Quilting As Real Life: Try It

Part 1 of Six Parts

For six separate blog posts, I am going to focus on a Quilting Ministry as presented by Sharon Roos.   I do this for two reasons, (1) Sharon Roos is an extraordinary person, not only does she have a wonderful sense of how human beings work and play together, but she can thoughtfully write about what she notices, so that we readers gain a sense of real life happening, and (2) at least as Sharon describes it, a quilting ministry is an example of any number of special focus ministries that could be invaluable as older adult ministries. 

An especially good resource for getting started with a church ministry or project has been Sharon’s experience.  
         Her emphasis on enjoyable interactions, personal relationships and other positive
         “side” components are central to her understanding of what works.  This is a lengthy
          section for good reason.  Buried in the paragraphs are tip after tip that will sustain
          important relationship-centered ministries.

One of the issues that will jump out at you as you read the about starting a quilting ministry will be the detail about the advanced planning needed for actually doing a successful quilting ministry. 

         For instance, advanced preparation clearly helped make this cancer project matter to participants:

                a church sponsored Women’s Cancer Mutual-Help Group that I know about,
                made it clear from the very first meeting (1) that people’s experiences with
                cancer and its treatment were the primary mutual-help group resources,
                not professional expertise, (2) that a reciprocity of listening and talking by
                all participants was the custom, and (3) that everybody had equal air time
                during each gathering – reducing chances that one or two people would
                dominate a discussion.    If these expectations were not in place as this ministry
                was begun, it might have been difficult to sustain the benefits for everybody into
                the future.

How to Start a Church Quilting Group

Please understand that even though this blog series has a focus on an older adult quilting ministry, many of the comments and ideas could apply to any type of older adult program or ministry.

(From Sharon) SHARON ROOS

  Quilting had been started several times at my church but never worked for long. When Jessica started it in May 2006 (the month my husband and I arrived) I knew how to do a quilting group, as I'd done before with a community quilting group.   If I hadn't come bringing my past experience, this time I doubt that it would have lasted either. You can be well meaning and still not know how to put something together.

The potluck lunches and displaying of quilts over the pews (along with having enough work for people to know that they really have an important task for contributing to the success of the group) are two of the main gimmicks that accounted for the success.  Let me explain.

HAPPINESS:  I start with a statement that the quilting ministry is probably one of the most joyful ministries in our church.  We have fun and laugh a lot.  I mention this because the first time one of our pastors joined us for lunch, her comment was that she was surprised that we laughed a lot.  One of our quilters once questioned if we should feel guilty because we got such enjoyment from making and delivering the quilts to the homeless shelters.  That said, I hope some of these suggestions will help in case you feel your congregation has a need for a quilting ministry.

This central point, that events for older adults are not just created to get something done, but also to offer an enjoyable opportunity for them to get together with others, can not be overemphasized. 

 I would like us to notice two special points that Sharon made,

(1) she said, “…people [need]  to know that they really have an important task for contributing to the success of the group”.   I go back to my earliest suggestions that there are two major areas that we humans count on to support our sense of well being, the first is a sense of belonging – that people are glad when I come into a room, and second, that I contribute something meaningful to somebody or some “event”.  A quilting ministry, as explained by Sharon, does both.

(2) Sharon said, “We have fun and laugh a lot.”  Oh boy is this important.  It is not always so easy to accomplish when the older adult ministry just focuses on say a lecture or a program to watch, but it is critical for the well-being of people, and probably one of the most important reasons why people would say that they look forward to going to an older adult ministry program --  “Because we have fun and laugh a lot.”

Bruce