Introducing Growing in Grace: Accessible Worship for All God’s Children
Growing in Grace is a new initiative of Discipleship Ministries that equips and empowers churches, denominational leaders, and parachurch organizations to form all children as anti-ableist Christians through worship by helping them learn and believe that all God's creation is God's good creation. Ableism, or discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities, asserts significant power in U.S. society, which is evident in the limited presence of people with disabilities in all aspects of communal life, including the church.
As a result, churches often lack knowledge and resources to provide supportive spaces that help all children to resist ableism and embrace disability as part of God’s good creation. Growing in Grace will address this need by cultivating accessible worship practices that integrate all children—disabled and nondisabled—into intergenerational communities of inclusion and belonging.
Through these practices:
- Churches will practice preaching, worship, and teaching that does no harm and does good for the entire community.
- Children will engage in anti-ableist worship as a rehearsal of living as disciples who embrace all people as God's good creation.
- Children will learn, believe, and act in ways that create cultures that embrace people of diverse embodiments within and beyond the church.
The work of Growing in Grace is divided into three distinct yet related prongs: cohorts, symposia, and resource creation. In October 2025, Growing in Grace began a first round of small-church and mid- to large-church cohorts. Each cohort will journey with the Growing in Grace” team to learn how to bring together intergenerational ministry, anti-ableism, disability theology and biblical scholarship, liturgical theology, and worship arts to enact life-giving faith formation for disciples of all ages—especially but not limited to children—in weekly worship.
These cohorts will also provide Growing in Grace with valuable insight into the challenges and opportunities facing congregations as they work to implement intergenerational, accessible, and anti-ableist worship in their contexts. A new round of cohort applications will begin in the spring of 2027. In addition, beginning in September 2026, “Growing in Grace” will host an annual symposium to equip clergy and lay leaders on intergenerational ministry, disability theology/anti-ableism in the church, and liturgy and worship arts.
The symposia will be held in different regions each year so our team can connect with and learn from the challenges and opportunities facing different parts of the United States. Finally, Growing in Grace will produce resources to equip clergy, worship leaders, and laity in the work of forming children as anti-ableist disciples through worship. In early 2026, our initial round of articles will be made available on our new website, with later rounds of articles, liturgies, visual arts, music, and videos coming over the next several years.
If you are interested in learning more about what Growing in Grace is doing and receiving updates from us about cohort applications, Symposium 2026 registration, and/or new resources, please click the link below to register for our mailing list!
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Contact Discipleship Ministries staff for additional guidance.