Opening Doors Archive
Strides at Salford
Jennifer Svetlik recounts Salford Mennonite’s initiatives toward greater accessibility and inclusion.
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.
Tiny, Little Awkward Steps
Pastor Nathanael Hofstetter Ressler offers tips for congregations beginning to accommodate for mental illness and support mental health.
We Are Able 2023
Jonathan Shively reflects on the blessings and growth of the 2023 workcamp week.
New Baptism Curriculum for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
Believing and Belonging: an accessible Anabaptist membership curriculum
(Un)Loved: holding grace for myself in chronic illness
Jasmine Duckworth shares vulnerably about her struggle for self-acceptance after a chronic-illness diagnosis.
Seeking Opportunities
Immanuel Mennonite Church’s experiences auditing their accessibility and addressing their congregation’s barriers to belonging.
Fostering Spaces of Advocacy
Waterford Mennonite Church’s experience forming a disabilities committee and filling out the Congregational Accessibility Survey.
Scripture Based Play
Ambler Mennonite uses Legos to engage with Scriptures across ages and abilities.
Autism and Faith
Ann Hamlin relates her experience as an autistic adult in her church community.
Litany of Dedication
New Creation Fellowship in Newton, KS, dedicates their new lift, which makes their sanctuary accessible to all.
Lessons Learned
Shelly Kerchner shares her journey through addiction, illness, and disability.
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.
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.
Epiphany: See Our Guide!
Brandon Grady draws a connection between navigating life as a blind man and searching for Jesus as a magi.
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.
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.
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.
A Seat at the Table
A story of moving from isolation to community with biblical hospitality by Heather Wolf
Accessible Digital Communications
ADN field associate Katie Smith leads this workshop on creating print documents that everyone can read and access.
Accessible Print Communications
ADN field associate Katie Smith leads this workshop on creating print documents that everyone can read and access.
Friendship: a Two Way Street
Naomi Epp recounts the ways her friendship with Chantel has been a blessing for both of them.
I’m Living with Dementia; are you?
Marie Harnish shares the way her mother’s dementia has impacted the life of her family.
Seeking an Accessible Church Home
Jill Keyser Speicher writes about searching for a church as a wheelchair user.
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.
Welcoming People with Memory Loss
Heddie Sumner offers ideas for congregations wishing to accommodate people with dementia.
God Never Forgets
John Swinton writes on the intricate relationship between God and a person with dementia.
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.
Accessibility Resolution Passes
Mennonite Church USA unanimously votes to grow in accessibility for people with disabilities.
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.
ADN Receives Innovation Grant
MHS awards funds for creation of inclusive membership curriculum.
Estate Planning
Representatives from Everence, an Anabaptist financial agency, discuss estate planning for families with a dependent disabled family member.
I am Here
A song of yearning and humor by Ann Hamlin asks people to witness her humanity as a nonspeaking young adult.
Taking the Mystery out of Mental Health
Clinical social worker Jon-Erik Misz reflects on his experience with mental illness and therapy.
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.
Choosing Life
Verne Sanford relies on his faith and support from his community while he lives and leads as a person with low vision.
Accessibility Benefits Everyone
Bonnie Miller recounts the practical and emotional effects that a sanctuary ramp had on the congregation of Waterford Mennonite Church.
Seeing is Believing
How Frederick’s deaf community finds faith and fellowship through the use of American Sign Language.
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.
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.
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.
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Hannah Thompson and Peter Graber offer their honest reviews of this Sundance film.
Making Spaces Welcome for All
Jeanne Davies calls congregations to greater belonging and inclusion.
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.
Former ADN Executive Director Passes Away
We mourn and remember Eldon Stoltzfus
Do We Want to Get Well?
Amy Julia Becker reflects on God’s call to healing, both within ourselves and within relationships.
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.
ADN Names New Executive Director
Eldon Stoltzfus resigns, Jeanne Davies appointed.
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.
Christmas in the Midst of Loss
Rebekah Flores offers a reflection on celebrating Christmas in a time of loss.
Considering the Intersections of Trauma and Disability
Dr. Sarah Jean Barton provides resources and education for congregations seeking to provide trauma-informed care.
Book Review: Does My Child Have PTSD?
What to do When Your Child is Hurting from the Inside Out
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Darial Sterling introduces how adverse childhood experiences affect a person’s physical and emotional well-being.
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.
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.
The Least of These
A blog about the Intersections of Poverty Culture, Race and Mental Health
Praying for Healing?
Rachel Joy sees her hearing loss as something that adds to her life, not as something to be cured.
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!
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.
Joy
Deborah Ferber reflects on finding joy during the Advent season at the L’Arche Community in Inverness, Scotland.
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?
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?
Member of ADN Community Passes Away
We mourn and remember Kent Gunden
Accepting the Gifts We’re Given
Anxiety and depression often escalate during the Christmas season. While the push-and-pull of joyfulness and despair during the advent season is exhausting, sometimes it’s more important to accept the gifts we’re given, regardless of how they’re wrapped.
Impaired Speech in Silence
The Gospel of Luke precedes the birth of Jesus with the birth of John the Baptist. According to Jewish law, custom, and tradition, newborn infant boys were to be named eight days after their birth and were to honor their fathers by being named after them.
Book Review: Detour
The problem with opposition is that it often hits us blindsided when we are least expecting it.
The Harm of Self-Stigmatization
I’ve lived all my life with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). When I entered kindergarten in 1949 few doctors, mental health professionals, teachers, or parents were familiar with ADD (or ADHD).
Three Barriers to Spiritual Formation
As mere humans, we are not the “givers” of God’s salvation, hope, or love. That’s God’s work and God’s gift. We are, however, called to provide the invitation and the environment in which all people can connect with the gospel message and grow in relationship with Jesus.
Celebrating Birthdays
Birthdays are usually times of celebration. We celebrate the fact that one more year was added to a person’s life. For parents of kids with special healthcare needs, birthdays take on a deeper meaning.
New Words of Thankfulness
Around a turkey dinner families will share words of gratitude and thankfulness. We typically thank God for good health, happiness, leisure time, quality time with family, the changing of seasons, delicious food.
Spiritual Growth
These inspiring stories of spiritual growth among students with differing abilities show ways of worship as individual as they are.
Faith, Disability and Bioethics
While we rejoice in the promise of God’s presence and comfort through life’s changes, many people face the fear, confusion, of transition. For people with transitioning to new limitations or disabilities, it can be hard to discern what God’s plans are.
A Place to Belong
12.6 percent of the US population lives with a disability but few churches reflect this proportion. Tragically, it’s no secret that people with disabilities are under-represented in religious circles.
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.
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.
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?
Getting Messy – Suicide Part 2
During Tiara Coleman’s most significant experience with depression, suicide, and self-harm her youth pastor Ross reached out to her and entered into her struggles head on.
Suicide Personified – Part 1
I grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia and come from a well-known Mennonite family. In sophomore year I moved from the local public high school to Eastern Mennonite High School (EMHS). This is when I remember life started getting really hard for me.
Book Review: Deaf Ministry
Ministry Models for Expanding the Kingdom of God.
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.
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.
ADN Renews Agreement with Church of the Brethren
Partnership expanded for increased disability resources.
Horses Live to Run
Christine Guth’s understanding of the word “human” shifted as her understanding of her autistic family members grew.