When Debbie Miller and Richard Long sing with their church choir, it’s an experience that moves them body and soul.

Long waves his arm high and wide as he joins in an uplifting rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.” Miller gestures with both arms to interpret the lyrics as she sings “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

“I just love to go here,” Miller, 62, of Greensburg, said of the special church services she attends Monday evenings at the Free Methodist Church of Greensburg, actually located in nearby Unity. “It’s the singing and the eating, I like it.”

“They have good food here,” agreed Long, 47, also of Greensburg.

Before the choir takes center stage, Methodist church member Fräncine Weimann of New Alexandria and her volunteer helpers serve up hearty helpings of hamburgers, hot dogs and potato puffs to those who have arrived for the God’s Choice program for worshipers with special needs.

The service is geared to meet the needs of those with intellectual or developmental disabilities, their families and caregivers.

“I have a good time with it,” Weimann said. “I like to cook, and I just love the people. They’re lots of fun.”

The God’s Choice model — combining food, fellowship and faith — was started in 2010 in East Liverpool, Ohio, by Shirley Elosh, who sought a church service attuned to her son’s special needs. Since then, the ministry has spread to 15 congregations, crossing denominational boundaries as well as state borders. In addition to Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan, it has established a branch in Africa.

It came to the Unity church more than three years ago and has grown by leaps and bounds.

“The first night we started out we had 12 volunteers and only four guests,” program coordinator Janine Heatley recalled. Now, weekly attendance averages 80 or more.

For the choir sessions, Heatley said, “we generally sing about the same eight to 10 songs. They know them better than I do.”

Heatley helps present the weekly Bible lesson, taking turns with another volunteer and the church’s pastor, Tim Thunberg.

“Our lessons are geared toward their abilities,” Heatley said of the attendees. “They’re more interactive. There are a lot of hands on, visual things.”

When discussing a Bible verse about “putting on the armor of God,” she explained, “We’ll dress somebody up in ‘armor.’ It may be my son’s baseball chest protector.”

Topics are approached in ways meant to resonate with the special audience members.

“We know that a lot of them go to day programs,” Heatley explained. “They don’t work, and they don’t have children. So, we make it geared toward the friends and peers and staff they live with.”

Thunberg learned about God’s Choice ministry at a regional Free Methodist conference. The timing was right for the Unity church to come on board when it discontinued a day care and preschool program, freeing up use of its social hall.

Unpredictable vocal outbursts are among behaviors those with special needs may display. In an average congregational service, that would likely be disruptive, but it comes with the territory at God’s Choice.

Most participants look forward to the weekly church gathering and the ability to sing out and mingle with new friends, Thunberg said.

“It lifts their spirits. You can see the behavioral change,” said the pastor, who has a second job at a local office of Family Behavioral Resources, working with kids who have mental health diagnoses.

At God’s Choice, he noted, one woman “couldn’t make it through the service without getting anxious and acting out. After a few months, she made it through the entire service. Then she began singing at the service, and her overall mood and demeanor changed.”

Through God’s Choice, Thunberg has conducted funeral services for several attendees who lacked a home church to which they could turn.

A recent addition to the audience was Laurie Wisner of Unity, who has fostered children, including those with special needs, for more than two decades. She brought along four household members of varying ability levels, ranging in age from 7 to 24. All four joined in the choir performance.

“It’s amazing,” she said.

“It’s a great evening,” Thunberg added.

God’s Choice is held at 5 p.m. Mondays at 1261 Toppers Road in Unity. For details, call 724-837-4056.

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