During the 2024 Christmas season, Inclusive Church launched its “Make Room at the Inn” resource to encourage and support churches in ensuring their spaces welcome everyone.
The campaign hopes to encourage and enable all churches to review and improve the inclusivity, diversity and accessibility of their services and festive events by offering practical tips and suggestions for ‘little changes than can make a big difference’.
At the heart of the campaign is a series of seven short videos (around 3-4 minutes each), with accompanying transcripts and infographics available to download. There is also a downloadable discussion guide that churches can use alongside the videos to further open the conversation and explore aspects of inclusion and accessibility suggestions you can incorporate in your own context.
The videos are available across on our YouTube channel if you follow the links below. The full film is also available. If you’d like downloadable copies please let us know!
Rev’d Chantal, National Coordinator of Inclusive Church, said:
“Christmas is a time to celebrate God’s radical love and invitation to all. We want to make sure it can be a time of celebration, reflection and togetherness for everyone. But for many, barriers to inclusion, whether physical, sensory, or cultural, can mean being left out and feeling excluded. ‘Make Room at the Inn’ reminds us of the true meaning of the season: making space, offering hospitality, and showing God’s love to everyone.” Whilst the suggestions are aimed at the festive period, many of them will also be useful habits to incorporate into year-round provision.
The focus areas of the short videos are below and clicking the links will take you to each directly:
- Mental Health & Anxiety
- Disabilities and Accessibility
- Scran and Brass (Food and Money)
- Buildings and Facilities
- Language and Labels
- Race, Gender and Representation
- Think Differently (Neurodiversity & Learning Styles)
There are infographics and a prototype course you can also download to help your engagement with the material.
The longer combined film is available to view here: whole film
There is also a ‘facilitators guide‘ to support those who will be leading others through the material.
