By Carrie Brown McWhorter
As adults age, they sometimes experience reduced vision, hearing loss and impaired mobility — conditions that are all addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Churches generally do a good job of ministering to senior adults,” said Otis Corbitt, an associate in the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
“Churches … are acutely aware that the needs of their senior citizens include physical things related to accessibility.”
What churches may not think about, however, is how poor lighting and acoustics, small print in Bibles and bulletins and heavy sanctuary doors can be barriers to worship for older adults.
Corbitt said the best way to evaluate these features is to talk to senior adults. “Ask them what would make their worship experiences more convenient and helpful,” he said. “They will come up with ideas that we wouldn’t have thought of.”
Some ideas may not be practical or affordable, Corbitt said, but such conversations can help church members think about the difficulties many older adults have in fully participating in worship and Bible study.
One of the first considerations is helping senior adults get into the sanctuary. Having handicapped parking spaces and covered walkways on the same level as the sanctuary are helpful for those with mobility problems.
Ushers may assist individuals to and from their vehicle and help them with a walker, a wheelchair or other large items they might use.
David Willis, minister of music and buildings at McGehee Road Baptist Church, Montgomery, in Montgomery Baptist Association, said his church tries to have ushers at all entrances so there is someone to open the door for those who need help. “It’s easy for someone to lose their balance struggling with a heavy door,” he said.
“One thing churches can consider is having a couple of shorter pews so people in wheelchairs can choose their seats and not have to sit in the aisle,” Corbitt said.
Technology may also help — sometimes in unexpected ways. Central Baptist Church, Phenix City, in Russell Baptist Association discovered that installing a large projection screen in the sanctuary was a technology update that unexpectedly helped those with impaired vision or hearing.
The screen is used for announcements before the worship services and for missions emphases at various times throughout the year. During worship services, song lyrics and sermon outlines are projected onto the screen. Pastor Dexter James said the response from the senior adults has been positive.
“Most of our seniors are extremely missions-minded, and the use of the video screen helps us promote missions, which our seniors love,” James said. During worship, “the screen enables us to lift our heads and sing together, and [when] the sermon outlines are projected on the screen, it helps all our people see the main points of the message, especially those who may have difficulty hearing.”
The bigger letters also help the visually impared, Corbitt noted. “When you put those words on a screen, they are sometimes several feet tall and certainly several inches tall, which makes them easier to read.”
Providing hymnals, pew Bibles and bulletins in large print are other simple ways to help the visually impaired participate in worship.
But lighting can be a bigger problem than small print. Church lighting is frequently inadequate for reading, Corbitt said.
“The basic conflict is between having a soft, worshipful atmosphere and the ability of people to see hymnbooks or Scripture,” he said. “When a church redecorates or designs a new building, it needs to have expert advice that will take that into account.”
Expert advice can also make a big difference when churches evaluate their sound system. Several companies make devices that work with a church’s sound system to provide amplification for individual worshipers with hearing difficulties. Even if a church cannot afford these devices, a good sound system is important, Corbitt said.
“A high-quality, well-designed sound system can help everyone, including people with hearing problems, hear better,” he said.
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