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Chicago (ELCA)-FI — Peace Lutheran Church, Gahanna, Ohio, won the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Accessibility Award for 2003. Announcing the honor, the Rev. Lisa T. Cleaver, director for disability ministries and deaf ministry, ELCA Division for Church in Society, said Peace Lutheran went well beyond ramps and elevators.
The Accessibility Award is given each year to recognize one ELCA congregation for the accessibility of its building and the extent to which it includes people with disabilities in its worship, leadership and activities. The National Organization on Disability and Aetna U.S. Healthcare provide a cash prize of $1,000. The money is meant to help the congregation support its disability ministries, said Cleaver.
"Peace is committed to continuing to expand the ways in which it is welcoming and accessible to persons with disabilities. At this point a list of possible ways in which to spend the money for expanded programs has been generated, but no final decision has been made," said Patricia Tietz, adult education assistant, Peace Lutheran Church.
Peace Lutheran is a congregation of the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod and has more than 3,000 baptized members. Gahanna is a city of about 34,000 residents located in central Ohio, next to the Port Columbus International Airport and about eight miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio.
"The thing that really made us sit up and take notice of this congregation was its outreach program — the things it's doing in the community," said Cleaver. "It has a committee called Friendship Connection Ministries that is specifically for persons with disabilities," she said.
Friendship Connections Ministries welcomes neighbors with developmental disabilities and provides a weekly Friendship Bible Study and monthly Respite Saturdays. The respite program offers "a much-needed day off" for families, friends and anyone who is a caregiver for individuals who have disabilities, Cleaver said.
Camp Friendship Connections gives adults with developmental disabilities a one-week residential Christian camping experience. Young and adult members of Peace Lutheran serve as camp companions.
Peace Lutheran is also a host location for an organization called Courage Incorporated, which is an organization for people with disabilities in the Central Ohio area, Cleaver said.
"Peace Lutheran Church was honored to receive recognition from the ELCA through the Accessibility Award. The leadership and encouragement that congregations receive from the ELCA Division for Church in Society is very supportive of improving accessibility for persons with physical and mental challenges," Tietz added.
Three ELCA congregations each received an "honorable mention" certificate this year and a $100 MissionTermSelect investment from the ELCA Mission Investment Fund:
+ Atonement Lutheran Church, Jamestown, N.D.
+ Easter Lutheran Church, Eagan, Minn.
+ Faith Lutheran Church, Seattle, Wash.
First Lutheran Church, Princeton, Ill., won the ELCA Accessibility Award last year; St. Paul Lutheran Church, Hampton, Va., won it in 2001; and Ascension Lutheran Church, Albert Lea, Minn., won the 2000 award.
The ELCA disability ministries and deaf ministry assists congregations and other church institutions in inclusive ministry with people with disabilities. Four networks serve as the ministries' core: the ELCA Braille and Tape Ministry, the Lutheran Network on Mental Illness/Brain Disorders, the Lutheran Services in America-Disability Network and the Definitely Abled Advisory Committee of the Lutheran Youth Organization.
The ELCA Mission Investment Fund provides loans to new Lutheran mission congregations to purchase land and construct new church buildings. Fund investors earn competitive interest rates while furthering the mission and ministry of the church.