Dementia Dimension
Dementia is the new dimension to the Enabling Church day conference coming up in the Birmingham area on 3 June 2014. Book now – there’s not long left for the Early Bird discounted price of £13.50. In 20 years’ time, there’ll be more than half a million people in the UK aged 100 or over. A new report by the Alzheimer’s Society points to the ‘loneliness, alienation and segregation’ of many of our elderly people. But Professor John Swinton, minister of the Church of Scotland and chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at Aberdeen University, argues for a response to be found in the ‘key motifs’ of acceptance and belonging to be found in community. ‘A person’s spirituality has nothing to do with what they may or may not know. It has everything to do with who they know and how they relate to them,’ Professor Swinton writes in Friendship and Community in the textbook he has edited, Spiritual Dimensions of Pastoral Care. The inclusive community of love Professor Swinton will be a keynote speaker at a national conference in June which will address the Christian approach to a wide range of disabilities and disabling conditions. He describes the need for ‘the open, inclusive community of love and acceptance which we find revealed and lived out in the ministry of Jesus.’ Click here to read an article on the subject by Prof Swinton. The impressive line-up of Christian experts in different fields of disability also includes leading Christian psychotherapist Louise Morse, who believes that the secret of more contented ageing is found in the Bible. ‘Living by scriptural wisdom prepares us cognitively, emotionally and spiritually for contented old age,’ says Louise Morse. Ms Morse is media and communications manager for the Christian charity Pilgrims’ Friend Society and the author of books on dementia (published by Lion Monarch). The Enabling Church: Everybody In!conference will look at the challenges faced by the UK Church in welcoming and including people with dementia, sight loss, hearing loss, intellectual disabilities, autism, loss of mobility; and it will also discuss how the Church supports carers. The bigger picture ‘One in three of us will live with dementia in our later years,’ says conference organiser Dr Gordon Temple. ‘And when we look at the bigger picture we see that already 11 million people in the UK have a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability – that’s...
Read MoreENABLING Church
The next ENABLING Church conference comes up on 3rd June in West Bromwich. Hosted at the amazing Bethel Convention Centre and sponsored by the Diocese of Lichfield and Premier Christian Radio it will be our biggest ENABLING Church conference yet. Booking opens 14th February with tickets at the early bird price of just £13.50 including refreshements. Carers and enablers needed to support the participation of disabled delegates can attend free of charge. Go the ENABLING Church page to find out more and to book your...
Read MoreTHE BIBLE on Five and Accessible
Channel 5 will – after all – provide audio description for the broadcast of its epic mini-series THE BIBLE which starts on November 30th. Audio description (identified ‘AD’ in TV guides) is an additional commentary describing body language, expressions and movements. Subtitles have been included from the outset so accessibility for disabled people should be good. CfA Executive Officer (and Torch Trust CEO) Dr Gordon Temple has been lobbying the TV company to think about the needs of blind and partially sighted people since the announcement of the series earlier this month. Initially their response was a disappointing ‘no’ – and Dr Temple describes this last-minute turnaround as ‘an amazing answer to prayer.’ Martin Stott, Head of Corporate & Regulatory Affairs at Channel 5, said, ‘There are many demands from blind and partially sighted viewers for us to audio describe the programmes they like. I’m afraid it is simply not possible to audio describe them all … THE BIBLE was not originally included among the list of programmes to be audio described. We have now reconsidered the merits of this, and have decided that we will audio describe the series after all. So I can now confirm to you that all five episodes of The Bible will carry audio description.’ ‘I’m so grateful to Channel 5 for their change of heart,’ said Dr Temple. ‘Now blind and partially sighted people will be able to really get into this marvellous mini-series.’ The Damaris Trust has produced an excellent Souvenir Guide to support the series and Torch Trust has reproduced the text of this guide in braille, large/giant print and audio formats for people with sight loss. Contact Torch Client Services on 01858 438260 or email info@torchtrust.org is you wish to obtain an accessible copy for yourself or someone you know who would benefit from...
Read MoreFor All conference
Coming up soon: National Disability Ministries conference “For All”, part of the Seventh Day Adventist Church: Mission to the Cities. At the Hilton Watford Hotel, Elton Way, WD25 8HA, on 17 November 2013: 10:30AM – 4:30PM. Cost: only £20 incl. lunch, refreshments and resources. Guest speaker: Tony Phelps-Jones (Prospects) – author: Making Church Accessible for All. For more information and flyer visit the ASNA...
Read MoreNew Book: The Enabled Life
Christianity in a disabling world. This new book is the work of author Roy McCloughry, recently appointed by the Church of England as its National Disability Advisor. People are often embarrassed or fearful in encountering disabled people, who are, if the Bible is to be believed, at the heart of the kingdom of God. After all, God does not want us to conform to society’s stereotype of what is normal, but to celebrate diversity by delighting in who we are. We do not need to be ‘cured’ to know God’s healing, empowering love in our lives. Indeed, as author Roy McCloughry’s deeply moving interview with Jean Vanier underlines, the ‘abled’ may well discover their true humanity through learning from those whose humanity has sometimes been called into question. As a much published author, social commentator and academic, Roy McCloughry is ideally placed to make the latest theological thinking about disability accessible to a wide audience. As a person living with epilepsy who regards his condition as a ‘strange gift’ from God, he brings rich personal experience of what it’s like to live as a disabled person in a world where acceptance frequently relies on the appearance of normality. Roy McCloughry offers us the fruits of years of prayerful reflection on what it means to be disabled in (and sometimes by) the Church. As a result, he prompts us to consider what it really means to be the Church: challenging us all – disabled and “abled” – to be healed and saved together. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury The Enabled Life: Roy McCloughry, SPCK Publishing, 2013, ISBN:9780281062782, 144 pages. Paperback. (216 x 138 mm) Buy from the Eden.co.uk, the online Christian...
Read MoreDisability Week 2013
Disability Week is an initiative of Premier Life in association with Churches for All and CfA partner Livability which runs from 31 August to 7th September, dates set to link with the Special Olympics running in Bath from 28th August to 1st September. Listen in to Premier Christian Radio for special programming on disability-related topics – Read More to see the programming for the week. Visit the webpage to learn more and to listen to a series talks recorded at the recent Enabling Church conferences. To find out more visit disabilityweek.org.uk To listen on-line click here. This is what’s happening on Premier Christian Radio during the week … Sunday 1st Reflections with Marilyn Baker: a studio discussion called ‘Will I Need A Blue Badge In Heaven?’ It features three differently disabled people – Ann Memmott, Tony Phelps-Jones and Dr Mike Townsend who consider, with reference to Biblical passages, whether or not they will be disabled in Heaven. Issues around Christian ‘wholeness’ and ‘healing’ are included in the discussion. Premier Tonight: Gordon Temple, from Churches For All – taking calls with Michael Fanstone Monday 2nd Inspirational Breakfast: Adam Bonner – Greenbelt and the relaunch of Churches Inc 10.30am Caring for Carers (Jonathan Clark) – Enabling Church Woman to Woman: BARONESS SHEILA HOLLINS – DISABILITY WEEK – ARE ALL HUMANS EQUAL? With the success of the Paralympics, we will be asking this week how the Church can support those with disabilities of various kinds to achieve their full potential. 4.40pm Church Conga Feature with Guest: Roy McCloughry (Nottingham, Anglican) Tuesday 3rd 10.30am Onset and Adjustment (Gordon Temple) – Enabling Church Drive: Trevor Adams – Dementia Friendly Churches – recorded at Greenbelt 4.40pm Church Conga Feature with Guest: Revd Glen Graham (Devon, Baptist) Wednesday 4th Inspirational Breakfast: Stephanie Reid, Paralympic Athlete – Have Attitudes Toward Disability Changed? 10.30am Social Interaction (Miggs Clark) – Enabling Church 4.40pm Church Conga Feature with Guest: Cristina Gangemi (Catholic, Croydon) Thursday 5th 10.30am Church for All (Roy Searle) – Enabling Church 4.40pm Church Conga Feature with Guest: Dr Mike Townsend (Baptist, Leicestershire) Friday 6th 10.30am Engaging with the Community (Mike Townsend) Saturday 7th Big Breakfast: Interview with Jonathan Edwards from Prospects, Disability Charity Premier Worship: Breaking of Bread – using “Speak the Word” Worship music from...
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