Inclusive Church – Making Room For Everyone!
Victoria Lawrence calls on the Church to be more inclusive and supportive of children with additional needs this Christmas and in the year ahead
For many years I have noticed and heard that some families who have children with additional needs don’t come to church and, when they do, they leave their children at home because they believe the church environment is not accepting of their children. Stories like these always touch my heart deeply, as I believe it isn’t the plan God has for the Church.
I don’t think the Church is deliberately excluding people, but rather it’s usually a case of a congregation not knowing how to provide appropriate support for those parents whose children have additional needs. Often, what usually happens is that families are asked to take their children out of the main church auditorium because they are considered ‘disruptive’.
Romans 12:13 says: ‘Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.’
This Scripture is a reminder to show hospitality to God’s people, especially those who are in need. I read somewhere that ‘a church that genuinely welcomes people, genuinely grows’. Showing hospitality to all is, I believe, the perfect reflection of the Early Church, where everyone’s needs were catered for and no one was left behind.
Children with additional needs often feel left behind by their church family. They don’t get invited to social activities, like parties, and their parents feel isolated and alone in their struggles. Nothing in our teaching or church programmes demonstrates that we care about their needs, and sometimes our church locations and environment, by default, automatically exclude these children and their families.
There are two major challenges parents of children with additional needs face when they enter our churches, which are ATTITUDINAL and ENVIRONMENTAL. These two factors can make their experience of church totally unpleasant.
Children with additional needs can experience negative attitudes from church workers — whether it’s the ushers, elders, Sunday School teachers and/or pastors. Their experiences can be compounded by the attitude of other children.
Negative attitudes to additional-needs children are often demonstrated when a child shouts in church, and these can be extended to siblings and family members.
There are also those instances when a child with additional needs attends Sunday school. The teacher sometimes lacks the skill, right equipment or material to engage the child in the lessons.
In addition, our church environments — our buildings and access — are not always wheelchair friendly, and our services — with their excessive lightning and high noise levels — are not particularly good for the sensory needs of a child living with autism. Space can be a problem too.
Just by making reasonable minor adjustments, we can make the church environment more conducive to everyone: the able-bodied, the physically challenged, and the families with children who have additional needs.
My work as founder of The Father’s Joy charity entails working with the vulnerable and advocating on their behalf. This has included running vocational educational programmes for widows, orphans and the homeless at our Empowerment Training Centre in Nigeria; supplying sanitary products for female prisoners in Malawi; giving practical support to the Eruwa School for the Blind in Nigeria; and working alongside churches – here in the UK and abroad — so they are better able to support families raising children with additional needs via our Angel Special Needs Programme.
We do this by running seminars to educate church leadership and congregations on what an inclusive church looks like and how they can better support children with special needs.
We also host a WhatsApp group for parents, where they can pose questions or share their concerns about looking after a child with additional needs. We hold regular prayer events and we also have access to a holiday home in Spain, where primary carers and siblings can go to get respite from caring for loved ones.
The Father’s Joy is passionate about building a community where everyone feels a sense of belonging, is loved, and given access to all they need to flourish.
As we head towards Christmas, I implore you, please, to be intentional in including our children — God’s masterpieces — in your Christmas programmes, parties and activities. They have been created anew in Christ Jesus for the work He has prepared for them in advance.
Let’s help them become all that God has called them to be.
Victoria Lawrence is the founder of The Father’s Joy, a charity that empowers people through training and development here in the UK and in Africa. Email info@thefathersjoy.org.uk for further information.
