Welcome to the course, creating congregations of belonging with people of all  abilities. My name is Victoria White. I am the instructor of this course. I am just  excited to have you be a part of this journey. You may be taking this course for a variety of reasons, maybe to meet some requirements in your studies, maybe  out of curiosity, maybe for an entirely different reason, or maybe you are a  person living with disability, and you're curious what's being said in this course,  whatever the reason, I am delighted to have you along in this course, and I'm  excited to introduce the concepts, the authors, the content of this course, as well as just have this conversation about what does it mean to engage in  congregations of belonging with people of all abilities? We're going to kind of  pick apart what that can mean as we go and so it's not just about being disability smart, but it's about thinking about people of all abilities in our congregations.  And what does it mean to create belonging with people of all abilities. What kind  of supports need to be in place? What does it all look like? So we're going to  explore these kinds of topics in this course, but first, in this little bit, I want to just give an introduction to myself and tell you a little bit about the course. So I'm  also going to introduce you to someone named Barbara Newman, who was the  instructor of a previous version of this course that I partnered with, and so we  have revamped this course and brought some new content into it, but you are  going to see her several times in some of the original video content that we  brought along into this version of the course, because there's just such Good  stuff. So what you need to know about all of this is that I have been learning  from a lot of different people for many years. We have learned from research  and experts on attitude and framework for ministry, resources and strategies,  things about worship and behaviors. We're going to think about cultural context  and lean into some of the expertise on that. We're going to explore scriptural  understanding. We're going to learn and apply universal design in ministry. I'm  going to introduce the idea of introducing people to Jesus who think differently  or move differently than you do, plans for individuals and families, we're going to discover areas of difference, like autism and dementia, for example. We're going to embrace the gifts and the arrangement of the body that you're setting can be  a place of belonging. And so all of these things are just a little bit about what  we're going to be doing in this course time, and what Barb was very passionate  about in her lifetime, and she mentored me for over 20 years in this area of what does it look like to engage in life and ministry with people of all abilities. And so  let's dive into some things and just get to know her a little bit. Get to know me. I  have a master's in special education. I was trained as an educator, and so I  come at this with educational best practices, but I'm really excited to say also  work well in church context and Barb and I spent over a decade going around  the country and working with congregations all over the United States, thinking  about, how do we help more people with disabilities engage in their churches in  full and meaningful ways, in worship, in fellowship, in learning and in service. 

And so I want to let you hear from Barb now for about the next 10 minutes. It's a  clip from the previous version of this course, but I think it's going to be a warm  welcome and some great insights into where we're going to be going and what  this course is going to feel like. So have a look. 

Barb - “I have often found that I have three reactions to this topic, so I I might  not be at an exhibit table, or I might be in a congregation where even they have  invited me or speaking at a conference. And there are some people that come  up to me and their first reaction is, yes, we are so excited we can't wait to talk to  you. And they are so eager to tell me about the day that Jasmine joined the  worship team, or the day that Miguel was baptized, or whatever that event might be. But they are so excited to tell me about that in their church community, and  often the story is not about the person who may have some kind of a disability or varied ability of some sort, the story is almost always about what happened with  everybody else in the community the day that those individuals were part of that  leadership or were part of the community in a special way, how that person's  presence impacted the entire congregation. And I think there's important  information that we're going to have over the next little while about how does  that happen, and what does that look like, and why is that so important? This is  not about including a person, and all about one individual. I will guarantee you  the things we're going to talk about are going to benefit 100% of your community in some way, shape or form. So yes, is one of those reactions that I love to talk  to people, because I hear many amazing stories. I think another attitude or  reaction that people will sometimes have is this, oh, well, maybe I sort of have  questions like, Is this a thing? Are congregations supposed to think about this. I  don't know that we've really done much of that. Do we have anybody in our  community with a disability? I know we have some seniors like with limited  vision and hearing, but does that count? And I don't know how to think about  this. I love to talk to people who have questions. That is a very common  reaction, and you might have been enticed into this course, not because you  have a yes response, but because you said, Oh, my goodness, I have  questions. Is this a thing? So welcome. Love to welcome you into this  conversation, just as much as a person with that yes, I'm so excited to learn  more, because we've had a taste of this, and it's sweet, but there are many  congregations and people in congregations who just have questions, what does  that look like? How? How do we do this? Don't you need, like an expert to pull  this off? Those I think are so many of the confusing questions people may ask.  But I think there's another category. Call them what you want. Sometimes I call  them the no eye contact individuals, but the people just say no, maybe if I don't  look at her, she's just going to go away. Because I don't really want to think  about this topic. It's confusing, or it's, it's we had a bad experience, or in our  culture, in our country, that word disability is viewed with shame. I don't think 

we're supposed to be thinking about this topic. That is a very common response, too. But again, I have a story that goes along with that particular response. I was writing these escalators in St Louis, Missouri, speaking at a conference, and  they was a long road up. The pastor behind me clipped his phone shut, and he  said, Oh, I just have to tell you about my phone call. Said, what is it? Got a call  from one of my friends, and they want me to come out to do the funeral service  for their child. They had four children, and their youngest child, at the age of five  passed away, had many areas of disability, and so they had called this family  friend and said, Would you come and do the funeral service? But the pastor had asked his friend on the phone, don't you want your own pastor to lead the  funeral service for this child? And they said, I got to let you know, we have spent the last five years in our community searching for a church that would allow all  of us to attend, and we could not find one within a one hour driving distance of  our home. You imagine that he said, I just finally gave up, and so I was thankful  that the pastor of the church down the road said that we could attend there, but  we needed somebody, or has a funeral service there, but we needed somebody  else to run the service, so I'm calling you. And I looked at that pastor and I said,  you have got to be kidding. The first time that child's body is welcome in a  church is in a casket. Those kinds of stories are abundant, unfortunately, those  kinds of stories of exclusion instead of inclusion, those kinds of stories that say,  Oh, my goodness. We, we have been searching for those places of belonging.  We, we have been sent away. And I imagined that funeral, a few people would  have gathered. But what would it have been like if that church where they were  holding that funeral service had said yes, far earlier, they would have known that child, who was five. They would have known what made him smile. They would  have had relationship with a family, and they could have walked that journey  together with one another. So I don't know which category you're part of, and  you might truly be part of that. No, maybe this course is a requirement, so you're taking it, and you really have either had a bad experience or you're not sure at  all how this is going to fly in your country or in your setting really, really want to  invite you into this topic, not only at a biblical level, but also at a very, very  practical level. Of some tools that you can use.” 

I just want to share with you some statistics and these are going to come from  the United States context, and so I want you to be thinking about what is true in  your context as you move on from this video and more into the assignment. But  let me just share with you some information. So one in six children in the United  States experience disability that comes from the Center for Disease Control. So  a governmental agency that has done census and has said, Yep, this is true.  One in three households have at least one family member with disabilities. This  comes from a National Health Interview Survey in the United States. One in four adults experience disability. So one in six children, one in four adults experience 

disability. These numbers also come from the CDC, but here is a staggering  fact, one in three families have left their church because their child with  disabilities was not welcomed or included. This is from a congregational  participation study by Dr Eric Carter and Dr Collins and Alt and others. So think  about that fact, one in three families have left the church because someone in  that family was not welcomed in that church. Those are numbers that I'm hoping courses like this can change. And so I'm going to be introducing you to some  folks and some resources that have been developed to change those statistics.  Would you come along with me and help us to change those numbers in the  United States and in your own context, finding out what those statistics are, who has disabilities in your community and what are the numbers? Because each  one of those numbers is a person and is a family who could be a part of your  church, but perhaps is not so let's think about what this looks like all around the  world, right? I mentioned that one in three households have at least one family  member with disabilities, and students in this course have reported different  numbers in their local context. So in the Caribbean, it's also true that 1/3 of  households has at least a person with a disability. Korea and China report  maybe 5-7% of the population are registered as having a disability. In South  Africa, Nigeria and Germany, they report one in 10 people, Ethiopia reports  closer to one in five people. The UK reports one in four people have disabilities.  Now I would love to learn from you what is true in your area, because I don't  know the numbers all around the world. I also don't know if all of these are  reporting accurately. I wonder if it's including people who are under certain ages  or over certain ages. I wonder if some of the people who are registered as  having disabilities might be ignoring certain conditions. So these numbers may  not be entirely accurate if we truly look at the people and the lives that are  impacted in this but I am just curious, and I want to think about that. Our  communities are not designed well to work for people with disabilities, and that  includes our churches. So we're going to dive some more into what all of that  can mean. But here's something for you to think about, a quote I want to share  with you, and this was by a woman named Kelsey Hamilton. She was doing her  master's in divinity, in disability and ministry. And she says this, individuals with  disabilities have gifts and vocations to offer the church, just like any other non  disabled individual, but we will not know all that they have to contribute if we  continue to live in the ignorance of their absence. So part of my question is,  who's not a part of your community? Who should be? Now I'm going to give us  some resources in this course to help us reflect on things and to ponder where  we can go next. And so you're going to see excerpts from accessible gospel,  inclusive worship written by Barbara Newman, who you met in that video. You're also going to see excerpts from her book worship as one varied abilities in the  body of Christ. And then you're going to encounter content from a book called  there is no asterisk, by a man named Dan Vander Plaat. He is also now a friend 

of mine, as we've been interacting in this work for some time together, so you're  going to meet him in a video in a little bit as well. But I just want you to know that you will have excerpts of these for your readings throughout this course. And the course content will probably be a little heavier in the reading here at the  

beginning, but then as we go, there will actually be other articles, videos and  links to have a look at some different resources that have developed even more  as recently as in the last couple of years. So I'm excited to introduce you to  these tasks or these resources. So as we go, I want to also tell you that there  will be some assignments. So as far as the intake goes, right, you're going to  watch lecture videos like this. One, you're going to have some reading or  viewing assignments of articles, excerpts and videos. There will also be some  not required, but extremely helpful supplemental links that I'm going to share  with you so that you can look at some other resources that are out there and  developing as well. And then, in terms of your output, there will be quizzes just  to check your understanding, and there will be response assignments that I  would like for you to do as a cumulative project. So I don't want you to respond  in sending me something each time. I want you to hang on to it all, collect it into  one document or slide show or create videos and combine it all. You get to  decide how it works best for you to compile all of these responses and your way  of responding, but I want you to submit it towards the end of the course, and it  will be very clear when to submit that. So not every single week has one of  these response assignments, so just watch the instructions to know when one of those response assignments is a part of that week's work. But then at the very  end of the course is when you will submit all of the work compiled into one PDF  or document or file that you will submit to me so that I can look through it and  then respond to it. So I hope that you are looking forward to the learning. I'm  certainly looking forward to hearing from you and just exploring this topic  together. So if you're willing, I'm willing, let's go. 



கடைசியாக மாற்றப்பட்டது: புதன், 15 ஏப்ரல் 2026, 1:08 PM