In today’s episode, Beth Golik shares 5 tips for hosting a sensory-friendly worship service at your church!
Listen now in your favorite podcast app!
Quick Links:
5 Tips for Hosting a Sensory-Friendly Worship Service downloadable infographic
Disability-Inclusive Event Checklist (Podcast Episode 013)
January 18 Disability Ministry Video Roundtable
Transcript:
Hi everyone! This is Beth Golik, one of your co-hosts for Key Ministry: The Podcast. I’m pretty excited about today’s subject because I’ve been personally impacted by being part of some sensory-friendly worship services this past year. I’m excited to share five tips that I’ve learned with you. So let’s dive in.
We are all designed to worship our Creator—through prayer and service and praise—both as individuals and as the church family. But sometimes corporate worship services can be challenging for those with sensory-processing differences.
Are there potential obstacles that are keeping individuals and families impacted by disability, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions, from attending and fully participating in your worship services?
Today I want to share five tips with you for hosting a sensory-friendly worship service.
These suggestions are specifically for corporate worship services, but if you are looking for a checklist for all types of disability-inclusive church-wide events, I encourage you to check out Episode 013 of Key Ministry: The Podcast. I’ve included a link in the show notes for this episode at keyministry.org/podcast.
Before I share these five ideas, let me frame it this way: wouldn’t it be great if all worship services were accommodating to everyone? Perhaps at your church, that’s exactly how it is. You’ve figured out that the accommodations you make for a few actually work for everyone. Universal design. But if that’s not the case, maybe your church can start with a so-called sensory-friendly service as the entry point to fully inclusive worship.
The first tip I have for you today has to do with lighting.
The obvious lighting advice is to avoid using strobe lighting. That one pretty much goes without saying. In general, stay away from extreme lighting of any kind, including anything that is flashing. Select warmer hues such as yellow, amber, and orange for your stage lighting. Shades of blue are harsher and more jarring. And always keep some house lights up in the event people need to navigate aisles during the service.
When we think about triggers for sensory overload the two biggies are light and sound, so our second tip has to do with sound.
You’ll want to keep the volume moderate. But what if you have a full worship band…drums, guitar, the works? Well, it might mean that you adjust the sound level a little lower than a typical service. Consider having headphones available for people to use during the service if they are experiencing sensory overload due to noise.
For those living with anxiety, an order of service can be hugely helpful in removing a barrier to full participation in worship.
So, tip number three is to provide a schedule.
I have a few ideas for how to do this. You can hand out a printed program or a visual schedule. If paper isn't your thing, the order of service can be posted on a screen or even housed on a website (with a QR code to that web page available for folks to scan while they’re in the service). Consider describing each element of the service so that individuals will understand what to do, why we are doing it, and will know what to expect.
The fourth tip is to keep it interactive.
Encouraging participation will engage your audience and can help all kinds of learners: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Using motions and movement works well for songs and worship scarves are a great tool to have on hand to encourage participation in worship. You can include motions in the delivery of the message, too.
I’d like to share an example from a sensory-friendly worship service my church hosted back in November. My buddy Ryan Wolfe, from Ability Ministry, delivered the message. His sermon was on being thankful and he began by teaching everyone the ASL sign for “thank you” which you probably know is made by touching the fingertips of your open-palm hand to your chin and then moving your hand, with the palm up, slightly down towards the person you are talking to. It would be a lot easier for me to show you rather than trying to describe to you over a podcast! Anyway, he instructed us to make the sign anytime he said the words: thanks or thankful. Well, people participated! Young and old, they did it! Those with and without apparent disabilities were participating by signing throughout the service. They were engaged and interacting with Ryan and his message. One more thought about the message. Be cognizant of the language you are using to teach some of the more abstract concepts. Whenever possible, use concrete examples to help our concrete thinkers.
My last tip is, in my mind, the most important. This has nothing to do with lighting or sound or anything that is measurable.
Instead, it has to do with setting the tone.
Communicate that we are all designed to worship and that it might look a little different for each one of us. Set the expectation that everyone is welcome and that they should feel comfortable taking part in praise and worship in a judgment-free zone. Provide an environment where it is OK if you or your loved one need to move around, twirl, vocalize, etc. Come as you are; you are welcome here. This is a non-shush service
So those are my five tips for hosting a sensory-friendly service!
I’ve provided an infographic for quick reference in the show notes. What do you think? What did I miss? We’re going to continue this discussion together. I invite you to join the conversation on January 18 where we’ll brainstorm practical ideas for sensory-friendly worship services. Everyone is welcome to join in on our Disability Ministry Video Roundtable on this topic. We’ll share and learn from each other; I’m really looking forward to seeing you and talking (and I’m air quoting here) “in person” at noon eastern time on January 18. To register for this Roundtable discussion, please visit the show notes for this episode at keyministry.org/podcast.
While you are on the Key Ministry website, go ahead and bookmark it because big things are coming soon! If you are listening to this episode the week it airs, that means we are so close to announcing our speakers for Disability & The Church 2023, our national conference taking place April 28 & 29 in Cleveland, Ohio. You won’t want to miss it!
Thanks for joining me for this week’s episode of Key Ministry: The Podcast. If this type of information is helpful to your ministry or gives you food for thought to take back to your church, please give it a 5-star review and share it with a friend. Thank you for listening!
