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Ability Ministry

Ability Ministry = your ministry!
Ability Ministry is for EveryBODY!
This is an inclusion to worship and everything at St. James.

Ability Ministry is inspired by, led by, and mastered by and with people with disabilities.   We are seeking people with disabilities to be involved and influence this process.  At the same time, this requires the participation of people without disabilities.    So, if you don’t report any disability or identify with any disability, that means you.   Yes – you!

Right now, Ability Ministry is served by the Roskopf family:      Kurt, Sue, and Alana Roskopf – kurt@abilitynow.tk    Your Pastoral Council and Human Concerns commission support the Roskopfs in connecting this future for St. James with you.

It starts with celebrating our rich history of accommodating people with disabilities as far back as people today can recollect.   Your Music Ministry today repeats the page number on songs as a result of the article written in the recent past about Ability Ministry.  It is not meant to stir up requirements or expectations.   It is good and healthy ideas and conversations around what is naturally doable and within the will of volunteers and simple inquiries with staff in some instances to see if we can make adjustments based on feedback and dialogue this creates.

To maximize the first phase of this, it is moving forward in a premise of reverse inclusion.    This means that every aspect of St. James is examined through the lens of someone with a disability.

How does St. James work for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities?
How does St. James work for people with deafness?
How does St. James work for people with blindness?
How does St. James work for people with mental health concerns and goals?
How does St. James work for people with substance use reduction goals?
How does St. James work for people with chronic pain?

This is not to stir things up in any way whatsoever that St. James is problematic in our current situation.   It is to stir things up that we have a ginormous opportunity in working through our disability community for improving the future of our congregation.   It is a positives-only discernment for giving our faith experience the injection it needs.

This content is derived by the Roskopf family at this point.   It is a strong invitation to all the families and individuals affiliated with St. James to engage and provide constructive criticism to the Roskopf family for how this can be shifted to more reflect the broader will of the St. James community.

Thank you so much for your consideration, and we look forward to your input.