Resource Search Results

Kate Strater on Including Young Adults with Intellectual Disability

Young adults with intellectual disability (ID) often feel left out, even at church. But schools, churches, and agencies can work together to create a sense of belonging that nurtures everyone. Inclusive postsecondary education increases opportunity for employment, independent living, and sharing God-given gifts.

Conversation | July 29, 2024

Kate Strater on Ministry with and by People with Intellectual Disability

Churches sometimes ignore or separate children and adults with intellectual disability from general church worship and congregational life. But schools, service agencies, and churches can expand one another’s imaginations about what’s possible for and with people with intellectual and development disabilities. Even small congregations can experience the joy of learning to include all abilities in the body of Christ.

Conversation | July 26, 2024

Elizabeth Bajema: All Belong in God’s Family

Churches sometimes see themselves as inclusive simply because they have attendees from group homes. But true inclusion means getting to know people as individuals with gifts to offer in God’s family.

Conversation | July 10, 2024

Rosemary Apol-Hoezee on Dementia and Worship

Chaplains have been using the Evening Star worship manual in memory care facilities for almost twenty years. The second edition incorporates new research on dementia to create a worship model that is even better at engaging people who live with dementia.

Conversation | April 29, 2024

Rosemary Apol-Hoezee on Dementia and Inclusion

People who’ve served and attended churches faithfully often feel isolated when their cognition declines—and so do their caregivers. Your congregation can take simple steps to become more dementia friendly.

Conversation | April 29, 2024

Lindsay Wieland Capel on Recognizing and Overcoming Ableism in Churches

Many congregations don’t realize that the way they arrange their space, talk in worship, or define giftedness and leadership speaks volumes to people with different bodies and minds. The message is: “We don’t see you as a welcomed and valued member of Christ’s body.”

Conversation | February 21, 2024

Lindsay Wieland Capel on Disability and Universal Design

Many ideas for welcoming and including people with disabilities are remarkably simple. These changes turn out to be good for everyone in church worship and congregational life.

Conversation | February 21, 2024

Welcoming All Bodies and Abilities into Worship and the Life of the Church

This session explores a biblical view of disability and practical ways of including people with disabilities in every aspect of the church for the flourishing of the entire worshiping community.

Video | February 10, 2023

LaTonya McIver Penny on Inclusion in Black Churches

The common thread in LaTonya McIver Penny’s pastoral and professional lives has been God’s calling to help faith communities, especially Black churches, become more inclusive. Learn why she sees inclusion as broader than welcoming people with cognitive or physical disabilities.

Conversation | January 31, 2023

Inclusion and Universal Design for Worship

Corporate, intergenerational worship can be designed from the start to include people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities, gifts and limitations.

Article | December 16, 2022

Lamar Hardwick on Disability as Diversity and Full Participation

In this episode, Pastor Lamar Hardwick reminds us that as many worshiping communities seek to become more diverse, celebrating and appreciating the beauty of all types of minds and bodies is an important theme in the life of the church.

Audio | Podcast | December 05, 2022

Benjamin T. Conner on Friendship and Hospitality that Embraces Youth with Developmental Disabilities

Practical theologian Benjamin T. Conner encourages and challenges congregations and pastors to reorient ministry with youth to fully include and amplifiy the witness of adolescents with developmental disabilities.

Podcast | May 17, 2022

Disability within Faith Communities

A showcase of books and articles related to worship and disabilites

Topic Showcase | March 02, 2022

One Body, Many Members: Disability and Diversity in the Church

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body." -1 Cor. 12:12-13. The body of Christ is one body made up of individual members with both visible and hidden differences in abilities. What difference does it make to believe that each member has been arranged in the body as God has chosen? How can the church better live into the reality of this oneness while celebrating the gifts of its unique members regardless of ability? This is a YouTube Video Premiere panel discussion.

Video | November 16, 2021

Elizabeth Rodríguez sobre el ministerio con personas con discapacidad

A medida que más congregaciones se dan cuenta y reconocen que las personas con diversas capacidades pertenecen a la familia de Dios, buscan recursos y capacitación para la inclusión. Ministerio Amistad proporciona el más completo programa de estudio bíblico en español para personas con discapacidad intelectual.

Conversation | September 10, 2021

Elizabeth Rodriguez on Spanish-Language Disability Ministry

As more congregations realize that all people and all abilities belong together in God's family, they seek resources and training for inclusion. Ministerio Amistad provides comprehensive Spanish-language Bible study materials for people with intellectual disabilities.

Conversation | September 09, 2021

Sermon Series and Study Guide on Belonging for All Abilities

Your church can use new resources, such as a sermon series and study guide, to help your congregation move from including people with disabilities to becoming a place of belonging for all abilities. Then you can pass on what you've learned to other congregations.

Article | June 21, 2021

Karen Roberts on Moving from Inclusion to Belonging

First Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Illinois, is on a journey from being a congregation that includes people with disabilities to becoming a place where people of all abilities belong. A sermon series on the ten dimensions of belonging helped them take another step.

Conversation | June 21, 2021

Victoria White on Inclusion in Circles of Congregations

All Belong will keep helping congregations become welcoming communities for people of all abilities, especially through its innovative Circle of Congregations for Teaching and Learning program.

Conversation | January 19, 2021

Shaping Worship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Sparking New Connections at New Mount Zion Baptist Church, Roxboro, North Carolina

Like many congregations, New Mount Zion Baptist Church has people with varying abilities, incomes, and technology access. In this edited conversation, LaTonya McIver Penny shares how to use a mix of digital and old-fashioned ways to help worshipers and community members stay connected.

Conversation | April 14, 2020