, the Deaf community is considered to be one of the largest unreached populations, missionally. Perhaps this can be a springboard to how to look at ministry for other ‘disabilities’ as well. [*Note: I use ‘disability’ very loosely here – many people who are deaf do not consider it a ‘disability’, simply a different-ability. It is our society that tends to make it into a disability.]

1. http://www.fxcc.org/deaf/ - A church with a very large deaf ministry – not just simply signing in worship, but really an entire church focused on the Deaf. This ministry, this church is connected to a hearing church as well – and hopefully is fully integrated.
2. http://www.deafworldministries.com/ - A Deaf organization working to spread the gospel. They have several ministries, including a church and a magazine.
3. http://deafchurch.co.uk/ - A look at what is happening in the UK concerning this community
4. http://www.fbcdeafministry.com/ - Another church with a thriving ministry for the deaf that is connected to the hearing church as well
5. http://deafness.about.com/od/religion/ - About.com’s look at Religion in the Deaf Community
6. http://deafness.about.com/cs/religion/a/deafministry.htm – Deaf missions around the world
7. http://www.deafmissions.com/?CategoryID=3 – This group aims to serve the Deaf community, leading them to SEE Jesus Christ as Lord. They consider the cultural issue thoroughly.
8. http://www.valleybible.net/deaf/ - This church is even offering educational aids for hearing people, in order to create ONE community, not two.
9. http://stbarnabasdeaf.edow.org/about_us.html – Another church that seems to be working to coordinate hearing and deaf members into one community, while still addressing the different needs of each.
10. http://www.llumc.org/dm/dm.shtml – One more church with a pretty well integrated ministry for the Deaf community.

Week 4 - Resources

Mission Statements from Worldwide Missions Organizations, Essays on Theology of Mission, Resource lists:

1. http://www.ntm.org/about/coreValues.php?page=core%20values&io=1 – The New Tribes Mission website includes a page on their values, along with scriptural “proof-texts” as support.
2. http://www.ibs.org/aboutibs/corevalues.php – The International Bible Society webpage on their core values, again including scriptural support.
3. http://www.lausanne.org/Brix?pageID=12722 – The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization; Includes The Lausanne Covenant (http://www.lausanne.org/Brix?pageID=12891), a document that came out of an international congress called by Billy Graham in 1974. This covenant has become a major statement in many mission organizations world-wide.
4. http://www.pcusa.org/witness/archivesbibstudy.htm – A series of Bible studies developed by the PC(USA) church that looks at some major topics in missions.
5. http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#xi – The Baptist Faith and Mission statement concerning Evangelism and Mission; from the Southern Baptist Convention Website.
6. http://missiology.org/mmr/mmr20.htm – a short essay on the need for a Theology of Missiology. Well-written with good sources. Not much practically – but good theory.
7. http://bgc.gospelcom.net/emis/emqarticles/webpage.htm – Evangelical Missions Quarterly webpage of links and other resources for a theological look at missions
8. http://www.missionstudies.org/1conf/PDF%20and%20Word%20files/Biblical%20Theology%20of%20Mission%20Reading.doc – A HUGE list of other resources. Probably a good add to our resources list – but has not practical influence on our wiki, since there is no “content”
9. http://www.brooksidebaptist.org/heart_missions – A really nice essay looking at missions from a doxological perspective – focusing on how missions is intended to bring Glory to the Name – not just convert all nations.
10. http://missiology.org/bibliographies/theologyofmission.htm – Another good list of resources for understanding and developing a theology of mission.

Week 3 - Analysis

This week I spent time looking at resources that would answer the question: "Why ought Jesus-followers to be involved?"

I started with searching for examples of missions statements and congregational care pages that listed their Biblical foundations for these ministries. From there I was able to find some texts that might be useful in answering this question. Also, The Bible Gateway has online commentaries and other tools that are helpful. My hope, in this coming week, would be to get a clearer understanding of the Biblical foundation for missions/care and apply it to our topics specifically.

As for what I found, I was both impressed and deeply disappointed.

The majority of the sites that I found had nothing listed – no explanation of why they had all these programs. Just lists of programs and brief descriptions. This just confirms for me the feeling that many people participate in the work of the church without a clear understanding of why. They just do. Which, I guess, is OK in some respects. At least their doing something. But how sad that they are missing out on the blessing for themselves because of their lack of depth. So, I am more committed than ever to making this wiki something that will be beneficial and inspirational!

For the sites that did get into the Biblical principles of missions and care… they were usually extremely thorough! Unfortunately, most of the sites were sermons or papers by individuals and were not tied to anything practical. So, I saw a lot of what Jimmy noticed – a real disconnect from the theoretical/theological and the practical.

So, now I feel like I need to clarify my stance on the Biblical foundation – and look at how to apply it in our context.

I’m feeling a bit more comfortable with our topic, although the methodology we spoke of in class is still a bit confusing in practice. I followed the discussion – but had a really hard time apply it to our case. Hopefully, the more I live with the concept, the more I’ll see how to apply the methodology.

This analysis is shorter than I’d hoped, because I’m traveling. I’ll post as I can this week and will catch up on Friday or Saturday. Ryan is aware of my absence this week – and so I hope he will be lenient when grading me! (=

Week 3 - Resources

Websites that cite Biblical sources for Missions and Congregational Care. These are sermons and resource lists and descriptions of programs:

1. http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/biblestudies/biblical_basis.html – A Bible study looking at various Scriptures that address missions.

2. http://www.globalfrontiermissions.com/missions.html – A really thorough look at the various scriptures that relate to missions, in general.

3. http://www.christchurchgr.org/ministries/congregational_care/shepherding.htm – A short description of a care ministry with Biblical sources, Purposes, and a description of their model.

4. http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/81/092081.html – A sermon looking at the Biblical principle of congregational care.

5. http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?744 – Anabaptist Theology and Congregational Care; an interesting article with many other works cited that might be helpful.

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageism – This is simply the current Wikipedia entry on Ageism. Not biblical in perspective… but a resource we should have had last week.

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ableism – Ditto; only this is for Ableism.

8. The Bible Gateway (links to Scripture and commentaries):
Missions: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_resource.php?source=1&tid=3403
Blindness: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_resource.php?source=1&tid=831
Paralysis: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_resource.php?source=1&tid=3722
Deafness: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_resource.php?source=1&tid=1349
Lameness: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_resource.php?source=1&tid=2986

9. http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/timothy/3777.html – A sermon based on the 1 Timothy passage concerning the care of widows. Might be useful, exegetically…?

10. http://www.careministry.com/scripture.asp – A ministry designed for the care of the elderly, with scriptural references and everything.

Week 2 - Analysis

At this point in the quarter, I can only say that this project feels HUGE. This list of resources is not great… it’s incomplete, vague, and covering a HUGE scope! My selections had more to do with finding websites that had something to say, even if it wasn’t much. Also, I was choosing websites that had links or lists of other resources that might lead us down a rabbit-trail to something useful. Rather than looking for simple essays or comments, I was hoping to start a list that would lead to other information – even if the initial information was not great.

The sources on ageism were easier to find, at first, which surprised me. I think perhaps it is because the term ageism is fairly specific and there are not too many other terms in use. Ableism, on the other hand, has other synonyms and antonyms that could make our initial searching challenging.

I don’t have much to say in light of the course content, since I’m not really sure we’ve had enough content with which to interact.

In general, I feel like I am doing a disservice to these communities by even attempting this project… and I hope and pray that our group efforts will yield something useful. In the meantime, I pray that we can spur others to think about this issue, as we wade through the sea of information and mis-information in search of transformation.

Perhaps the best place to start will be to define each term, as we are going to use them, and then determine our scope. We need to look at legislation: the original intent, the current usage, plans for change, effects on society. We need to look at programs: secular and spiritual, effective and ineffective, small and large. We could compare practices in many countries and societies, or over time, or based on spirituality. We could offer suggestions and ideas for projects and plans that will help to affect change. We could tell the stories of people who have been affected by ageism and ableism.

The World Health Organization, and others like it, is probably the best starting place for finding direct information about the problems world-wide. This is a trust-able resource, from which we can glean more information. It will be important that we check the reliability of each resource, in order that we ourselves do not become mis-informed and then, unwittingly, pass on our mis-information.

The essay by Victor Carpenter (http://www.uuma.org/BerryStreet/Essays/BSE1991.htm) brings up a whole new area to consider – media as perpetuating the problems! Are our attempts to be politically correct actually hurting the very people we intend to help?

In conclusion, for today at least, this is just a list that scratches a portion of the surface of these issues. Even with all 3 lists together, we have hardly made a dent in this topic. It will take us awhile to get to anywhere specific where transformation can actually happen.

For now, I will be contented with our collective intent to help, not harm… and to inform. Hopefully, as we continue on this quest, something will begin to make sense.