To find out more information, call (586) 751-1721 or
visit www.firstofwarren.com
By JERRY
WOLFFE
A Warren church will start an “inclusion ministry” program
on Oct. 1 to focus on helping fulfill the spiritual and social needs of people
with disabilities.
“Jesus was the first advocate for people with disabilities,”
said Marijo Hockley, who has earned a Master’s of Divinity degree and will
coordinate the ministry.
“We want to get people like myself that haven’t (felt
included in a faith community) and help them feel more comfortable about coming
to services and talking about God,” said Hockley of Madison Heights. She uses a
power wheelchair because she has arthrogryposis,
a congenital disability where two or more joints in the body are frozen,
eliminating range of motion.
Currently, “four
or five people with disabilities” attend the accessible church, The First
Presbyterian Church of Warren, which is located at 3000 East 12 Mile Road in
Warren.
The open house
will be from 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Oct. 1 and attendees will have a dinner,
see a video, “God’s Beautiful Creation,” and have a time for fellowship,
Hockley said. Inclusion meetings will then be held the first Thursday of every
month thereafter.
“We want to make
sure everyone feels comfortable,” she said. “We’re hoping this program will
create a faith-space within our church that will let people with disabilities
learn to express their own unique voices as part of God’s good creation.”
The Rev. Julie
Delezenne of First Presbyterian helped Hockley win a grant from the Detroit
area Presbytery to fund the program for a year.
“When I first
started out in ministry, I didn’t want to be the ‘disabled pastor,’ but God
called me to do something and I need to show people I have been called to do
God’s work,” Hockley said.
Register on the
website or call so the church can prepare enough food for those in attendance,
Hockley said.
Jerry Wolffe
is the writer-in-residence, advocate-at-large at the Macomb-Oakland Regional
Center. He can be reached at (586) 263-8950.
