ACCESS SUNDAY
“Not everybody has a minister like Diana,” said 13-year-old Scott Pigsley of Lincoln, NE. “Things like this tell other wheelchair-users we won’t banish you from our church.”
“This” was Northeast UCC’s calling an interim minister with post-polio syndrome. “This” meant rearranging chancel space to accept a replacement ramp that honors the decade-old Americans with Disabilities Act code of no more than one inch of height per foot of run. It frees Scott, who has spina bifida, to light candles with friends. It invites Diana Coberly into the chancel.
Five General Synod Disabilities Ministries Resolutions since 1977, including “The Calling of Clergy with Disabilities” (1999 GS), have nudged older churches to erase physical and attitudinal barriers.
Robert Wandel, UCC Fellowship of Architects moderator said, “The issue of opening chancels goes beyond voluntary compliance with public access laws to how churches design for inclusion. Inclusion is a Christian question for churches to address.”
Creative changes at 140-member First Congregational of Alameda tamed eleven levels of the California landmark without disturbing its integrity. Century-old St. Mary’s UCC in Westminster, MD, converted a closet to bypass a step, rail, three-step chancel. As at Northeast, trustee Bill Enright’s ramp for the wedding of a wheelchair-using member parallels the right chancel arm of Central Congregational in Dallas.
“A ramp is an up-front commitment,” Minnesota minister Robert Baggott said. “The deeper commitment is accessibility of the soul.” Rather than underscore differences that remind temporarily able-bodied persons of their vulnerability, he said a ramp strengthens human connections. “A congregation sees your disability, so we make changes to create a space physically possible for you. We look beyond your challenge to celebrate what is possible with you.”
God saw beyond Moses’ disabilities to call him to lead. Moses’ rebuttal, “O my Lord, please send someone else,” once couched most churches’ response when asked to consider physically-challenged clergy. Now, some hear God’s promise, “Go, I will teach you what you shall do….You shall serve” (Exodus 4:1-13).
Ongoing commitment to social justice defines the United Church of Gainesville, FL. An informed accessibility committee was key to the architecturally integrated ramp that sheaths its three, broad chancel steps.
“This middle class congregation struggles to balance budget,” said Pastor Larry Reimer, “yet meets access needs members bring.”
The 220-member Lazarus UCC, Lineboro, MD, wanted to incorporate five bell and voice choirs into its 1908-built chancel. After six years, the committee overcame seating, faulty underpinning, and flexible-use obstacles to generate a unique, three-level area that offers wheelchair-using families abundant space for reading Scripture or ringing choir bells. Member gifts plus a Development Commission Grant from the Catoctin Association funded the renovation.
The aim of calling clergy with disabilities, said Coberly, is to reap the benefits of the minister’s abilities. “The change which allows persons with disabilities to participate fully in the life of a church happens only once it is in people’s hearts.”
A minister with disabilities who has served UCC churches since 1969, the Rev. Dr. Dallas Brauninger is a Nebraska Conference Disabilities Ministries Task Force member.