Posted 26-Feb-2026
"We wanted a place where our entire family could worship together, even though our children had exceptionalities - in our case autism."
I recently had the opportunity to be a part of sharing about the Exceptional Family Ministry that we provide through Amberlea Presbyterian Church. We spoke with many other churches who either want to start a ministry or currently have a ministry, but don’t know how or what to do for exceptional families in their congregations.
It was so great to be part of the team that presented this to churches across the country with the assistance of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. People were really intrigued by what we have done at our church and how they can make their church more welcoming to the Exceptional Families that are a part of their congregation.
The process of gathering information on where we started to where we are today was truly amazing - realizing how far we have come in the last few years and how much Amberlea Church values this ministry. We started off small - we had just one family - my family. We wanted a place where our entire family could worship together, even though our children had exceptionalities - in our case autism. It was difficult for our family to worship at church together because of the obstacles that we faced due to autism.
At the beginning, either my husband or I had to go downstairs to assist our son during KidZone (Sunday School) so that he could be successful in his participation. Our daughter had other issues such as anxiety and sensory issues which made it hard for her sometimes to sit during the church service. These are just a couple of things that we faced each Sunday as we decided to come to church. It would have been easier not to come to church, but we were determined to make it work for our family.
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” -- Mark 10:14
It was a process for our church. It took the support of the Pastor and the support of the congregation in order to even begin our ministry and continued education. We tried many different things through this process and tried many different types of support to make the Sunday morning experience workable for our family. In the end, Amberlea decided that they would pay a trained support therapist for Sunday mornings to assist our family as well as any other families who had children on the autism spectrum. This did not happen overnight. We went through many changes during this time and we had to keep the congregation up to date with what we were doing.
Blessing for us, the congregation fully supports exceptional families, not only on Sunday mornings, but through summer camps as well as our community program F.A.C.E. (Fun Autism Community Experiences) which runs twice a month out of our church. Although this program is not a “faith-based” program, it is run under the umbrella of Amberlea Church and we are able to serve many families in the community with the potential of connecting them to the church. We are grateful for the amount of exceptional families we have been able to help and we continue to grow!
Our church is now just naturally accustomed to having children or teens on the autism spectrum during any Sunday morning worship. Our congregation is very accepting of all exceptional families and our church space is a welcoming and nurturing environment for all of these families.
I am so grateful to have been part of this process from the beginning and am so grateful to all of the individuals at Amberlea Presbyterian Church who have contributed to the success of this ministry.
We look forward to growing our ministry even more in the years to come!
Shelly Wedge
Exceptional Families Coordinator
Amberlea welcomes and supports all families with exceptional needs, in particular children with autism. It is our desire to support and encourage families right where they are at. Shelly Wedge, our Exceptional Families Coordinator in her blog shares her own journey and offers insight and encouragement for families and how we can come alongside and support each other.