Elim helps Publish New Inclusion Handbook: “Everybody Belongs, Serving Together”
August 2, 2021
Elim is pleased to announce the release of Everybody Belongs: Serving Together, a comprehensive guide to help churches increase their accessibility and foster more inclusive ministry, especially in regard to people with disabilities. This is an expanded and updated third edition of the former Inclusion Handbook. Dan Vander Plaats, Elim’s Director of Advancement, Marketing, and Communications, was part of an editorial team that guided the production of this new edition.
That team, which also included Mark Stephenson (Director of Disability Concerns, Christian Reformed Church in North America), Terry DeYoung (Director of Disability Concerns, Reformed Church in America), and Keith Dow (Christian Horizons) with the assistance of administrative staff in the CRCNA and RCA, including Christina Tazelaar, Becky Jones, and Erika Fleming. The team reports great satisfaction with the range and depth of additional materials that have been added to an already significant resource.
This resource includes a plethora of insights, tips, and stories from people with lived experience. As a result, readers will grow in the following ways:
- Learn how to improve their church’s accessibility.
- Reflect on the biblical foundations of inclusive ministry, beginning with the life and work of Jesus himself.
- Hear directly from people with disabilities about what an inclusive church means to them.
With this new edition comes new formats, too. Everybody Belongs: Serving Together is available online, as a printed book, as an audiobook, and as an ebook. The online version of this resource includes interactive features such as a church accessibility audit. For easy access to this resource, here are links for each of the versions available:
Printed HandbookThe new handbook is available in print format from several sources, and includes both hands-on practical advice as well as biblical and theological support for disability ministry. It also features completely new input from persons who live with disabilities. |
EbookThe new handbook is available in ebook format with all the same content as the printed version, including both hands-on practical advice as well as biblical and theological support for disability ministry. It also features completely new input from persons who live with disabilities. |
Accessible WebsiteEvery resource included within the printed ebook is also available on a free-to-use website that is made even more accessible by offering an optional audio version of each article on the accompanying article.
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AudiobookThe new handbook is available in audiobook format with all the same content as the printed version, including both hands-on practical advice as well as biblical and theological support for disability ministry. It also features completely new input from persons who live with disabilities.
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Elim is pleased to have taken part in developing this resource, and we encourage you to share it with your church and others in your networks. In order to reach Dan Vander Plaats for more information, please email dan.vanderplaats@elimcs.org or call 708-293-6518.
Non-discrimination Policy:
It is the Standard of Elim Christian Services to admit children and adults to agency services regardless of race, color, national and ethnic origin, to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to agency service recipients. Elim Christian Services does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered policies. Read Full Disclosure.