We are thrilled to honor three churches this year as recipients of the Marian Wilder Award: North Decatur UMC, Dunwoody UMC, and Athens First UMC! Click the links below to learn how each church has committed to working with persons with disabilities in their local church setting:

2025 Marian Wilder Award Honorees

North Decatur UMC

North Decatur United Methodist Church is a community of faith that has a commitment to honoring the value, gifts, and inclusion of people with disabilities. Below are ways that NDUMC carries out this commitment:

  1. Lay people and staff at NDUMC consistently engage with congregants that have disabilities.

  2. NDUMC has shifted language around invitations to participating in worship. For example, rather than saying “please stand,” NDUMC says “please rise in body or spirit.”

  3. NDUMC has a group of people with disabilities from L’Arche Atlanta that consistently attend Sunday morning worship.

  4. NDUMC’s Director of Worship Arts regularly includes people with disabilities in the choir.

  5. NDUMC’s Director of Worship Arts celebrates the gifts of people with disabilities by giving them opportunities to sing solos, play the bagpipes, and play the flute in Sunday morning worship.

  6. NDUMC’s Children’s Minister has given a person with a disability from NDUMC a meaningful role in helping with the Chilldren’s Ministry.

  7. NDUMC’s Children’s Minister designs curriculum that is both accessible for and meaningful to a child with a disability.

  8. NDUMC provides communion elements that are considerate of dietary needs of people with and without disabilities.

  9. NDUMC has assistive listening devices available during Sunday morning worship.

  10. NDUMC prints on large bulletins so that there is a readable font.

Though NDUMC has many ways in which it carries out its commitment to people with disabilities, NDUMC continues to have growing edges in how they can better honor the value, gifts, and inclusion of people with disabilities. 

 

Dunwoody UMC

The Connected Ministry aims to be a welcoming and inclusive environment for individuals of all abilities to come together and support one another on their faith journeys. The Connected Ministry was created after hosting our first Night to Shine event three years ago. Initially, it focused on a monthly table fellowship gathering. This ministry has since expanded to include a weekly Sunday School class, biweekly Wednesday evening table fellowship, and a recreation group for ages fourteen and older.

In our Sunday School class, we emphasize linking the challenges participants encounter in their lives with scripture and faith development. It has been a joy to observe the discipleship process in this area, as well as the beautiful community and true friendships that have developed. This year, one participant was baptized after being denied this sacrament by another church. The story behind this baptism pushes us to grow this ministry with specific intention, remembering that we are all beloved children of God. We also celebrated with three participants who felt called to join the church and get involved in serving on our hospitality team.

We have formed a partnership with Unique Individual Ranch, a non-profit that serves school-aged children with special needs, and our Sports and Leisure Ministry to launch seasonal adaptive basketball and soccer programs. This partnership has been fruitful, with fifty-two participants in the first two seasons supported by volunteers from the church and the community.

Unique Individual Ranch requested that we serve as a second host site for their adaptive after-school enrichment program for school-age students starting in August 2025. With the addition of the after-school enrichment program and a growing need for school-age buddy support in our Children’s Ministry, we plan to launch the Dunwoody Buddies program this summer. This program will include one-on-one buddy support as students attend Dunwoody Kids and offer additional training for the classroom leaders. One ripple we have seen in our community is other organizations reaching out about starting adaptive programs all over Dunwoody. It is a beautiful illustration of God’s love as we watch our church transform by embracing this population into our church family.

Athens First UMC

As of March 2025, the AGAPE ministry of Athens First United Methodist Church serves six children in grades K-12 and seven adults aged 18 and up along with their families.  We offer a Sensory Room designed to accommodate both sensory-seeking and sensory-sensitive individuals, featuring soft lighting, cozy rugs and chairs, and interactive panels and toys.  Our ministry offers our families and their AGAPE participants the ability to worship and serve in various AFUMC activities either by inclusion with the church community at large or in a small group setting.

Utilizing a Safe-Sanctuaries-certified volunteer staff (Buddies) that includes both adults and high school and college students we are able to pair each AGAPE participant with a caring individual for support.  Our buddies include both adults and high school and college students, many of whom work or study within the field of education or in a medical setting. 

Our current Sunday morning programming pairs a buddy with each participant in grades K-12 to offer them the opportunity to attend Sunday school with their same-age peers.  In addition, we offer buddies for our participants for special worship services and activities such as the Advent Breakfast, Easter Extravaganza, Vacation Bible School, AGAPE Sunday, and our Christmas Eve Service.  At other times during the year, we host AGAPE fellowships specifically for our students and their families, such as last fall’s “Spooky Organ Concert Pre-Party.”

AGAPE Adults meet monthly for socials, each activity including a meal and a program or service project, such as “Lunch and a Movie,” “A Day of Sharing Joy at Wesley Woods,” and “Backyard Birds:  Exploring the World of our Feathered Friends.”  Recently, two of our adults performed a vocal number in the AFUMC Variety Show to rousing applause.  The adults have also supported one of our members in community theatre performance by attending her performance.  Buddies are available for our adults if needed.

In October 2025, our ministry led worship on AGAPE Sunday, offering prayers, reading scripture, collecting our offering, and performing a liturgical dance.  This special service featured testimonals from parents, participants, and volunteers describing the personal impact of our ministry.  A few our community partners joined in making this a wonderful celebration:  Java Joy served coffee, Hannah Eppling of Little Characters/Ovation choreographed and performed in our dance, and Love Craft Athens created commemorative pendants for our congregants.

AFUMC also welcomes two other community partners at regular intervals throughout the year.  Sunshine Studio visits during the workday to assist with special projects at our church from cleaning the sanctuary to assembling communion bags for distribution to our members who reside at senior living facilities.  Additionally, we host students in the Job Skills Program of the Clarke County School District each week, giving them opportunities to explore a career in hospitality as they assist with preparations for Wednesday Night Dinners.