Hull, St. Nicholas
Jenni Foreman
revjenniforeman@gmail.com
February 2024 Update
I lead Side by Side which is an intergenerational, mixed-ability, new worshipping community based in Hull. Side by Side aims to make church accessible to families who struggle to connect with more traditional models of church. Many of our families have never explored faith or connected with church in the past, some have small children for whom ‘normal church’ can be a struggle, and we also have a number of children with a variety of additional needs who are part of the community.
At the heart of Side by Side is a desire to connect with, love and share the gospel with those who often find themselves marginalised and excluded in society and often also, sadly, in the church. We are experimenting with what it might look like to structure ourselves around the needs of those who are usually pushed to the edges.
As we have experimented and learned there are a number of things that we have found useful.
Firstly hospitality is really central to what we do. We have found that many of our families have quite complex and challenging lives and we want Side by Side to be a place where they are welcomed and loved really well. Everyone is greeted at the door with hot drinks and home-made cakes.
Having experimented with various formats for our worship we are currently using Scripture Union’s Explore Together Resources. These have been really useful resources for us as they allow people to engage in a variety of different ways with the Bible story according to different learning styles. We have found this has been really helpful as it has offered loads of flexibility for people to engage on different levels and in different ways.
Collaboration is a core value for our community, and we are always looking for ways of embodying the truth that each member has gifts to bring which bless the whole community. Explore Together has helped us to embody this value as it involves a time of sharing together where everyone’s reflections can be voiced.
We also use Worship Lyric Videos’ Makaton signed worship songs. They have produced a small selection of popular worship songs which include Makaton signing. This has been a really important way in which we have been able to include some members of our community who use Makaton to aid communication.
Mark Arnold from Urban Saints also offers some really helpful training for churches who want to think through how they can become more accessible for people with additional needs. We have engaged with some of the zoom sessions that Marks runs which are brilliant, practical and affordable and full of really easy to implement small changes that can make a huge difference for people with additional needs.
Website Resource Links:
Urban Saints | Who is discipling our young people? | Additional Needs
October 2023 Update
Jenni Foreman is planting a new worshipping community at St Nicholas in Hull.
“As we were praying and discerning during the first few months, I was meeting lots of families with children with additional needs, as well as potential team members who had a passion to connect with this demographic.
We launched Side by Side with a view to connecting with families with children with additional needs, alongside other families with young children.
Side by Side is a mixed ability, intergenerational community. We use sensory activities to help families pray, worship, explore faith and connect with God and one another.
Once a month we do an outreach sensory play session and the other weeks we run sensory church where we explore the Bible and pray together in a variety of creative ways.
At Side by Side we are experimenting with what church might look like when we consciously flip the value systems upon which much of our culture operates and put those who are often marginalized, at the centre.
It is messy and it's full of hope!”
