Disciple: A Church as Wide as God's Love
By Summerlee Walter
The Rev. Leslie Bland has experienced the myriad ways churches can be difficult to navigate for people who use assistive devices to aid with mobility. She has maneuvered her power wheelchair up ramps leading to locked, too-narrow doors no one was there to open when she knocked. She has worshiped in the far back corners of churches and in front of the first pew because there was nowhere else in the sanctuary her chair could fit. She’s been unable to fulfill her diaconal role of serving at the table because a raised altar doesn’t have a ramp leading up to it.
It’s not only people with mobility issues who experience difficulty in church communities. Georgia Reuter, the youth minister at St. Patrick’s, Mooresville, knew she needed to help her youth group learn how fully to include everyone in their community when one member of the youth group expressed his discomfort around another youth with special needs. The situation arose from a misunderstanding about the second young man’s behavior during a diocesan youth event. Reuter and the young man’s mother pulled aside Lisa Aycock and invited her to the church to answer some of the youth group’s questions.
In her role as a diocesan youth missioner and director of HUGS Camp, Aycock leads workshops at churches with questions about how to include children and youth with sensory processing disorder, developmental disabilities, ADHD or autism spectrum disorder. During her presentations, Aycock often helps churches address the needs of individual parishioners. Simple tweaks to routines can make a huge difference.
“If the overhead fluorescent lights bother someone,” she said, “why not put some lamps in the youth room and leave off the overhead lights? Does a child have a gift, like singing, that can be incorporated into worship? Are they a talker? Make them a greeter. More inclusion is better.”
Throughout the Diocese of North Carolina, churches are re-evaluating the ways in which they have included—or not—people with a wide range of needs. Even those congregations without current members who need accessible spaces and services should invest time and thought into making their churches as inclusive as possible.
“So much of our congregations will age into disability,” Liz Stroff, the youth leader at Christ Church, Raleigh, pointed out. “You’re not necessarily making changes for someone whose disability already exists in your parish but for someone who is in your parish and doesn’t know yet what their needs will be.”
“The reality is I think, one, we are called to love and accept everybody, but, two, even though we have some kids in our youth who maybe aren’t identified as special needs, they all bring unique things to the group,” Reuter said.
MAKING SPACES ACCESSIBLE
In 2012, the Rev. Randall Keeney, rector at St. Barnabas, Greensboro, decided to remove the raised platform on which the altar sat and rearrange the sanctuary to make worship more accessible. Because the parish has several members who use wheelchairs and walkers, Keeney and Bland asked them about where they wanted to sit.
“Most of the people we surveyed wanted to be in the midst of the congregations,” Bland explains. “We have one person who sits in the back because she likes it there. [Another person] sits over near the table where I sit because he likes it there, and [another] sits over by the organ.” Because the St. Barnabas’ sanctuary contains moveable chairs instead of fixed pews, they were able to rearrange the seating into a semi-round with chairs removed from the ends of multiple rows so people using wheelchairs and walkers have multiple seating options.
Because the altar now sits directly on the floor, Bland is able to maneuver behind it and assist in celebrating the Eucharist while facing the congregation. A parishioner built a small table to hold the Gospel so Bland can read from it in the midst of the congregation. Another parishioner donated the funds to replace and widen the glass doors nearest the sanctuary. The church also made modifications to the sound system—a lapel mic for Keeney and microphones on the Gospel table and lectern.
Last year, St. Barnabas began planning an accessible pathway along a trail winding down into the woods and ending at a creek on the church’s property. Eventually they would like to build a labyrinth in the open space near the creek. Finding the right materials to build the path, while also protecting the natural space and staying within budget, is challenging, but it’s worth it in order to include more fully the entire congregation in what the church has to offer.
“You had a group of people by the lakeside when Jesus would come across the water in a boat, and all those people would be scattered on the shore, but they would all have a place,” Bland explained. “Jesus wanted people to be included, everybody. I think that should be the goal of what we’re trying to do in terms of inclusivity, to allow people to come to worship, to adore and to pray in a way that’s comfortable for them, where they feel like they’re included in the midst of all of it.”
PROVIDING SUPPORT FOR ALL PEOPLE
Christ Church, Raleigh, has long offered young worshippers canvas quiet bags containing activities to help them stay focused during church. Recently, Stroff added three red sensory bags from the Autism Society to the collection. Each contains a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, a weighted lap stuffed animal, an indestructible ball for worshippers who need to squeeze something and a cloth maze with a marble inside for those who need to keep their hands busy. The bags are readily available before services, and the church website indicates where they are located.
With the help of Stroff and former assistant rector the Rev. Meg Buerkel Hunn, Christ Church has worked hard to make sure parishioners and visitors know the church will do its best to accommodate everyone’s needs. For example, all event registration forms now include a contact person for anyone who needs to discuss special needs, including accessibility concerns or food allergies. All documents contain information about accessible parking and entrances, and the website includes an accessibility page dedicated to information about large-print bulletins, parking, braille signage, options for youth and children, and the hearing loop in the parish hall. This spring, Stroff also put together an accessibility checklist to assist those planning events at the church.
While Christ Church has made progress toward ensuring everyone has what they need to participate fully in worship and the life of the church, Stroff emphasizes that there is still work to be done. The historic building, for example, poses challenges when it comes to making the sanctuary more accessible or adding a hearing loop in that part of the building, but Stroff follows the advice offered by a panelist during a presentation by Arts Access, a North Carolina organization dedicated to making the arts more accessible.
“One of the things that stuck out to me the most is one person who said ‘Just ask,’ because if you ask the question, that means the door is open. There might not be a ramp to the door yet, but it’s open.”
Reuter also encourages churches to ask questions about how they can help include individuals with special needs. The mother of the young man with special needs came to the workshop Aycock led and answered the youth’s questions about how they can help her son. Parents in attendance also asked questions about how they could support the mother and her daughter. Reuter tears up when she tells the story.
“It’s not even so much what happened within our small community. It’s the bigger impact of ‘Gosh, those kids in the hall [at school] or sit in the lunchroom by themselves, what should you do? You should go talk to them.’”
RESOURCES
- Contact Lisa Aycock to schedule an accessibility workshop.
- The Rev. Leslie Bland is also willing to talk with churches about accessibility.
- Download Christ Church’s accessibilty checklist.
Summerlee Walter is the communications coordinator at the Diocese of North Carolina.
