December, 18, 2007

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A wonderful – perhaps even groundbreaking – example of a church reaching out to people with disabilities came to life this year at Westview Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Faced with the question of what to do with their empty parsonage, Westview members decided to transform the spacious, four-bedroom structure into a group home for six women, most of whom have Down Syndrome, says Rev. Mark Stephenson, director of the CRC's Disability Concerns office.

"This is a good model of what a church can do," says Stephenson. "They looked at their resources and saw a huge need for comfortable, adequate, caring housing for people with disabilities."

Supported by a grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Stephenson is working with Westview to help determine how the congregation can build bridges between the church and the women in the nearby group home.

While Westview came up with the idea, "the grant will allow us to help the church better understand how to build inclusive community around those with disabilities," says Stephenson.

The grant is part of a $20,000 overall award that the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship gave to the Disability Concerns office as well as the Christian Learning Center Network, Friendship Ministries, and the Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding. All of these organizations are based in West Michigan.

Stephenson says the groups are "partnering with 10 West Michigan area churches, at no cost to the congregation, to do intensive training and assistance in becoming more inclusive congregations."

The aim of this grant, says Stephenson, is to renew worship that has for various reasons become stagnant or irrelevant for people with disabilities. These reasons can range from the current worship style failing to meet the needs of disabled persons or there being physical limitations that prohibit the disabled person from participating meaningfully in the worship life of that congregation.

Marv and Joyce Koets are the members of Westview who spearheaded the effort to use the parsonage for a group home.

"Our church was talking about bulldozing down that gorgeous home," says Marv Koets, a retired public schools superintendent. "We worked very hard to make this happen."

Westview is leasing the former parsonage to an agency that staffs the group home. Meanwhile, members of the church volunteer at the home and also help to bring those who live in the home to church for services and events.

Since church members still aren't sure how best to include the women in all church activities, they asked Stephenson's office to help them chart a course for the future, says Marv Koets.

Other West Michigan-area congregations involved in the grant project include a Catholic church, several CRC congregations, a Reformed Church in America congregation, a Lutheran church and a non-denominational congregation. Each of the churches has different issues it wants to address, says Stephenson.

Stephenson says he learned of the unusual foster-home project when members of Westview approached his office to do some consulting work with them. "This (grant program) is a nice way to help churches get rolling, or to help them get rolling again, in reaching out to their disabled members," Stephenson says.

Christian Reformed Church
by Chris Meehan, CRC Communications