Celebrating accessible church at Spring Harvest

Comms Team

05/04/17

This Easter, Livability’s Prospects teams have been leading parallel streams of celebrations and Bible teaching for adults with learning disabilities at Spring Harvest.

Promoted as feature breaks, Prospects’ has partnered with Spring Harvest for over 30 years. The work has enabled families caring for a member with learning disabilities to attend the conference.

Each day starts with a collective ‘wake up’ celebration hosted by Spring Harvest for families before breaking off into streams for bible studies and talks and parallel activities (youth and children’s work etc). Then groups come back together with a collective worship evening session. Prospects is one of those streams.

Each day of the conference Prospects provides an accessible morning celebration and bible study followed by an afternoon of creative workshops.

Intended for adults with learning disabilities we often find church leaders joining the Prospects celebrations to learn how to provide accessible ministry to people with learning disabilities in their home churches.

The Prospects stream provides Bible teachers, worship bands, Makaton signers, workshop leaders and hosts to support the people with learning disabilities attending. Prospects ministry teams are made up of volunteers from volunteers across the UK, including church leaders.

In the evening meetings guests of the Prospects stream take their place at the front of the main stage, to express worship through dance and celebration.

In May 2016, Prospects became part of the Livability group, through an exciting new merger. By becoming part of Livability, the charities can increase social impact with individuals, families and communities.

Placing the people we support at the heart of all we do, our charities have combined strengths and expertise to deliver a broader portfolio of care services, church and community projects around England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Taking part at Spring Harvest is an exciting opportunity in which to recognise the contributions and needs of disabled people, and to build towards inclusive and accessible communities.