Mental Health Institute Spotlight Session: Neurodiversity, Children & Church

"Do you have a checklist for what our church needs to do?" It's the question ministry leaders often ask about neurodivergence. 

We all want our churches to be places where people are known, loved, and growing as disciples of Jesus.  For many neurodivergent people and their families, church can be difficult. Many describe longing to belong, but sensory overwhelm, unpredictable routines, and social expectations can make participation challenging.  

If you serve children or youth in your church, you have probably asked some version of this question: what do we need to do to enable neurodivergent children and their families to fully participate in church life? It is tempting to look for a simple checklist. But Kate Morris suggests a better starting point: the children in your care. 

If you’re involved with children or youth in your church community or someone who wants to help build a culture of welcome in your church, this Spotlight Session is for you.  

What to expect: 

This session will combine biblical reflection and practical, research-informed insight along with lived experience, as Kate Morris explores with us how neurodivergence can shape people's experiences of church life. We'll consider sensory processing, regulation, communication, and other often-overlooked embodied experiences, and how these can shape participation. 

Together, we’ll look at how to collaboratively shape church cultures that reflect the truth that neurodivergent people and their families belong and are deeply valued within the body of Christ. We’ll reflect on how all of us are invited into the mutual love, support, and service that shapes life together in Christ. 

What you’ll leave with: 

• A clearer understanding of why church can be hard for neurodivergent children and their families, and what's really going on for them in those moments 

• Practical insight into sensory processing, regulation, and communication, and how each one shapes a child's ability to participate 

• A framework for thinking through the individual needs of the children in your care 

• Ideas you can apply to your church's ministries and programs 

• A renewed sense of how your ministry can reflect the truth that every child belongs and is deeply valued in the body of Christ 

Professional Development Day: 

If this is a live issue in your family, church, school or ministry, you may like to join us for a stand-alone Professional Development day on Wednesday 14 October. The day will explore neurodivergence, digital native experience, wellbeing, mental health and mental illness in young lives.  Learn more about the Professional Development Day & register here

Our speaker: Kate Morris

Kate is a writer, speaker, podcaster, and Honorary Research Fellow at Mary Andrews College. She has lived experience as a mother of neurodivergent children. 

She holds a Bachelor of Arts/Education (specialising in Gifted Education, UNSW), a Diploma of Bible and Missions (Moore Theological College), and a Graduate Certificate in Autism and Neurodivergent Studies (University of Wollongong). She has also engaged in long-term cross-cultural mission in France with CMS, working with children and young people. 

Kate equips families and churches with practical, Bible-shaped resources about neurodiversity. 

A guest speaker will also share his lived experience as a father of neurodivergent children, who has spent a lot of time navigating what church means for their family. He’s also a neurodivergent person, has served as a children and youth minister, and spent considerable time helping ND kids and their families with their church experience. 

The Mental Health Institute (MHI) is part of ADM. We are dedicated to equipping churches and ministry leaders to respond well to mental health and pastoral care needs in their communities. Through events like Spotlight Sessions, we bring together biblical wisdom, current research and practical insight to help churches become places where everyone — including those often overlooked — is known, loved, and supported.