Your church can enable persons with special needs to feel and express their joy found in God. Explore their personal and social issues and discover ways they grow spiritually.
Explore New Worlds of Worship
How do you show your adoration, devotion, love and respect for God? Sing, shout, wave a palm branch, read a litany, stand in corporate worship? Kneel by your bed?
Would you like to enable persons with special needs to feel and express this kind of joy found in God? You can if you become aware of the challenges people with disabilities have in the area of worship.
For many the challenge or distraction is a physical impairment that keeps them from standing or hearing or seeing. Others find their special need embarrassing socially as they make noise, have to eat during a service, or, in the case of chemotherapy, need to sit apart from a group to avoid infection. For some, theological issues form a barrier or distraction and must be dealt with.
While persons with disabilities must make accommodations, an awareness of possibilities and distractions can help your church plan to make them more comfortable and expressive in individual and corporate worship. As you use this information to plan your worship, remember that God truly transforms, and that becoming more inclusive enriches the worship experiences of everyone.
Please raise your awareness by reading about barriers and challenges before jumping to suggestions on how to plan.
• Classroom Worship With Children With Special Needs
• Social Distractions in Worship
•Disability-Unified Worship