Autism Ministry

Currently available at the Sewickley Valley and Wexford locations.

What to Expect

Image of a volunteer and autistic child at a church in Sewickley

Ages

Since the Autism Ministry is closely aligned with Kids Church, it is designed for preschool and elementary age children, 3 years old – 5^th grade, who are on the autism spectrum.

When & Where

Wexford Campus
12121 Perry Highway
Wexford, PA 15090

9 & 11AM services

Get Directions

In order to best serve you and your family, we highly encourage completing the new family process before coming on a Sunday morning. The new family process includes a meeting with the director, tour of the space, overview of the program, parent questionnaire, and waivers.

Start New Family Process

Autism Ministry Overview

Meet Sarah Conway, Autism Ministry Director

Tour the Space

Tour of the Wexford location space coming soon.

Learn More

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Come As You Are

"Come as you are." Maybe that sounds like a nice phrase to hang on the wall, but it feels like an impossible one to live by, especially if your family is made up of neurotypical and neurodiverse children. Maybe your thoughts sound something like this: "You don’t know our family. We don’t look like everyone else. If we come as we are, we might create a scene."

If this sounds like your story, we want you to know we see you. We invite you to come as you are, and we cannot wait to meet you.

Our mission is for families with a child (or children) on the autism spectrum to come as they are, so that together they can all know, experience, and follow Jesus.

Our goal is to provide a loving and welcoming environment for your whole family — a place where you all feel safe to come as you are. Every week, we seek to provide an engaging, inclusive place for your children to grow in a relationship with Jesus and with their same-aged peers. Your children, both neurotypical and neurodiverse, will be well taken care of as they experience the love of Jesus. At the same time, you will be able to participate in our worship gathering and experience much needed worship, teaching, prayer, and community.

We believe we are to reflect God’s Kingdom, as described in Revelation 7:9, here on Earth. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” There are no barriers in heaven, so we believe there should not be barriers here on earth.

We invite you to come and experience the hope of the Gospel: the good news that invites each one of us to come as we are and encounter the love of Jesus.

Autism Ministry FAQs

What can I expect?

Why only Autism? Why not all special needs/disabilities?

Someone once said, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Our goal with this ministry is to go far, not fast. We want to provide the best Kids Church experience for neurotypical and neurodiverse children. To do so, we will need to build a ministry and team that can go far, together. At this time, we are equipped to provide an excellent, safe, and loving environment for children on the autism spectrum. As we learn and grow as a ministry, our dream is to be equipped for additional special needs and disabilities.

I have a friend who has a child with autism, but they do not go to North Way. Can I invite them?

Will my children without disabilities/autism be interacting with the children with autism?

Yes! We want to help all of our children celebrate the diversity in the body of Christ. It is our goal to have an inclusive program, that includes all children in the Kids Church classrooms with their same-aged peers. This does mean that neurotypical kids will have the opportunity to be in Kids Church with neurodivergent kids. This will allow all children to learn more about their peers, develop new social skills, and learn what it means to love everyone like Jesus.

How can I get involved?

Autism Ministry Families Facebook Group

If your family is a part of the Autism Ministry, we would love for you to join our online community! We have a private Facebook group for families in the ministry. The hope is that this can be a safe place for you to connect, ask questions, share things you’ve learned, and just be in community with people walking through a similar season of life as you.

Request the LInk

Serve in Autism Ministry

There are many ways to get involved and use your gifts to care for and disciple children. We have a wide range of serving opportunities available for varied experience levels and will also provide training. Let us know if you are interested in joining this team.

Send Me the Application

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