05/02/2026
In pursuit of the Church of England’s priority to grow younger and more diverse, the Strategic Mission and Ministry Board has agreed £0.6m investment with the charity Growing Hope.
One in six children in England have additional needs, and 88 per cent of parents of children with additional needs say that attending church is currently or has previously been a challenge. Some people with additional needs have commented that elements of church can be distressing for them, such as lighting, signage and sound.
Founded in 2018 in King’s Cross, London, and initially focussed on setting up free therapy clinics attached to churches for children with additional needs, Growing Hope will now launch a programme to extend its accessibility training to 375 further churches across England.
In addition, 475 churches will explore the Growing Hope Accessibility Award, which helps churches indicate that they are ready to welcome families with a range of needs.
The accessibility training was designed by Dr Naomi Fox, the founder of Growing Hope - a Paediatric Occupational Therapist - and involves guidance on cultural and perception shifts of children’s ‘behaviour’ in congregations, sensory-aware modifications to the environment and service, and structural or practical change to buildings – many of which are at little or zero cost. It takes into consideration the practical constraints of ancient buildings, heritage preservation requirements and church patterns of worship and teaching.
The vicar of St James, Downley, in High Wycombe invited Growing Hope to deliver accessibility training when the congregation was predominantly retired, or nearly retired people, with no children attending. After launching a Messy Church with accessibility features such as visual schedules, multi-sensory activities and movement breaks, the church now welcomes six families regularly who previously had no connection with the church. The church also provides sensory tents, fidget toys and ear defenders at Sunday services, and has learnt that even children without additional needs find this helps engagement.
Meanwhile, the ‘Accessibility Award’ has Bronze, Silver or Gold level accreditation, and the process involves an assessor spending four hours on-site on a Sunday, evaluating the culture, accessibility and multisensory provision of services.
St Luke’s Church in Downham displays the Growing Hope Accessibility Award on its website, and consequently received a call from a local family eager to have their two children with significant additional needs baptised, but worried that they may find the church environment too formal.
The vicar invited them to a meeting to discuss the process of baptism and adaptations, and two years later, the family are still attending.
Most churches that have engaged with Growing Hope report welcoming five to 10 new families into their worshipping community, with some commenting that every family that has joined since includes someone with additional needs.
Having developed the plan for this investment with Diocesan Disability Advisors, Growing Hope will pilot the programme with a diverse group of churches in five dioceses.
One mum of a child who has benefitted from this work said: “Joshua is, like, ‘can we go to church every Sunday?’”, with Joshua previously refusing to get dressed and becoming distressed over going to church, due to the bright lighting and number of people.
Vicki Smith, CEO of Growing Hope said of the new partnership with the Church of England: “We are so delighted that Growing Hope has the opportunity to expand our ministry through this important partnership, enabling more children, young people and their families to access church.”
The Bishop of Bedford, Richard Atkinson, who is lead bishop for the ministry of and amongst Deaf and disabled people, said: “I believe this programme is an important step in advancing the Church of England’s vision of becoming a diverse and truly welcoming church for all.”