I was at a workshop today, in which the following list was created, can you guess what it was about?

• Keep in Simple
• Use multi sensory activities
• Form a good relationship – connect
• Make sure the length isn’t too long
• Value quality over quantity
• Ensure inclusivity
• Share Gods love
• Keep things familiar
• Make it about heart and not just head knowledge
• Value ceremony and sacred
• Dont patronise
• Give roles so that they are involved
• Appreciate the interruptions, it might be Gods voice
• Value understanding and listening
• Have a clear structure
• Create opportunities for serving and using gifts
• In the Socialisation after ask open questions

and to make it easier for you..this one…

• Ask the folks about hymns and subjects that they like

What do you think?

What might be this list about?

And maybe…what kind of workshop did I go on today?

Yes that’s right, you guessed it.

I went on a workshop about how to make church services accessible to young people, it was great, we talked about participation, giving responsibility and ownership, giving space for young people who might struggle with limited attention, behavioural issues like ADHD, about valuing their voice and interruptions, about the varied ways of learning, using bodies, using senses, not just minds, about being present and ensuring a good welcome.

It was just fabulous.

Only.

It wasn’t was it.

Sadly it wasnt about young people at all.

This list was about how to make worship accessible to older folks in care homes, led by the chaplains at Methodist homes association.

Oh.

It was about being accessible, inclusive, participatory, sensory, gentle, relational, challenging but not patronising, meaningful and respectful, responsive and also planned, with adults in a care home setting. How to respond to interruptions of their body functions, illness, about keeping things familiar , about encouraging it to be a space where they could have dignity and join in appropriately, it was about recognising the need for safety, for volunteers, for it to be about heart, and head.

What if this was what church was like….normally?

Why isnt it?

Why does the care home get all the good church services?

makes me think that I can’t wait to be old.

If church can be participative and accessible in the community setting of a care home (with all the inspection, guidance, social control, policies) – then why cant it be like this in its own setting? And yes sometimes it is…

If you were to ask young people about how they would want to make church more accessible to them – so many of these things would be said. In fact this is what research showed a few years ago.

In that piece I shared that from the research by Fuller , these were the headlines…in 2017..

When I look at the way in which the examples of church are described in ‘Here be Dragons; Youthwork and Mission off the map’ (2013) – they are all very similar – youth congregations in community settings with a space to worship that they have ownership, participation, serving, ceremony, sacredness, community and giving – also inclusive and open, with public facing and interruptions. Not unlike the care home.

I just found the similarities fascinating and revealing today, so I thought id share them with you.

Because…young people are just people after all….- and accessible church might be good for everyone…mightn’t it?