Autistic and Christian

It’s funny you mentioned that. I grew up in the church. Found a personal faith at a fairly young age. But have often had friction with organised religion. Even to this day I feel very much like I’m floating on the periphery of our church community. I’ve been writing something that is about 50 ish a4 pages of, for want of a better word, collection of lessons that could be drawn from my life about how churches could better include and support autistic people.

i’m seriously thinking of publishing it as a book. Probably as an e book on Amazon. There are maybe two books I could find on Amazon about autism and Christianity. I don’t know if I will publish, some of it feels rather personal. But here are some of the repeating themes.

1. Churches should not measure themselves against mainstream schools when it comes to including autistic kids. There is no special needs Sunday school. If you find autistic kids disruptive you’ve got to get creative and find a way to include them.
2. don’t organise the social connection in your church around demographics. Eg mens group, woman's group, elderly group, students group, etc. autistic people often don’t sit well in their demographics and you’re probably making it harder for them by putting them in a group where people will expect them to share things in common just because they share a demographic.
3. Don’t try to run your church on a mates system. You miss out on the skills of great autistic people who would volunteer for things if there was a form with a box to tick rather than them having to be chumy with the right leader to be given the chance to shine.
4. be ready to make a safe space for autistic people. And in the context of autism a safe space is a place where it’s ok for them to unmask, be open and unguarded with their speech and talk about their interests no mater how outlandish or weird with our being treated like pariahs.

It’s funny you mentioned that. I grew up in the church. Found a personal faith at a fairly young age. But have often had friction with organised religion. Even to this day I feel very much like I’m floating on the periphery of our church community. I’ve been writing something that is about 50 ish a4 pages of, for want of a better word, collection of lessons that could be drawn from my life about how churches could better include and support autistic people.

i’m seriously thinking of publishing it as a book. Probably as an e book on Amazon. There are maybe two books I could find on Amazon about autism and Christianity. I don’t know if I will publish, some of it feels rather personal. But here are some of the repeating themes.

1. Churches should not measure themselves against mainstream schools when it comes to including autistic kids. There is no special needs Sunday school. If you find autistic kids disruptive you’ve got to get creative and find a way to include them.
2. don’t organise the social connection in your church around demographics. Eg mens group, woman's group, elderly group, students group, etc. autistic people often don’t sit well in their demographics and you’re probably making it harder for them by putting them in a group where people will expect them to share things in common just because they share a demographic.
3. Don’t try to run your church on a mates system. You miss out on the skills of great autistic people who would volunteer for things if there was a form with a box to tick rather than them having to be chumy with the right leader to be given the chance to shine.
4. be ready to make a safe space for autistic people. And in the context of autism a safe space is a place where it’s ok for them to unmask, be open and unguarded with their speech and talk about their interests no mater how outlandish or weird with our being treated like pariahs.

Great idea 

I like the idea of a safe space as well. I have often thought of writing like a guide for autistic Christians too

Point 2 is particularly interesting. Most churches I find have mens and womens groups but the trouble is I get on with women better than men so it makes it harder for me to make friends 

I think your idea of a book is a good one. I found one where various people had commented, but as it was American it was not too relevant to many of our situations.

We used to go as a family, but my autistic son found it harder as he got towards secondary age, particularly as he struggles with reading too, so before the pandemic I started going when my husband was at home. Now mostly I watch online and although it is good to be in the building with others find the social bit more challenging. I used to help with coffee sometimes as that is a focused thing, but even that can be challenging following the set routine if I don't know something, as it makes me feel awkward. It is the same with helping other people, I want to help, but do not always know the appropriate thing to say.

I would love to find a forum like this linked to a Christian organization where people could share experiences, including how to help their children.