Creating Access and Inclusion in Worship

Inclusion Awareness Sunday Activities

Listed below are ideas for your Inclusion Awareness event in the areas of affirmation, communication and accessibility. Use the materials in this workbook to plan your parish celebration.

Affirmation

• Under the direction of your parish priest, form an inclusion team comprised of Philoptochos members and parishioners with disabilities to address inclusion issues.
• Under the direction of your parish priest, select a date and plan a special worship service for Inclusion Awareness Sunday.
• Train teens to serve as greeters, assistants and helpers on Inclusion Awareness Sunday. See ideas in this workbook for involving teens.
• Does your parish include children with intellectual challenges in religious education and worship? Use the St. Stylianos Special Children?s Ministry as a model to begin a religious education program for children of all abilities at your parish.

Communication

• Eight weeks before Inclusion Awareness Sunday, order copies of The Body of Christ: A Place of Welcome for People with Disabilities by Father John Chryssavgis from Light + Life Publishing, 952-925-3888, for distribution on Inclusion Awareness Sunday. This booklet is an important statement of the call for Eastern Orthodox Christians to welcome parishioners of all abilities into full participation in parish life.
• Use respectful language when speaking, preaching or writing about individuals who happen to have disabilities. See Using Appropriate Language in this workbook.
• Plan a coffee hour with children?s activities for Inclusion Awareness Sunday that communicate welcome and inclusion for all. See I Am ?Thumb? Body and the paper doll activity in this workbook. Invite GOYA (Greek Orthodox Youth of America) and Junior GOYA to assist.
• Place access and inclusion information in your bulletin on Inclusion Awareness Sunday and throughout the year. See the sample bulletin article, How You Can Make a Difference and quotes from The Body of Christ: A Place of Welcome for People with Disabilities in this workbook.
• Secure a sign language interpreter for Inclusion Awareness Sunday and consider providing this service on a regular basis.
• Create a booklet to distribute to parishioners on Inclusion Awareness Sunday. Use the sample booklet in this workbook for ideas.
• Print and cut apart the Inclusion Awareness Sunday Prayer Card available at www.inclusioninworship.org. Distribute at church entrances and recite together after Divine Liturgy on Inclusion Awareness Sunday.
• Send out a press release to local media outlets to publicize your Inclusion Awareness Sunday events. See sample press release in this workbook.

Accessibility

• Lower the icons in your church so that parishioners who use wheelchairs can easily venerate them.
• Do a walk-through of your facilities before Inclusion Awareness Sunday using the Facilities Survey in this workbook. Note inaccessible areas and announce plans to remove those barriers at your congregation?s Inclusion Awareness Sunday celebration.