Stephenson Receives Annual Ability Award

Mark Stephenson’s journey into disability concerns and to becoming this year’s Ability Award winner goes back more than 30 years to the time following the birth of his daughter, Nicole.

Born prematurely, complications after her birth caused a range of developmental challenges. Nicole wasn’t the daughter he and his wife, Bev, had been expecting, but they loved her deeply from the very start, said Stephenson, who won the Ability Award on Monday, Oct. 29, from the Disability Network Lakeshore, a center for independent living in Holland, Mich., that emerged from the disability rights movement of the 1960s.

“Nicole is our child, and we adore her. She is an amazing and joyful soul,” said Stephenson. He and Bev now have five children. “God used Nicole as a seed that got planted and grew into what we are doing today.”

Stephenson, an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America, served as a pastor in two West Michigan congregations before being appointed director of the CRC’s Office of Disability Concerns in 2006. His wife is a special education teacher for the Ottawa Area Center in Allendale, Mich.

“Nicole has taught us so much — and I’ve had the exciting chance to grow and to use my gifts in ministry,” he said.

As young parents, the Stephensons had firsthand experience with and received help from Disability Concerns through a support group started by Disability Concerns in the CRC congregation in Hudsonville, Mich. where Mark served as a pastor.

Through the group, they received support, assistance, and education on how to raise Nicole. That experience also drew them into the effort of helping churches and communities to open themselves more fully to making accommodations and inclusion for persons with disabilities, said Mark Stephenson. They came to see how all of God’s people need to be part of and active members in a worshiping community.

They especially learned about the need for this from Nicole and other persons with disabilities. “These are the people who can tell us how to make the church as welcoming as possible,” said Stephenson.

Stephenson added that the Office of Disability Concerns is a response to actions taken by synods over the years. In 1985 synod adopted A Resolution on Disabilities, which continues to represent the CRC's position on ministry with persons who have disabilities. Synod 1993 recommended full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act throughout the CRC in the United States and Canada. And Synod 2000 encouraged all classes “to establish a network of disability-concerns consultants and congregational contacts to work in cooperation with the office of Disability Concerns" (Acts of Synod 2000, p. 620).

As director of Disability Concerns, Stephenson has worked to spread the message of “Everybody Belongs, Everybody Serves” to congregations across the CRC. He has also helped to develop a joint disability concerns ministry with the Reformed Church in America.

Over time, he said, he has seen an increasing number of churches “plug in to do the extra work” of making their congregations more inclusive.

Although there is more work to do, he said, the CRC is making progress.

Fifteen years ago, for example, fewer than half of CRC church facilities had accessible main entrances, restrooms, or worship, fellowship, and classroom areas. Now nearly 90 percent of churches have made these areas of their buildings accessible.

Stephenson said that over one-third of congregations now have a disability policy, and accessible communications (barrier-free print and sound) have also shown modest improvement over the years.

At the same time, Stephenson noted, there continues to be a need for education, advocacy, and action with persons who have disabilities as part of congregational life.

Although he knew he had been nominated for the Annual Ability Award, Stephenson said he was surprised when he received it — and humbled because of work that others who were nominated have done.

Disabilities Network Lakeshore presented the award at its annual dinner in the Holland Civic Center. The award honors persons who persist in the vision of communities where people with disabilities can participate, contribute, and belong.