Later this month, we will launch the sixth of our popular 'All Inclusive?' additional needs training seminars and this latest course is an accompaniment to a resource we first made available this time last year.
‘Invited to Belong’ - produced in partnership with Youthscape and released exclusively at the 2021 National Youth Ministry Weekend - is a six-stage reflective process for leaders and teams who support young people and children with additional needs in Christian settings. ‘Invited to Belong:2U’ is an associated training seminar session, providing children’s and youth workers with a guided journey through the ‘Invited to Belong’ resource and how your teams can use it to help children and young people with additional needs to truly belong.
We open the box together to be inspired, challenged, and equipped to invite young people with additional needs to experience a deeper and more genuine sense of belonging within the ministries they are part of. A recent comment about ‘Invited to Belong’ sent to us from a youth leader shows the impact it is having…
“I just wanted to let you know how useful we’re finding the ‘Invited to Belong’ resource. We used some of it at our youth group team meeting this week, along with some of our young leaders, and it produced some really helpful conversation. We’ve come up with a good list of ways we can make our group better and more inclusive! We will continue to use it at future meetings. The individual fact sheets are a great source of information. Thanks for all the resources you put together. They are really invaluable.” - Thrive, Leeds
‘Invited to Belong:2U’ will guide children’s and youth leaders step-by-step through the six stages of the ‘Invited to Belong’ resource: ‘Inspiration’, ‘Stories of Belonging’, ‘Barriers to Belonging’, ‘Enabling Belonging’, ‘A Vision for Belonging’, and ‘Invited to Belong’.
- Unpacking stories of inclusion done well, helping you to know the context and backstory behind these inspiring examples.
- Immersing you in the encounters that Jesus had with people with additional needs and highlighting what these encounters teach us today about inclusion.
- Guiding you to identify barriers to belonging in your own context.
- Equipping you with the skills and knowledge to break these barriers down.
- We will work together to craft what your own vision for belonging might say.
- And we’ll inspire you to reach out to children and young people with additional needs in your own community to invite them to belong.
'Invited to Belong:2U' includes an accompanying full-colour A4 training workbook packed with resources, valuable factsheets, accessibility checklists, and all the training materials used. There is also a playlist of informative videos to support the training content which can be accessed at www.urbansaints.org/invitedtobelong (where you can also purchase copies of the 'Invited to Belong' resource).
You will be fully equipped to take the ‘Invited to Belong’ resource back to your own teams, to work through it with them, and to maximise the benefit of this resource in your settings, enabling children and young people with additional needs to belong.
We will share details of training dates as they are arranged but if you would be interested in attending a seminar - or even hosting one at your church - contact Mark Arnold
Further information and support is available through the Urban Saints Additional Needs Ministry team - to find out more about what else is available visit www.urbansaints.org/additionalneeds