I am pleased to announce the results of the 2018 Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative. This has been our best year yet! I sincerely thank and applaud all of the churches, organizations, and individuals that partnered with us to make our places of worship more autism friendly.

Summary

The Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative was created in 2016 to promote autism awareness, acceptance and inclusion in faith based communities around the world! We do this by recruiting and empowering churches to do at least one activity for autism awareness month.  On the day of their activity, churches are asked to take a picture of the activity in progress and count the number of persons participating. After the activity is completed, churches are asked to fill out a short evaluation form to provide feedback about the initiative. Each church that completed the initiative received a letter of thanks, a certificate of participation and social media recognition.

Churches also have the option of joining a private Facebook group that provides additional educational resources, information about the initiative and a place for all of the participating churches to connect.

This year’s event ran from April 1 – 30, 2018. We had 25 churches to participate from 8 different states! Over 5300 persons learned about autism at their place of worship!

Participating Churches

The following churches took part in the initiative:

• Bethesda Church of God in Sumter, SC
• Christ First Church in Ringgold, GA
• Christian Fellowship Church in Warner Robins, GA
• Destiny World Church in Austell, GA
• El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus, MS
• Faith-Now Christian Ministries in Spring Lake, NC
• First Christian Church in Richlands, NC
• GO Ministries – Real Faith Ministries in Leesburg, GA
• Harvest Builders Worship Center in Warner Robins, GA
• High Praise Orlando in Casselberry, FL
• High Praise Panama City in Panama City, FL
• Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Ransomville, NY
• Living Word Community of Faith in Hitchcock, TX
• Messiah’s House Assembly of God in Stone Mountain, GA
• Mocksville Second Presbyterian Church in Mocksville, NC
• Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Smiths Station, AL
• Orange Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, NC
• Shekinah Glory Worship Center in Columbus, GA
• Smith Chapel Freewill Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC
• South End Missionary Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC
• South Metro Ministries in Sharpsburg, GA
• Union Baptist Church in Durham, NC
• Willow Grove AME Church in Horatio, SC
• Word and Worship Christian Center in Sumter, SC
• Word in Season Ministries in Warner Robins, GA

Church Activities

Participating churches chose a variety of activities to spread autism awareness.  Some of the activities included:

• Persons with autism sharing their experiences with the congregation
• Parents of children with autism educating the congregation about autism and sharing their testimonies
• A guest speaker from Autism Speaks
• Pastors sharing facts about autism during the Sunday Morning Services
• Presentations on the successes and accomplishments of persons with autism
• Presentations about autism and the signs of autism
• Special prayer for persons with autism and their families
• Children’s church lessons about autism, anti-bullying and accepting differences
• Display tables set up with brochures about autism and giveaways
• Autism Awareness bulletin boards placed in high traffic areas
• Recruitment and fundraising for the Autism WALK
• A fundraiser for adaptive faith education program supplies
• Specially created t-shirts for autism awareness
• Handmade autism awareness pins and ribbons for members
• Autism themed refreshments after the autism awareness service
• Church members wearing blue in support of autism awareness month

Evaluation Results

About 78% of the churches that participated had members with special needs. However, 50% of those churches did not provide assistance for special needs members. Furthermore, only 16% of the churches had some form of a special needs ministry in place prior to their participation in the initiative. All of the participating churches stated that the initiative made them think about how their church can help persons with special needs.

Church Activity Pictures

Churches were required to submit pictures of their autism awareness activity. The pictures came out wonderful! Check it out for yourself!

Participant Testimonies

We received a lot of positive feedback from the churches that participated. Here are just a few of the comments we received.

“We’re major supporters of the initiative! Give Jesus to everyone! Can’t wait for this to reach levels beyond our imagination!” – Tawanda

“It was great.  Many people who were not aware or didn’t know what autism was now have the knowledge necessary and won’t have to fear dealing with a person who has autism.” – Quinetta

“Love it and would love to do more next year! Get the information out to more churches!” – DeBorah

“This was an excellent program with great ideas to initiate conversation and inform others about how to support people with autism.” – Carline

“I had fun with the activity and loved how involved the church was!” – RaShannda

“I hope that each year, the program will get bigger and bigger.  Autism is something that is not talked about much so I hope to be a light in our community.” – Stephanie

“I love this initiative. Each year, I learn more and more. I plan to continue to support this ministry effort because the empowerment you give is well needed within our churches and community.” – Debra

“Our congregation was incredibly moved by the testimony.  Our children showed a greater understanding for those with differences.” – Chelsea

“This initiative is very much needed.  The more people are educated, the better the quality of life becomes for everyone!”  – Bridgett

“I believe this was a great way to reach out to the community and share with others that don’t know.”  – Juanita

“We have several families in our church that are affected by autism. This was a great way to show them support.”  – Lynn

“I think you have a wonderful, thriving ministry. I can’t wait to see where it takes you in the future.” – Gale

Special Supporters

There were several persons that went above and beyond to support the Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative and I would like to recognize them!

Jocelyn Green donated three copies of a book she co-authored with Kimberly Drew entitled,  “Refresh: Spiritual Nourishment for Parents of Children with Special Needs.”  The books were included as a giveaway for participating churches to add to their libraries. Jocelyn has been a wonderful supporter of the initiative over the years and we greatly appreciate her!

Janet Williams, Community Outreach Manager of Autism Speaks of Georgia, provided support by referring churches to the initiative. She also invited me to attend the Unlimited Together Special Needs Conference that took place in March 2018 at Mount Paran Church in Atlanta.

Pastors Mack and Freida McCullough of Word in Season Ministries allowed me the opportunity to speak to their congregation about autism.  They also made a very generous donation to the initiative to further the mission of the Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative.

These partners were a true blessing to the initiative this year and I greatly appreciate them!  May God abundantly bless them all!

How to Join the Initiative

One of my ultimate goals is to have a church from every state participate in the initiative! We continue to grow each year and I’m excited about all that is to come!

For more details about the Autism Awareness Month Faith Based Initiative, click here.  If you and your church would like to participate in our April 2019 event, please fill out this form and I will contact you with more details. You can also send me an email at [email protected].