Sensory room at St Mark’s, Marks Gate

WE WERE BLESSED WITH SOME Strategic Development Fund (SDF) money, equipped with an unused ‘small meeting room’, and ready with an open heart for inclusion of those with special educational needs in the community.

St Mark’s itself is home to a pre-school and a day centre for young adults with learning needs and physical disabilities, as well as a significant number of our children within St Mark’s Church. Many other young people and children in the wider community are also registered or have some form of special educational needs.

This room has allowed us to meet the needs of more people in the community, serving to embody Psalm 139’s recognition that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made, and that in 1 Corinthians 12 we are all part of one body.

Through the sensory room, the preschool has been able to further meet the needs of some of their children and engage with the church in a new way; the day centre has continued to transform our understanding of holistic hospitality; and members of the church with children who use the sensory room can see that everybody has a place of welcome in our church, our ministry, and our worship.

The next phase of the project will see us installing some more equipment as we respond to the needs of those who use the room, as well as engaging and promoting the use of the room with the wider public community. We already know that this is one of only a few publicly accessible sensory rooms in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

We hope that, through this mission opportunity and the Holy Spirit, we will be able to create more spaces of encounter with God for all people in Marks Gate!