Were here to help you to make your church a welcoming space for everybody.
There are many ways in which we can take steps, sometimes very small ones, to make people feel more welcomed into a space. That is true of people of all ages but, here in the Growing Younger Team, we are trying to find ways of helping you to be creative in the ways that you make your services and events more accessible to children and young people regardless of the challenges they face. Trying to help you remove as many barriers as possible between the children and young people in your communities and God.
Here are some ideas but if you know of more, please do let us know so that we can add them to this list.
Growing Hope is supporting churches to become more accessible places of welcome for children and young people with additional needs and their families.
Thanks to funding support from The Church of England, we're delighted to be able to offer a range of accessibility support to churches across the Diocese of Derby for free!
- Register your interest here: Growing Hope with The Church of England – Growing Hope
- Growing Hope webpage: Growing Hope with The Church of England – Growing Hope
If you have already registered your interest with the Growing Younger Team, you can still sign-up using the above link, or you can wait to hear directly from Growing Hope.
This short YouTube video provides an overview of the Growing Accessible Churches project in partnership with the Church of England and can be viewed on the Growing Hope YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoyMSbaCJC4
How to Make Your Children’s Ministry Space More Accessible
Jesus’ ministry routinely included people with disabilities. People of all abilities can learn, play, and study the Bible together.
So consider…how inclusive is your space? What can you do to make sure everyone feels welcome? We asked Charla Holst, occupational therapist and founder of Overcomer Ministries, how churches can best modify spaces to include people of all abilities.
Take this simple evaluation (by clicking this link) to help your children’s ministry space be more disability friendly.
The Additional Needs Alliance – helping churches to include, support, create places of belonging for, and spiritually grow children, young people and young adults with additional needs or disabilities. Among our Members are many individuals and organisations that offer a range of excellent services and resources to assist churches and other groups working in this area to make a real difference for their community.
Christian BSL provides British Sign Language (BSL) translations of Christmas carols and for words and phrases related to Advent and Christmas. The videos are presented by Deaf BSL users who are practising Christians.
Including everyone – SEN inclusion in church children’s and youth groups
Follow this link to find the free online training video plus some other really helpful material; supporting your church in starting on a road to greater inclusion https://www.parentingforfaith.brf.org.uk/
For more information, contact the Growing Younger Team at GrowingYounger@derby.anglican.org
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