Approaching "Promotion Sunday" with fear and trepidation
The beginning of a new program year at church may be hazardous to the spiritual growth of vulnerable kids.
The approach of a new school year is highly anticipated by most kids and families. It was pretty nice having the pool at our swim club all to myself a week ago Saturday, when Ohio’s sales tax holiday for back to school shopping kicked in. Over the next couple of weeks, my Instagram feed will be saturated by “first day of school” photos along with pictures of friends dropping their recent high school grads off at college. At the church we attended this morning, a significant chunk of the service was devoted to efforts to recruit sufficient children’s ministry volunteers and reminders to parents regarding the return of large group middle school and high school ministry gatherings in the coming week.
In the midst of the general buzz and excitement of a new program year, much in the same way that a subset of long-time Browns fans acquire an overwhelming sense of impending doom, a subset of families harbor significant trepidation in anticipation of new activities and routines at church.
Larah Roberts serves as our ministry’s Operations Director, while managing Raising Autistic Disciples, a phenomenal resource for Christian parents navigating the challenges of raising their kids on the spectrum in the faith. She recently described an all too common experience for families like hers in her post: The Worst Sunday of the Year.
There’s a Sunday that rolls around every year in churches across the country. It’s marked on calendars. It’s baked into the rhythm of church life.
It’s called Promotion Sunday—the day when kids “move up” to their next classroom or age group.
Sounds harmless, right?
Unless you’re autistic.
Because for many autistic children, Promotion Sunday isn’t just a classroom change. It’s a collision of new expectations, unfamiliar faces, sensory overwhelm, and emotional confusion.
Individually, each of those changes might be manageable.
But, stacked together?
It’s a forecast for a sensory and emotional hurricane.
Larah has lots of helpful suggestions in her post for church staff and volunteers looking to minimize the challenges for kids with autism as they enter into new environments and experiences, but kids on the spectrum are far from the only group that might need a little extra pre-planning and assistance as the new program year begins.
As we discussed last month, sensory processing differences are common in kids with all types of mental health conditions and not an issue exclusive to the autism population. They may experience distress when exposed to very bright lights, loud music and more noise in new environments than they’re accustomed to - not uncommon when kids “graduate” from Sunday School to middle or high school ministry. Leaders who are aware of kids with sensory issues may consider adjusting lighting and sound amplification in anticipation of the transition to a new ministry environment. If such adjustments aren’t practical, leaders might consider accommodations for kids during times of excessive sensory stimulation that support their participation at church without drawing attention to them as being different. They may be asked to perform a service in a more sensory-friendly space in the building, or permitted use of noise-canceling technology.
The largest category of kids who experience difficulties at the beginning of a new program year are those with anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety disorder. Imagine being a shy, reserved sixth grader walking into a large group middle school worship gathering. You find yourself in a large room surrounded by older and more physically mature kids interacting with close-knit clusters of established friends, fearful of being seen as a social outcast standing out for being alone. Or you’re a quiet high school freshman who was just dropped off by your dad walking into a group of 16 and 17 year-olds who drove themselves to church.
Designating peers to personally welcome and talk with kids who appear to be alone can help ease the transition. Other useful strategies include introducing kids to peers and small group leaders in advance of the first large group gathering and being flexible in allowing friends or acquaintances of a different age/grade level to accompany kids who are shy or withdrawn until they’ve made solid social connections. An additional approach used in many churches involves having small group leaders “loop” for two year commitments…following kids through the transition from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school ministry to provide an element of consistency as they change environments. All of these strategies may be helpful for kids with less well-developed social skills.
Here are some general principles for ministry leaders to consider at the beginning of a new program year.
Publicize your willingness to accommodate kids who may experience difficulty entering into your ministry environments.
Preparation is very helpful for kids who struggle in new or unfamiliar environments. The more they can visualize of what they’ll experience, and the more time they can spend getting comfortable with the peers and adults they’ll be with, the more likely it is that they’ll successfully transition.
A trusted friend or two goes a long way in “greasing the skids” at church for an anxious or uncomfortable child.
Transitions become easier when ministry leaders and parents can create a peer culture accepting of kids with differences.
Be on the lookout during the transitions at the beginning of the program year for kids who have regularly participated in your church’s programming for children and youth but are suddenly missing from age-appropriate ministry activities. They may represent kids with “hidden disabilities” struggling from the need to transition from familiar (and comfortable) ministry environments.