Growing Hope: Accessibility and inclusion
Supporting churches to embed accessibility and create inclusive worshipping communities for children and families with additional needs
GROWING HOPE IS HELPING CHURCHES become more accessible and inclusive for children and families with additional needs. On this page, you will find further information about the resources, training and guidance offered by Growing Hope.
Missional challenge
Many churches are not currently accessible to children and young people with additional needs (SEND), creating barriers to participation, belonging and discipleship. Church environments and practices, often unintentionally, can exclude families through sensory overwhelm, lack of understanding, or inflexible structures. As a result, many families feel unwelcome or disengage from church life altogether.
With one in six children in England having additional needs, this represents a significant missed opportunity for mission and growth.
Missional opportunity
To equip churches, through diocesan partnerships, to become accessible, inclusive worshipping communities where children and families with additional needs can belong, grow in faith, and participate fully.
By embedding accessibility into church culture, leadership and practice, dioceses can:
- Enable churches to welcome new families currently excluded
- Support retention of families facing additional challenges
- Grow more diverse and representative worshipping communities
- Strengthen intergenerational discipleship
- This work directly supports the vision of a younger and more diverse Church.
Resource
Growing Hope partners with dioceses to deliver:
- Accessibility Training, delivered centrally and locally
- Accessibility Award, supporting long term culture change
- Practical tools addressing sensory, cultural and physical barriers
- Ongoing support, consultation and follow up
Through diocesan partnerships, Growing Hope enables multiple churches to be trained together, encouraging shared learning and increasing reach in a cost effective way.
Impact
Churches engaging with Growing Hope consistently report:
- 5 to 10 new families joining within two years
- Increased confidence among leaders and volunteers
- A shift in church culture towards welcome and inclusion
- Improved retention of families facing additional challenges
- At scale, this work could support hundreds of churches and enable thousands of families to connect with worshipping communities.
