Christine Guth - Anabaptist Disabilities Network

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Christine Guth

ADNet Program Director

Some of the ways Program Director Christine Guth is widening the circle touched by ADNet:

"Weak" Are Indispensable, an article by Christine Guth in the April 2 issue of Mennonite World Review
"Community support comes full circle," an article about Christine's advocacy work in Spark, the newsletter of the Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities.
Christine Guth was a keynote speaker at Widening the Welcome, the national disabilities conference of the United Church of Christ. Watch the video of her keynote address below.

An adult Sunday school class at Trinity Mennonite, Glendale, AZ, enriched their study of Mark 5:1-20, the story of the "Gerasene Demoniac," with articles by Christine Guth. Check them out.

“Horses Live to Run” by Christine Guth was reprinted in the Australian Journal of Pastoral Care and Health. Read her personal story and reflection on God’s image in people living with autism. The article was originally published in timbrel magazine.

A story about Christine Guth is included in Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion, a book by Mark Pinsky from the Alban Institute, expected out in December, 2011. Order Amazing Gifts.
A podcast interview from Laurelville Mennonite Church Center features Christine Guth, Program Director.

About Christine

In December 2010, ADNet's Board appointed Christine Guth Program Director to coordinate ADNet’s ongoing programs and team of volunteers. In 2006 she was ADNet’s first volunteer associate. Since then, Christine has served ADNet on a volunteer basis, offering special attention to resource development, the autism spectrum, and mental health concerns. Her volunteer appointment followed ADNet’s need to downsize staff due to funding constraints.

Parenting two adolescents with an autism spectrum diagnosis while contending with her own and her child’s episodes of major depression was sometimes overwhelming for Christine Guth (below right).

For Christine and her friend and fellow advocate Jan Bullington (above left), this incredible, roller-coaster parenting journey has fueled a passion for accompanying families as they struggle through the turbulence caused by a child’s disability. Their friendship has grown, in part because Jan, like Christine, has two children on the autism spectrum and cares deeply about inclusion of people with disabilities in her church.

Christine is grateful for moments during difficult periods when surprising encounters with someone who cared touched her and her family with God’s grace. “In the darkest of times,” she reflects, “we may only be able to feel God’s presence when it is clothed in human form. The vision that inspires my ministry is to be available for such moments.”

Christine Guth holds Partners graduation certificate, surrounded by Governor's Council staff and volunteers.

Christine is a 2009 graduate of the Partners in Policymaking Academy, a year-long training program in disabilities advocacy sponsored by the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities. She put this training to work by chairing the steering committee for a year and a half that laid groundwork for a recovery-focused clubhouse in Elkhart County to serve people living with serious mental illness.

Christine earned a Master of Divinity degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 2007, and was licensed for specialized ministry by the Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA in 2008.

Christine’s ongoing ADNet staff role as Program Director involves writing, consultation, administration, preaching and teaching. She is available for consultation and speaking assignments.

The Gerasene Disciple, Mark 5:1-20,

Two articles on Mark 5:1-20 reflect on the story of a man from whom Jesus cast out a legion of unclean spirits (often called the Gerasene Demoniac). While not equating demon possession with mental ilness, author Christine Guth suggests that persons with mental illness find much to identify with in the character in this story.

Legion No More: Confessions of a Gerasene (Mark 5:1-20)
(A first-person, fictional narrative from the point of view of the Gerasene Disciple)
An Insider's Look at the Gerasene Disciple: Biblical Interpretation from the Social Location of Mental Illness

Both articles were originally published in the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health, Vol. 11(4) 2007.

Asperger Resources by Christine Guth

Disabilities and the Church : Special issue of Timbrel, the magazine of Mennonite Women includes "Horses Live to Run," by Christine Guth, an article about living with Asperger Syndrome in marriage and family. Download the issue, then scroll down to page 7 to find the article. Or read it reprinted in the Australian Journal of Pastoral Care and Health.

Faith Communities that Include People with Asperger Syndrome
"The presence of someone with AS in a faith community offers that community an opportunity to examine the commitments it shares and consider how well these commitments are expressed toward members who seem different in some way.... Although we typically focus on the shortcomings of the person with AS, this article considers the shortcomings of the rest of us."
To read more...

Oops...Wrong Planet! Encountering Asperger Syndrome as Cross-Cultural Experience

Asperger Syndrome in the Community of Faith
Reflections from a parent's perspective on how congregations can be hospitable to those with Asperger Syndrome.

For a concise introduction to Asperger Syndrome, see the May 2006 issue of ADNotes.

Web Resources on Asperger Syndrome: A short annotated list of recommended websites

Asperger Resources for Young Adults: An annotated list of books and websites for young adults and college students with Asperger's Syndrome.

Asperger Programs for Young Adults lists postsecondary educational and life skills programs for young adults with AS.

Recursos sobre el Síndrome de Asperger y el Autismo. List of Spanish language Internet Resources on Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

Other Resources by Christine Guth

Surviving Depression
Personal reflections on Christine's journey of healing from depression, in a family deeply affected by depression for four generations.

Disabling Disability
    "We who live with disability need biblical interpretation, theology, and practices of church life that give us life and do not participate in the stigmatizing and marginalizing of people with disability. A God who brings good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed (Lk. 4:18) invites and empowers the church to become a community where no barriers of belief or practice block the full respect, participation, and contribution of persons with diverse abilities and disabilities."

Mental Health Care Access: Anabaptist Responses to A Discriminatory System.
    A look at ethical issues surrounding access to mental health from the perspectives of providers and consumers.
    "Mental health care in the United States is available through a diverse and minimally coordinated collection of public and private services and facilities. At its best, this patchwork of services has problems with coordination among the various parts. However, as vulnerable people sometimes discover, there are big holes in the patchwork-gaps in care that make it difficult or impossible for some people to access the care that they need. This paper examines issues of economic justice pertaining to access to mental health care."

Voices in Disability Theology
A bibliography of contemporary theological reflection on disability. The bibliography was prepared to accompany a seminary introductory presentation on disabilities theology.

Christine Guth papers

Faith Communities That Include People with Asperger Syndrome

Disabling Disability

An Insider's Look at the Gerasene Disciple: Biblical Interpretation from the Social Location of Mental Illness

Legion No More: Confessions of the Gerasene Disciple

Mental Health Care Access

Beliefs That Contribute to the Stigma of Mental Illness

Suffering Creation

Voices in Disabilities Theology: A Bibliography

Articles by Christine Guth

Book reviews by Christine Guth

Community Involvement

Christine Guth is coordinator of Asperger Autism Group of Goshen, which meets the first Monday of most months in Goshen, Indiana.

Hats off to Asperger Autism Group of Goshen by Indiana Resource Center for Autism.

"Community support comes full circle," an article in Spark, the newsletter of the Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities.

Christine Guth honored for Excellence in Community Support by Autism Society of Indiana

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