Accessibility Resolution Passes
Mennonite Church USA unanimously votes to grow in accessibility for people with disabilities.
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Worship for Everybody
What if our Church gatherings were designed with everybody in mind – from toddlers to elders, from disabled folks to neurodivergent thinkers?
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All In Info Session
All In Project Director Keli Boyer led a conversation about the All In Project: the application process, our resource partners, and the five-year plan for pilot congregations.
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All In: Imagine Worship Differently
Keli Boyer talks about the All In Project, ADN’s latest venture, made possible by a grant from the Lilly Foundation.
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Thriving in the Midst of War
Joe Landis shares about the Prometheus School in Ukraine and their important work with children with disabilities.
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They Are Beautiful
Heleen Yoder talks about the work of Nyandengoh!, an organization in Sierra Leone that works with children with disabilities.
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Sensory Rooms
Sensory rooms are needed places of quiet in the midst of celebration. Here Sarah Werner shares about the sensory room at Mennonite Church USA’s biennial convention.
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An Anxious Presence
Board member and field associate JE Misz shares advice for how churches can welcome people with anxiety.
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Opening Doors at Immanuel Mennonite Church
Chris Moore shares about the barrier free grant that Immanuel Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, VA received.
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ADN Conversations: All In Project Info Session
Are you curious about the All In project and wondering if it might be a good fit for your church? Join us for a live All In Info Session on September 30th at 6 PM Central/7 PM Eastern. We’ll share what participating congregations can expect and leave time for Q&A at the end.
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CPE that Supports People with Disabilities
Kathy Dickson shares about her experience in a community CPE placement that helps people with disabilities.
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ADN Conversations: Creating a Sensory Space in Worship
A sensory space is a designated space that has fidgets, weighted blankets/lap pads, rocking chairs, wobble cushions, noise-reducing headphones, coloring, and other aids that help increase calm and focus for people who have sensory processing disorders, ADHD, anxiety or are autistic.
Do you have a sensory space in your worship space (or do you want to have one)? Where is it located in the worship space? How did you create it? What did you put in it? Who uses it? What has been helpful? What has been challenging? What benefits have you seen?
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All In: Immersive Worship for Everybody
ADN and the CoB’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation department renewed their partnership to provide training, education, and resources that support congregations in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities and mental illness.
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ADN Welcomes All In Project Director
ADN and the CoB’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation department renewed their partnership to provide training, education, and resources that support congregations in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities and mental illness.
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Schowalter Foundation Grant Supports Camp KIND
ADN and the CoB’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation department renewed their partnership to provide training, education, and resources that support congregations in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities and mental illness.
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Wild Church for All People
Sharon Brugger Norton shares about wild church and how it is accessible to neurodivergent people.
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ADN Welcomes New Communications Director
ADN and the CoB’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation department renewed their partnership to provide training, education, and resources that support congregations in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities and mental illness.
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Disability Advocacy & Education at Denominational Gatherings
ADN offers workshops, exhibits, accessibility services at 2025 MC USA Convention and Annual Conference
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ADN and Church of the Brethren Renew Partnership
ADN and the CoB’s Discipleship and Leadership Formation department renewed their partnership to provide training, education, and resources that support congregations in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities and mental illness.
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New Bible Study Curriculum for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
The Story of God’s First People draws from key stories of the Old Testament with an Anabaptist perspective.
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MHS Association & Anabaptist Disabilities Network Receive $1.2 Million Grant for Accessible Children’s Worship Initiative
“All IN: Immersive Worship for Everybody” project will increase involvement in worship and in the faith community.
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Introducing Camp KIND!
Register for this family camp for children with disabilities, June 30 – July 3!
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On Connections: Optic Nerves and Church Community
In this engaging interview, Eleanor Habecker shares stories of connection related to her blindness and faith.
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True Eyes!
As a blind pastor, Brandon Grady uses the eyes of his soul to guide him.
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Journeying Towards Belonging
Communications Director Emily Hunsbaker presents “Journeying Towards Belonging: Sharing our Gifts and Enriching our Communities.” Incorporating the gifts of people with disabilities in our congregations, Emily welcomes viewers to begin the journey of becoming a place where people with disabilities share in the ministry of the congregation.
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After We’re Gone
Attorney Jennifer Lile and Stewardship Consultant Lyle Miller discuss the unique aspects of estate planning for families of those with disabilities.
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Typical
In this poem, Kathryn Newswanger challenges the notion that people who are neurotypical decide what is normal.
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The Future is Unknown
A song by Ann Hamlin acknowledges her anxiety of a future after her caregivers pass away.
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Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship Dedicates Accessibility Ramp
Steve McCloskey, Pastor, shares the church’s theological journey that led to the installation of the accessibility ramp.
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ADN Receives Estate Gift
MHS Association Estate Gift to Support Work of Anabaptist Disabilities Network
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Christmas Gifts
Ann Hamlin recenters us on what is truly important, God’s gift of love, in this Christmas-themed song.
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Resource Review: Believing and Belonging
Field Associate Sarah Werner reviews the anabaptist baptism & membership curriculum for adults with intellectual disabilities.
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Celebrating Seeds of Spiritual Growth
Chris Esau and Patty Andres share their baptism testimonies, with a short reflection by Chaplain Mike Gilmore.
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Conversations on Baptism and Belonging
Emily Krabill talks about baptism, church, God, and what it means to belong.
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Disability Advocacy Across Cultures
How a Sunday School class for intellectually disabled adults in PA connected with a school for disabled children in Ukraine.
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Different is Beautiful
In this collaboration with Mennonite Women USA for Disability Pride Month, Sarah Werner redefines her disability as something to be proud of, not something to be ashamed of.
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This is the Way God Made Me
Katie Smith reflects on being fearfully and wonderfully made as a disabled person.
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Made in God’s Image
Tony Miller wrestles with the ideas of healing, wholeness, and love.
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Creating Spaces of Welcome
ADN’s free tool to assess a church’s accessibility to people with disabilities and mental illness.
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Church of the Brethren Annual Conference
Accessibility Services, Equipping Session, Giveaways, and more!
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Come as You Are? Thoughts on Healing
Jasmine Duckworth grapples with the idea of prayer and healing in the context of her chronic illness.
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Little Deaths: Surrendering to the Life I Have
Reflecting on a chronic illness diagnosis, Laura Stone explores how she learned to surrender to a life she did not expect.
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Book Review: Dancing with Elephants
Mindfulness Training for Those Living with Dementia, Chronic Illness, or an Aging Brain.
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Service Opportunities for Young Adults
Register for We Are Able 2024
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Nurturing Accessible Family Ministry
Church volunteers who work in faith formation are called to help the gifts of all children, youth, and adults shine.
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Building Community with Neurodiverse Children
Jenn Svetlik shares tips and tricks for creating communities of support for people who are neurodivergent.
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God Hears Me
Read and Listen to Ann Hamlin’s newest song about talking with and hearing from God.
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Nurturing Accessible Family Ministry
Webinar with Bonnie & Lyle Miller on welcoming families impacted by disability and neurodiversity.
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Believing and Belonging
ADN field associates Bonnie Miller and Denise Reesor and executive director Jeanne Davies discuss exploring membership with people who have intellectual disabilities.
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A Different Trip to the Ocean
With a poignant reflection of the beauty and barriers of visiting a personally sacred place, Jill Keyser Speicher sheds light on the daily challenges faced by wheelchair users.
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Becoming the Baptized Body
Dr. Sarah Jean Barton and Jeanne Davies discuss baptism and church membership with particular attention to people with intellectual disabilities.
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Strides at Salford
Jennifer Svetlik recounts Salford Mennonite’s initiatives toward greater accessibility and inclusion.
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Creating a Playground for All
Plains Mennonite Church used a Barrier Free Grant to create a playground for all, a next step in supporting families with autistic children.
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Tiny, Little Awkward Steps
Pastor Nathanael Hofstetter Ressler offers tips for congregations beginning to accommodate for mental illness and support mental health.
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We Are Able 2023
Jonathan Shively reflects on the blessings and growth of the 2023 workcamp week.
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New Baptism Curriculum for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
Believing and Belonging: an accessible Anabaptist membership curriculum
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(Un)Loved: holding grace for myself in chronic illness
Jasmine Duckworth shares vulnerably about her struggle for self-acceptance after a chronic-illness diagnosis.
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Seeking Opportunities
Immanuel Mennonite Church’s experiences auditing their accessibility and addressing their congregation’s barriers to belonging.
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Fostering Spaces of Advocacy
Waterford Mennonite Church’s experience forming a disabilities committee and filling out the Congregational Accessibility Survey.
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Scripture Based Play
Ambler Mennonite uses Legos to engage with Scriptures across ages and abilities.
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Autism and Faith
Ann Hamlin relates her experience as an autistic adult in her church community.
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Litany of Dedication
New Creation Fellowship in Newton, KS, dedicates their new lift, which makes their sanctuary accessible to all.
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Lessons Learned
Shelly Kerchner shares her journey through addiction, illness, and disability.
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A Small World
ADN field associate and board member Jon-Erik Misz, MDiv, LCSW, speaks on trauma, resiliency, and hope for children who experienced difficult times.
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Loneliness: It Affects us All
M.Div. student Michelle Robichaud offers a few ways churches can support lonely youth who lack a feeling of connection.
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Epiphany: See Our Guide!
Brandon Grady draws a connection between navigating life as a blind man and searching for Jesus as a magi.
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The Kin-dom of Heaven
In this poem, Sarah Werner provides an eloquent imagining of what it feels like to be wholly welcomed into God’s Community.
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Wounded and Whole
Why does the Resurrected Jesus have wounds? Laura Stone muses in her sermon on disability and wholeness. Plus, a sneak peek of Laura and Peggy Gilbert’s performance poetry.
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Embodiment in Worship
Sarah Werner reflects on the church’s changing beliefs about physical disabilities and calls us to a more embodied approach to worship.
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A Seat at the Table
A story of moving from isolation to community with biblical hospitality by Heather Wolf
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Accessible Digital Communications
ADN field associate Katie Smith leads this workshop on creating print documents that everyone can read and access.
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Accessible Print Communications
ADN field associate Katie Smith leads this workshop on creating print documents that everyone can read and access.
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Friendship: a Two Way Street
Naomi Epp recounts the ways her friendship with Chantel has been a blessing for both of them.
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I’m Living with Dementia; are you?
Marie Harnish shares the way her mother’s dementia has impacted the life of her family.
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Seeking an Accessible Church Home
Jill Keyser Speicher writes about searching for a church as a wheelchair user.
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Dementia and Memory Loss
ADN field associate Heddie Sumner provides education on dementia: what it is, how to communicate with those affected, and how congregations can continue to minister to people affected and their caregivers.
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Welcoming People with Memory Loss
Heddie Sumner offers ideas for congregations wishing to accommodate people with dementia.
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God Never Forgets
John Swinton writes on the intricate relationship between God and a person with dementia.
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The Gifts of Spiritual Community and Prayer in Navigating Dementia
Susan and Don Jeffers draw on the strength of spiritual practices and a community of support during Don’s dementia journey.
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The “Me” You Don’t See
With a poem and essay, Chou Hallegra calls congregations and individuals to consider how to support people with mental illness.
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ADN Receives Innovation Grant
MHS awards funds for creation of inclusive membership curriculum.
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Estate Planning
Representatives from Everence, an Anabaptist financial agency, discuss estate planning for families with a dependent disabled family member.
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I am Here
A song of yearning and humor by Ann Hamlin asks people to witness her humanity as a nonspeaking young adult.
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Taking the Mystery out of Mental Health
Clinical social worker Jon-Erik Misz reflects on his experience with mental illness and therapy.
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Churchwide Change, Part 2
Janelle Bitikofer offers practical ways for congregations to engage in mutual care by reducing stigma and supporting people who experience mental illness.
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Choosing Life
Verne Sanford relies on his faith and support from his community while he lives and leads as a person with low vision.
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Accessibility Benefits Everyone
Bonnie Miller recounts the practical and emotional effects that a sanctuary ramp had on the congregation of Waterford Mennonite Church.
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Seeing is Believing
How Frederick’s deaf community finds faith and fellowship through the use of American Sign Language.
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Brothers and Sisters, Listen
Tyler Hartford reflects on the use of hearing in the Bible and offers ways congregations can be accessible to people with hearing loss.
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An Introduction to Hearing Loss and Deafness
an introduction to the biology of hearing and how hearing can be damaged, as well as the options for someone experiencing hearing loss or deafness.
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Churchwide Change, Part 1
Janelle Bitikofer offers an introduction to mental illness: what it is, causes, symptoms, and ideas for providing mutual support to those affected in our communities.
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Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Hannah Thompson and Peter Graber offer their honest reviews of this Sundance film.
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Making Spaces Welcome for All
Jeanne Davies calls congregations to greater belonging and inclusion.
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SEEDS: a disability ministry at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church
The process of beginning a disability ministry at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church, Perkasie, PA, which turned into a thriving community.
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Former ADN Executive Director Passes Away
We mourn and remember Eldon Stoltzfus
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Do We Want to Get Well?
Amy Julia Becker reflects on God’s call to healing, both within ourselves and within relationships.
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Mutual Care in Difficult Times
Keith Dow, Katie Smith, Leonard Dow, and Jeanne Davies discuss practices of sharing joys and hardships in the church community.
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ADN Names New Executive Director
Eldon Stoltzfus resigns, Jeanne Davies appointed.
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The Prince of Peace
Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming Messiah, well known to so many during this Christmas season, paints a radical picture of the Lordship of Christ. While this verse has come to be associated with serene winter scenes of country churches and bow-wrapped boxes under twinkling trees, Isaiah’s disruptive vision might be better suited to a call to revolutionary action at the margins of society.
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Christmas in the Midst of Loss
Rebekah Flores offers a reflection on celebrating Christmas in a time of loss.
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Considering the Intersections of Trauma and Disability
Dr. Sarah Jean Barton provides resources and education for congregations seeking to provide trauma-informed care.
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Book Review: Does My Child Have PTSD?
What to do When Your Child is Hurting from the Inside Out
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Adverse Childhood Experiences
Darial Sterling introduces how adverse childhood experiences affect a person’s physical and emotional well-being.
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Trauma-Informed Care for the Congregation
Pastor Staci Williams provides an introduction to trauma and encourages grace and compassion when interacting with people with trauma.
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Jesus Street
I’ve lived for the past six years with chronic, phantom, pain caused by scar tissue that developed after radiation treatment for a brain tumor. Today, exactly half of my body is affected by aching, burning, stinging, or stabbing pain. It’s a white-hot searing sheet of pain that splits my bones. My boys regularly beg Jesus for my comfort.
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The Least of These
A blog about the Intersections of Poverty Culture, Race and Mental Health
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Praying for Healing?
Rachel Joy sees her hearing loss as something that adds to her life, not as something to be cured.
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Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
“Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free,” as the Advent hymn goes. Oh yes, these weeks are full of anticipation of Christmas! Anticipation amps up as we fill our weeks with special musical events, Christmas plays, Christmas parties and additional tasks such as shopping, baking, wrapping gifts in preparation for the holiday. Finding time to prepare our hearts for Christ’s birth is an annual dilemma.
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The Hope of Waiting
The season of Advent is about the hope of waiting. When you’re the caregiver to a child with a disability, your life is all about waiting. Waiting for the next doctor’s appointment, physical therapy session, counseling session . . . This is my story of waiting.
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Joy
Deborah Ferber reflects on finding joy during the Advent season at the L’Arche Community in Inverness, Scotland.
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Why I Went to a Funeral
It isn’t easy in the slightest to go to a funeral for someone you knew well and cherished, so why would one ever go to a funeral for someone they never even met? This is the question I found myself asking as I piled into a room full of about 40 people from my L’Arche community in Inverness, Scotland.
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Shouting Out About Mental Health
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. A good time to beg the question…. Are our pew-mates who experience persistent darkness finding support here? Are their struggles known and shared? Do we really believe that Jesus calls us to care about the whole person, body, mind, and spirit?
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Member of ADN Community Passes Away
We mourn and remember Kent Gunden
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Finding Strength in Grief
October 12, 1982 marks the day when I thought my heart would stop and the world would come to an end.
It turns out that my heart didn’t stop (though it may have skipped a few beats), and the world didn’t come to an end. But it was the end to my perception of my world and my family’s future. This was the day that my husband and I learned that our two sons both had Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes intellectual disability and often symptoms associated with Autism.
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Pain is Such a Pain
Pain is such a pain. You can seethe, groan, swear at it, pray over it, even scream, and it is still there. You just want it to go away, but it doesn’t. Finally, you wonder if there is anything you can do to put balance back in your life.
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Turning the Ground by Standing Still
The theme of a conference I attended a conference this past April was April showers bring May flowers: How do we prepare, plant, and cultivate inner (and outer) change in our lives whether quickly or deliberately?
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Book Review: Deaf Ministry
Ministry Models for Expanding the Kingdom of God.
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Healing the Wounds of War
Grace Mishler’s ministry in Vietnam with people who are blind increases access to care, raises awareness, and supports education and empowerment.
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Walking by Faith: Tips for assisting someone who is visually impaired
Pastor Don Longmore reflects on his own visual impairment and blindness, offering tips for assisting people who are blind.
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ADN Renews Agreement with Church of the Brethren
Partnership expanded for increased disability resources.
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Horses Live to Run
Christine Guth’s understanding of the word “human” shifted as her understanding of her autistic family members grew.
