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[Episcopal News Service] Natalie Whiting was an active member of her congregation, Calvary Episcopal Church in Flemington, New Jersey, for most of her 79 years. In loving her church, Whiting wasn’t afraid to offer some constructive criticism. The historic building was woefully inadequate to accommodate people with disabilities and older people who had difficulty climbing its stairs. Whiting, in life, pressed for the church to upgrade the facility for accessibility, but church leaders deemed the costs prohibitive. Whiting died in January 2025 from cancer and is now posthumously addressing the church’s accessibility issues. She left her entire estate, estimated at more than half a million dollars, to the congregation with a request that it spend the money on accessibility upgrades. “She had a passion for making our building accessible to all people,” the Rev. Kyle Cuperwich, Calvary’s rector, told Episcopal News Service in a phone interview. “The church had talked about for years doing something about it but never had the resources.” Now Calvary is in the middle of the renovation project that Whiting had long requested. Accessible restrooms are being installed in the parish hall. Related upgrades are underway in the parish hall’s kitchen. The two sets of stairs into the worship space, which have posed a challenge to some parishioners in the past, will soon be complemented by wheelchair lifts. “We had older congregation members who would practically age themselves out of the church because they couldn’t get into the building anymore,” Cuperwich said. Some of them have already expressed excitement at the thought of returning to in-person worship services once the lifts are installed. The project is expected to cost more than $600,000. Additional funding was provided by the Diocese of New Jersey through a $3,000 Commission on Ministry with the Disabled grant and a $250,000 loan from the diocese’s Venture in Mission Fund. “Together, these efforts are helping Calvary prepare not only a more accessible building, but a more accessible and welcoming future for its community,” the diocese said in a Facebook post about the project. Flemington is a borough of about 5,000 people in central New Jersey’s Hunterdon County, a few miles from the Pennsylvania state line. Whiting was born to the east of Flemington, in Somerset, and lived most of her life in Hunterdon County, where she worked as a teacher at North Hunterdon High School. Whiting and her husband, who died in 2013, had no children, though she “cultivated a profound sense of community and fellowship, deeply rooted in her Christian faith,” according to her obituary. “She felt the church was really her home,” said Cuperwich, who has served at Calvary since 2023. The congregation now is honoring her wishes by finally following through with its plans for accessibility upgrades. “She really had the church in mind.” The design phase began last fall, and demolition work in the parish hall occurred in May 2026. The congregation has been posting updates on its website and Facebook page, with photos showing the new restrooms and kitchen taking shape. The wheelchair lifts will be installed soon, and the entire project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year or early 2027. “It will look really nice when it’s done,” Cuperwich said. In addition to honoring Whiting’s legacy, the congregation sees the renovations as an opportunity to offer a greater welcome to the Flemington community at a time when the borough’s population is growing. “We want to be part of that growth,” Cuperwich said. Current attendance at Sunday worship services counts about 30 to 35 worshippers. “We are a small church, but we are growing slightly, and we want to keep that momentum going.” Making the church more accessible is another step in that direction. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected].

In early September, a rainbow colored bench was stolen from the back of the First Congregational Church in North Ridgeville, Ohio. The bench was donated to the church by David’s United Church of Christ in Canal Winchester, Ohio just several…

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The Rev. Aaron Wisman says he was raised as a “none” – someone with no religious tradition. But when he attended his first Scouting America National Jamboree at age 13 (then known as Boy Scouts of America), he learned about…

The post ‘A space ripe for interfaith engagement’: Inclusive Christian traditions team up at Scouting America national gathering to offer support, presence, education appeared first on United Church of Christ.

Since the early 1990s, October has been recognized globally as Pastor Appreciation Month, with the second Sunday set aside as Pastor Appreciation Day. Our pastors care for us through life’s most significant moments. Their work goes far beyond Sunday sermons.

Yon lèt ki soti nan Komite Konsiltatif Konpansasyon ak Benefis Pastoral la Chè sè ak frè nan Kris la, Depi nan kòmansman ane 1990 yo, yo rekonèt Oktòb atravè lemond kòm Mwa Apresyasyon pou Pastè , epi yo mete dezyèm dimanch lan apa kòm Jounen Apresyasyon pou Pastè. Pastè nou yo pran swen nou nan

Carta del Comité Asesor de Remuneración y Beneficios Pastorales Queridas hermanas y hermanos en Cristo, Desde principios de la década de 1990, octubre ha sido reconocido mundialmente como el Mes de Agradecimiento al Pastor , y el segundo domingo se celebra el Día de Agradecimiento al Pastor. Nuestros pastores nos acompañan en los momentos más

The UCC’s Environmental Justice Ministries and Media Justice Ministry have joined together to study AI data centers and their impact on our local communities. The study circle is seeking input from UCC members and clergy working on this issue in…

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Summer Communities of Service (SCOS) is an internship program enabling young adults to spend eight to ten weeks working and learning within nonprofit organizations and United Church of Christ churches.   Through the collaboration between UCC Volunteer Ministries, Global HOPE and…

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A prayer walk in Vancouver, Canada on 20 September brought a grassroots lens to the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity. 

Prof. Dr Richard Topping is president and vice chancellor at the Vancouver School of Theology, where the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity Reference Group is meeting. He took time to reflect on the nature of ecumenism at the Vancouver School of Theology, what it means to host the WCC gathering, and his hopes for stronger ties with the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.