LUCY PEMONI / STAR-BULLETIN Randy Webb, right, an usher at Wesley United Methodist Church, gathered Thursday with the Rev. Larry Waymen, left, fellow usher Sam Powell and the Rev. Phyllis Meighen. Meighen organized a church called John 17:21 Group, an ecumenical church that welcomes all to participate without regard to their disabilities.

Pastor spreads gospel
of including disabled

A church group works to create
a situation where all are welcome

It's not enough, the Rev. Phyllis Meighen believes, to just pray for people with disabilities.

And it's certainly not enough to simply give them sidewalk ramps and wider bathroom stalls.

People of faith, the United Church of Christ pastor believes, must include people with disabilities in the performance of worship services and other duties. People of faith must make an effort to help the disabled understand God's word.

"More than half of it is going where you know you're welcome," Meighen said.

And as a person of faith, as a woman whose brother is disabled but has lived with the Word of God in his heart, she had to do something.

That's why she started a church called John 17:21 Group, which is based on the Bible passage saying, "That we may all be one."

"There is a need today," Meighen said, for the church to "fully include people ... with different attention spans, differences in looks, differences in behavior."

While the disabled might need to learn how to be part of a church community, the church also needs to stop and think about how it can include them, she said. That means, for example, adapting teaching styles to make it easier for them to understand God.

Because the church's goal is to mingle the disabled with other people, anyone may attend John 17:21 Group meetings. Sponsored by the United Church of Christ, the group meets every second Sunday at Wesley United Methodist Church in Kahala.

Since the group started meeting in mid-August, it regularly has attracted about 50 people, a third of them with disabilities.

It's not your typical service. Each begins with an evening meal to break the ice while breaking bread.

A host is assigned to each table to keep the conversations going. Then they work on a project, such as assembling health kits for tsunami relief in India at the most recent meeting Feb. 13.

The projects, Meighen said, make everyone feel "that they have something to offer, no matter who you are. It's also focusing on something larger than ourselves ... to get people relating to one another, to get people across the barriers of income, language, disability and age."

During a recent service, the disabled played major roles in the new congregation. Some greeted fellow members at the door before service. During the service, disabled members led the congregation in song scripture recitation.

The Moanalua Community Church Youth Ministry performed a song in sign language, and some songs had words that were easy to remember. An overhead projector showed pictures of what was being discussed to ease understanding for the hearing- or mentally impaired.

The Rev. Don Asman, a retired UCC minister, gave a short sermon with the help of a magic rope trick to demonstrate how everyone is equal in the eyes of God. The lesson was that "nobody is better than anyone else."

He also used magic by tying knots in the rope and cutting it into pieces to show how "sometimes our lives get so tangled up that we can really be hurt," he said, but "God makes us whole; God's love will always be with you."

For Meighen the new congregation is very personal. The first time she gave a sermon on John 17:21, her 46-year-old brother, Tim, was sitting in the front row.

He clapped and said, "Yay, Phyllie!" she recalled, with a smile.

Her brother has Down syndrome.

"He's the one who inspired me" to start the church group, she said. His "relationship with God is not in his head," but his heart, she said.

"We are trying to reach everybody. There are so many different levels of understanding," she said.

Her brother, she said, "couldn't sing the songs or understand the sermons, but from the time he was very young, he loved to be in the presence of God and a loving community. He had a very direct experience with the love of God."

Art and Val have brought their daughter Andi, 38, to John 17:21 since its inception. Andi Mori is a member of the Sunshine Group of disabled adults at Wesley United. The family also attends Star of the Sea, a Catholic church.

The Moris have always wanted to give their daughter a wide view of the world.

"If they don't live in the community, how will she learn how to behave within it, and how will others learn to accept her?" Val Mori said.

Andi Mori is an office volunteer at a hospital, and the staff has always insisted that she behave like any office worker. "They don't think she's retarded. Let's give her a break," Val Mori said.

That's why Meighen is committed to creating a space where everyone is welcome.

"We are operating from the love of Christ of human beings," she said, "not from a legal standpoint (as in the Americans With Disabilities Act)."

"It's a place where you can be yourself," she said.