Suncrest United Methodist Church opened Faith Without Limits, a new Sunday School/Youth Group room for children with disabilities.
The room was started by SUMC’s Children’s and Youth Ministries Director Christina Thomas, who was inspired by her grandson. The youngster is autistic and had struggled during worship. She wanted to give children with disabilities an environment where they could feel safe and comfortable being engaged in church, and parents the opportunity to feel comfortable knowing that their children are being understood and cared for during Sunday School.
Thomas reached out to a friend, Ashley Davis, who is an autism mentor for the Monongalia County Schools and is now the Faith Without Limits coordinator and instructor. The two began brainstorming.
The church was supportive of their efforts, and although it took a while to get it off the ground, after their application for a grant from the West Virginia United Methodist Church Foundation was approved, they were able to get the ball rolling on the room.
Faith Without Limits includes many things that will help children with special needs during Sunday School. These include a 180-degree swing that helps them reground themselves and regulate their emotions, fidget toys that help them focus and pencils with grip tools that help them with their fine motor skills, along with many other elements that are specifically geared towards making the best environment possible for these kids to learn, engage in and feel comfortable in Sunday School.
Faith Without Limits uses a specialized curriculum that caters to the learning needs of children with special needs and allows them to engage in Sunday School in ways that work best for them. For instance, while Sunday School might do a craft as a lesson, Faith Without Limits might incorporate a sensory bin: a bin filled with rice or sand that kids can touch and look in for items that are related to the lesson. This can help these kids be more engrossed in their learning and stimulate their senses.
After children and teenagers age out of Faith Without Limits, they can move on to Special Connections, which is a similar program for adults and college-aged students with disabilities. In addition to this, the church also has a calming room next to the sanctuary that allows kids who are feeling overwhelmed during service to take a minute to themselves and regroup while their families can still be with them or near them. Similar to the Faith Without Limits room, the calming room also has several sensory toys and noise canceling headphones that help children who might be feeling overstimulated.
The church has also talked about introducing a sensory friendly youth night for those who want to strengthen their relationship with God and their community but need a calmer environment to do so in.
It was important to the church to create an environment where everyone felt comfortable and welcome within the program because many families felt like there wasn’t a place where they or their child could be accepted and SUMC wanted to make it clear that they are.
“God doesn’t make mistakes. You are who you are, and he made you perfectly,” Davis said. “If you’re someone that has a disability, God made you perfectly and we’re going to make sure you know that when you leave here.”
The church’s pastor, Larry Buckland, is dedicated to following Jesus’ teachings of opening his church to those who are marginalized or excluded and, in his words, “not just say it with words, that all are welcome, but to live it.”
Suncrest UMC hopes to build lasting connections with these families and its members by listening to the community and their needs and learning how to best serve others. The hope also is that other churches and community buildings follow and work to make their programs more inclusive and accepting of everyone.
“People just need to know that they belong here, too,” said Davis. “They belong in God’s plan, they’re here for a reason.”
