Sensory friendly service at Slatersville Congregational Church Saturday aims to include

0
432

NORTH SMITHFIELD – The Slatersville Congregational Church will hold its first sensory friendly Christmas service this Saturday at 5 p.m. for children and adults with sensory processing disorders, autism or developmental disabilities, Pastor Sean Amato said.

“Basically anyone who has difficulties with big groups of people, loud sounds, bright lights,” Amato said. “We want everyone to feel that the church can be a safe space for all who enter it.”

There are only a few churches in Rhode Island offering special services like this one, Amato said.

“I’m not sure why it’s not done more in other churches,” he said. “It seems like a natural extension of what we do, making space for people.”

Members of the community and the congregation with neurodivergent kids brought the idea to Amato, he said. 

“There were members of our community who were struggling to find a safe place for their children to attend church,” Amato said. “It got me really motivated. It’s something that the congregation has really wrapped their arms around.”

Amato and the members worked to develop a plan for the service, and Amato’s prior work with people with disabilities for the state of Rhode Island also helped shape the plan, he said.

The half hour service will be “heavily modified,” he said.

“We will start with an orientation to help get everyone get oriented to the space. Then there will be singing. We are singing two rote songs at the request of the moms,” he said. “Then we will have a discussion of love and what it means and how Jesus expressed love.”

The attendees will be able to use stim toys or a “stim room” that they are setting up in a tent in the church, Amato said.

“There will be prayer – spoken or quiet, we really want them to explore the church in prayer,” he said.

Amato will offer communion, he said. 

“It might be the first time a lot of people have ever received this,” he said. “We will leave it up to the person if they want to participate.”

The service will close with the singing of “This Little Light of Mine,” Amato said.

“We are singing that because that’s what we all bring. We all bring our own little spark,” he said. 

After the service, there will be a meal and social time. 

“We are going to eat pizza,” he said.

Amato said that historically Slatersville Congregational has been “an open and affirming church,” and that this service is an example of engaging everyone in the community.

“It’s going to be fun. Some families are going to show up who I don’t know if they’ve ever been in a Protestant church before,” he said. “It’s an interesting opportunity to engage the community, and I think that’s beautiful.”

“Especially now when everything is so polarized, here we are doing the opposite,” he said. “We are expanding what it means to be a church. Basically, we are trying to build the table a little bit longer and a little bit wider.”

For more information on the service, visit the church on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/share/1BeBbhNvzs/ or email [email protected] to RSVP

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Sign up to receive awesome content in your inbox, every week.

We don’t spam!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here