Laine Lewis, from Gloucester, has 27 years’ experience in youth and children’s church and community work – helping to establish clubs and groups that provide acceptance and love to people regardless of how complex their disability might be.
As a key speaker at our upcoming Kaleidoscope workshop – looking at making church life and buildings accessible and enjoyable for people affected by a range of disabilities or learning needs – Laine shares her experiences and how they have shaped her own approach to leading youth work.
As a second year ordinand, Laine is currently on placement at St George’s in Tuffley, supporting the Revd Rachel Beck, working towards ordination later this year. Laine has worked with children for as long as she can remember, in churches in England and Wales. Laine and her husband, Mike, have two boys, one of whom has profound physical and moderate learning disabilities and complex medical needs.
Laines says, “Becoming a mum to a child with additional needs was how I started to think about how we include children like mine more in church, because my own son was not able to access those things which are available.
“I’d worked in two or three dioceses in youth work and had lots of experience, but when I became a mum to a child with disabilities I realised the field I was in wasn’t working for my own child, so I needed to find a way to do what I did working with children but make it better, to help more people.”
Through her network, Laine talked to friends and leaders at her own church, St Andrew’s Churchdown, and together, in 2018, they set up The Harbour, a session run during school holidays specifically for anyone who had a disability, no matter what that was.
Laine says, “St Andrew’s was really supportive of me trying some different approaches, and trying to reach out to other people, which is where the idea for The Harbour came from. I wanted to put something on that children with disabilities could come to, be accepted and be themselves, and also somewhere they could invite their friends.
“It was probably the easiest thing I’ve had to recruit for and when I explained what I was trying to do, loads of the congregation came forward. We had a team of volunteers there to help play with the children. The parents could come and get to know other parents over some tea and cake, which were fantastically supplied by another team of helpers in the kitchen.
“We provided lots of sensory toys, messy play, a ball pool and soft play and sometimes we had a special guest, like entertainers and musicians, which the children loved.”
The Harbour, which ended in August 2022, reached around 100 families, regularly getting 30 families to the sessions. They also used funding to run a group for children with autism, which was also well attended.
Laine says, “Gloucestershire County Council offered us funding for work specifically with autistic children. The Harbour was expressly for anybody of any disability, no questions asked, so it didn’t meet the criteria, but we were able to use this funding to set up a special interest group called ‘As you like it’ for autistic children.”
“When a church says ‘everybody is welcome’, is that what they really mean?”
Laine is passionate about getting people and churches involved with children and families and making everything more accessible for them.
“As a family, we have been to different churches and always find that people are willing to do anything to help you. What people don’t necessarily have is the knowledge of what to do, or know how to help families long-term with the less obvious things, like the way the service runs.
“I have a lot of experience both personally and professionally but I never assume that just because I’ve got experience that I know what others need. Sometimes churches accidentally generalise about what a person might need. It’s so far reaching and everybody’s different, so there isn’t a one size fits all, which can be a challenge for churches to support them.
“Widening awareness is key, that it’s not just the case of offering the warm welcome, as important as that is, it might also mean changing some things or doing something differently, or putting on something that is different. The main thing is not to make an assumption about what they need; ask them what they need.
“I’m looking forward to sharing what I have learned with others at the workshop; it’s going to be a really interesting day.”
The Kaleidoscope workshop day is on Saturday 24 February from 9.30am to 3pm. Find out more about how to book your place here: Kaleidoscope – Workshop Day – Diocese of Gloucester (anglican.org)
News Hub
