Comments Requested: Proposed A2A Covenant

First Congregational Church, UCC, in Boulder, Colorado, a Rocky Mountain Conference Congregation, requests that readers comment on the content and presentation of two documents below that the beacon church has developed for churches interested in becoming Accessible to All churches.

An A2A study guide prepared by the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministires for churches who covenant to become Accessible to All churches is available for download at this website.

Comments about the Covenant and the Introduction to the Covenant may be made using the comment box at the conclusion of this article. The Introduction reflects theess by which the Covenant was taken to the congregation.

Below are two documents:

Introduction to the Accessible to All Covenant

and a covenant draft prepared by Dr. Kevin Pettit, Rocky Mountain Conference Disabilities Inclusion Associate and member of First Congregational,

A2A — Accessible to All — Covenant

Introduction to the Accessible to All Covenant

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Rhonda Fadum, Moderator

Today I am pleased to present to you a draft of a new covenant for our church to consider, the Accessible to All Covenant. Our church’s covenants are statements of our agreed upon shared values that guide our life together as a community of faith. Presently our congregation has four covenants that have been adopted by a vote of the congregation: Inclusive Language, Just Peace, Open and Affirming, and Whole Earth.

The covenant we are presenting today we will not ask you to vote on until a later congregational meeting. Between today and that meeting we will be providing opportunities for the congregation to engage in dialogue, study, and reflection on the issues of accessibility, so that we will be better informed as we vote on the Accessible to All Covenant. After the reading of the draft of the covenant, I will mention several action steps.

In a moment we will pass out the draft of the covenant and Kevin Pettit and others from the team that worked on this draft will read it aloud. We will then entertain any questions or comments you might have at this time. But before we do that, let me give four reasons why we are bringing this covenant to our church’s attention at this time.

1. The issues of physical accessibility have been an important part of our church’s consciousness as we began our vision plan for our church facilities over ten years ago. We have made some progress in making our buildings more accessible, but we realize there is much more to accessibility than ramps and elevators!
2. During our building projects we had small group meetings to raise our consciousness about how many different ways we were unintentionally putting up barriers to full inclusion regarding accessibility in our church, and we became determined to address them. With one of our members, Kevin Pettit, becoming a Disabilities Inclusion Associate with the Rocky Mountain Conference UCC, we were given a natural opportunity to move forward
3. Two years ago, we began our Mental Health Ministry which has been working diligently through education and consciousness raising to reduce the stigma and provide welcome and support to those living with mental illnesses/brain disorders and their families. This effort, too, has made us more aware of accessibility issues that need to be addressed. Alan Johnson is the chair of that ministry.
4. For the last 15 years our denomination has been working to bring awareness of accessibility to UCC congregations around the country. In 1995, General Synod passed a resolution calling the UCC at all levels to embrace the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed by Congress in 1990. In 2005, General Synod passed the Called to Wholeness in Christ resolution to encourage UCC congregations to become accessible to all, and embody the spirit of the resolution passed in 1995.

To date, very few of the over 5,000 UCC churches have moved forward in response to this call. Our congregation is poised to be on the frontier of this movement and to be a beacon for other churches.

A2A –ACCESSIBLE TO ALL — COVENANT

The First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ Boulder, Colorado

We, as members of the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Boulder, Colorado, in recognition of our human differences and various gifts, desire to become an A2A – Accessible to All – congregation. This Covenant expresses our intention to extend God’s extravagant welcome to all persons, seeking to understand, include, and empower people with all differing abilities and disabilities, apparent or unapparent.

The ancient practice of hospitality is presented in the Bible as a mandate for God’s people. This mandate requires that every body be included in the work and witness of God’s people on earth. The biblical vision of the Great Banquet is of all gathered at a table dedicated to serving all. Barriers that diminish the access of any diminish the wholeness of all.

We affirm the 2005 Disabilities Ministries resolution “Called To Wholeness in Christ,” as adopted by the 25th General Synod of the United Church of Christ on July 4, 2005, honoring the Accessible to All mandate in the mission of the United Church of Christ. This resolution calls us to embody a philosophy of inclusion and interdependence and to support and implement the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

CALL TO ACTION

• We pledge to offer educational opportunities to understand the implications of this covenant. This includes working with our church’s Mental Health Ministry as well as the UCC Mental Illness Network, and the UCC Disabilities Ministry.
• We pledge to examine our own attitudes and suppositions regarding the issues of accessibility.
• We pledge to do regular audits of our facilities and programs and continue to work toward making them more accessible to all.
• We pledge when calling clergy and other staff to be open to hiring persons with disabilities.
• We shall be listed in the UCC Directory as an A2A congregation and we will display the blue square with the white A indicating Accessible to All.
• The Church Council shall appoint an Inclusion Team to implement and oversee this Covenant. We will include people on this team who have sensitivity to the challenges and joys of people who have a disability, particularly individuals who have a disability or a loved one who does, keeping in mind the slogan, “Nothing about us without us.”
• We will intentionally partner with persons with disabilities, including but not limited to, physical disabilities, mental illnesses/brain disorders, and/or developmental disabilities. We will also work with disability groups outside the congregation to extend our hospitality and to find opportunities to be in shared mission, ministry, and advocacy together.
• We commit to recruiting, nominating and supporting persons with disabilities to serve in leadership positions within the congregation as teachers, members of boards, congregational officers, candidates for ordained and commissioned ministry, or representatives to wider church ministries.

This vote affirms that we join in the process of always becoming ever more accessible and inclusive of all of God’s people.