A Circle of Friends

By Linda Wold

Valley Community Presbyterian Church has a class for developmentally disabled adults called The Friendship Group. It is a group that offers adult education on Sunday mornings.

I first became familiar with the Friendship Group when I was asked to teach their Sunday Educational program. I had been advocating for children with learning disabilities for many years prior and so putting my skills to work with the Friendship Group seemed a natural fit.

The educational program for the Friendship Group is varied and many resources are used. Since the group members are all non-readers, and some have physical disabilities, all their senses are called upon to teach each lesson. Each lesson and each period of the year is taught in a different manner. Many curriculums have been used and adapted. Lessons from the various age groups, tools and methods of teaching are all utilized by the Friendship Group. For example, the manipulatives from the pre-school’s Kingdom Kids program, were used to tell the Exodus story. The table-sized sandbox represented the desert and all the many characters in that Bible story were represented by wooden figures dressed in appropriate clothing. The Friendship Group were able to listen to the story and move the players through the desert while sharing their own thoughts about what it must have been like to travel through that terrain. I taught that particular lesson more than 2 years  ago and the Friendship Group still talk about it to this day which tells me they certainly internalized that experience.

The Friendship Group, including guests they invite to join them, are fully a part of the activities at our church. They attend worship, participate in communion, attend the fellowship activities such as the coffee hour after worship, Christmas pageants, annual meeting dinner, Christmas dinner, Fall Festival auction/dinner. Not only do they attend and fully participate, they help with set-up and clean-up right alongside all the other church members.

Their various gifts and abilities are appreciated and they are an integral part of our church. They have a pure faith in the Lord and never waiver in their beliefs! Their patience with me and others is amazing and noteworthy. Their honesty, depth of loyalty and trust are remarkable. And their sense of humor is the icing on the cake. We love and cherish the

Friendship Group at Valley Community Presbyterian Church and are so fortunate to be a part of their circle of friends in Christ!

 

This article is part of a packet of stories on faith communities including persons with disabilities.  It originally appeared in 2007.  Linda still teaches the class.

 

Category: InPrint, Presbytery News