“Even though there wasn’t a special class for my disabled children at the time, I’ve loved that church from the moment we walked through the doors because of the people and the music program,” said Klaus. “Christy had attended Sunday school with me, but I knew that she wasn’t really getting what she needed out of it.”
Klaus also has a son, Caesar. She was excited when a special Sunday school program was formed Oct. 8 called Beyond Limits.
“It’s a rare church that offers this, it seems. The congregation is great, and there’s a lot of support around this class,” said Klaus. “I just think parents need a moment in the week to take a breath, and know that God loves their children with disabilities as well as everyone else.
A program like this needs several volunteers to make it work. Glenda Wilkins, grow director at Christ UMC, utilizes several facilitators and coordinators. Facilitators include her husband Chip Wilkins, Chris Leis and Rich Schultz. Coordinators are Klaus, Patty Hoyle and Elise Freeman.
“We did an all-church journey two years ago, and it dawned on me that we didn’t have a place for all the people of the church. Specifically, looking at adults with developmental disabilities,” said Wilkins, a Bellbrook resident.
An all-church journey is a time for people to meet in small groups to discuss sermon topics and connect with one another. Wilkins was also involved in Kettering Leadership Academy. The participants went to Kettering Fairmont High School and learned about the Fairmont Industries classes. This is a vocational work study for students with special needs.
“I found out that families move into Kettering because of that offering. And I thought, ‘Where do these families go, when their kids become adults and they want to go to church?’ ” said Wilkins. “It was just clear that we needed to be a good community partner to provide that answer.”
So Wilkins met with Ben Young, a 20-year church member who’s been a very active volunteer. He is physically disabled, and has started several projects at the church. One of them is Inclusion Quest. Together they came up with the idea for Beyond Limits.
In a recent Sunday school class, the members were studying Matthew 9:9-13.
In addition to Christy and Caesar Klaus, Petra Steinberger of Dayton was there.
“I do have developmental learning disabilities, and I’m able to overcome them. But I felt singled out growing up,” said Steinberger. “I like that [this class] is offered and we’re able to learn. I really like the music part. They do have a safe place in the church where people can come and learn.”
What they were learning that day was how Jesus asked Matthew, a much-maligned tax collector, to follow him. Leis was leading the discussion, and held a mock tax collection to drive home the point of why Matthew was disliked. Those attending class understood that Jesus was known to help and befriend those on the fringes of society.
Reaching out to others; that’s what Jesus taught. And Christ UMC is doing just that with Beyond Limits.
The class is designed for both adults and adolescents.
The church is located at 3440 Shroyer Road, Kettering. They also have a second location in Washington Twp.
For more information, go online to www.christumc.org.
Contact this contributing writer at PamDillon@woh.rr.com.
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