Faith While Fidgeting | An Interview with Harrison Litzell on Inclusive Worship Spaces

I recently sat down with the Rev. Harrison A. Litzell to explore the concept of inclusive church spaces for neurodivergent churchgoers. Litzell’s work as the program coordinator at the Baugh Center for Baptist Leadership focuses on children and family ministries.

In our conversation, he drew on his wealth of experience and knowledge as a minister, educator, person with autism, and father. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and space.

Erin Parks: How did you become involved in working with neurodiversity in the church?

Harrison Litzell: In my previous role as a church preschool coordinator, we began to see an increase in neurodivergence, which led to conversations with families and teachers about resources and education. 

In 2022, I began working at the Baugh Center. What continued to emerge was a need for education and resources on how to support children with ADHD and autism. In the context of classroom management, I employ a pedagogical approach known as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). I also utilize “gentle parenting” principles, often referred to as “authoritative parenting” in academic literature.

EP: As a high school teacher, I appreciate the value of classroom management techniques, but I have never heard that language talked about in church spaces. Why is that important, and how do we apply that?

HL: Many churches in the Sunday school environment have a teacher rotation, which can lead to a lack of consistency. This is hard for children, especially neurodivergent kids. So the questions I help churches consider are: “What can we do to build consistency even if the staff isn’t consistent?”

Then, I apply gentle/authoritative parenting principles to develop skills around behavior management that aren’t reliant on enforcement, but instead view behavior as a communication of a need. If this is the child’s behavior, what need are they trying to communicate? What can we do to fill a need that is still safe and informative for everybody in the room?

Some tools for Sunday School teachers are designed to create consistency in the classroom and provide choices whenever possible. However, the number one thing is relationships.

Research and anecdotal evidence show that children don’t remember the lesson, but the teacher. They remember that the teacher knew their name, cared for them, and they asked how they were.

EP: What about Sunday School for adults?

HP: The same principles apply. Relationships in Sunday School are not a distraction. It is an essential aspect of faith formation and community to have that time to truly care for one another.

Many adult classes still feature teachers who stand and lecture for 30 to 40 minutes, a teaching technique that research has shown to be ineffective.

There are also sensory experiences to consider. What’s the lighting and noise like? Are there various seating options?

And then [there’s a need] for adults to learn to have grace. Children are ready to accept when somebody else needs an accommodation. If one of the kids in the class has a different chair, they are happy to accept that someone needs accommodations. But then we become adults and see it as competitive. 

EP: Can you explain Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how we can apply it to the church?

HL: I first started using it when discussing Sunday school here at the Baugh Center, but I have also been translating it to the worship space. There are three key components to UDL: Having a single well-communicated objective for the time together, using multiple means to achieve that objective, and making those various means available to all participants. 

When it comes to worship, one thing I encourage churches to do is clarify the goal of worship. When we gather for this time together on a Sunday morning, what is it that we’re trying to achieve? 

Once we have that conversation, we can then say, What are the different ways we can provide accommodations, modifications, or multiple means to achieve that objective?

If the definition of worship for that congregation is a time to intentionally connect with God in our community, then we are not trying to achieve proper posture here. It doesn’t matter if a kid is sitting on a pew, because that is not helping them connect with God or their community. So what would it look like to provide alternative seating or space so they can connect with God in their community? 

One of the things we are also not trying to achieve in worship is literacy. So reading is not essential, and there are non-readers of all ages, not just children. What would it look like to provide means of worship for non-readers in our congregation?

I had this conversation with the pastors at our church, so now during the responsive reading, the response is the same four times in a row. The leader reads different lines while the congregation responds with the same line each time. 

I have two young children who are non-readers, and that was something I requested as a modification for them so that they could participate in that moment of worship. It’s been a great thing. Before church, we’ll talk with our kids and tell them the line for that morning. It’s something that they’re able to participate in, whereas before, when it was a different line each time, they would stand up if they wanted to, but they couldn’t participate. 

EP: What is the theological reasoning for why it’s important to have these inclusive spaces?

HL: There’s something about gathering for worship, about the community being together. If the way we gather is exclusive, if it bars people from participation, then we are inherently missing out on a part of who God is.

Part of the diversity within the family of God is that we each contribute to our [collective] understanding of who God is. By including more people, we gain a fuller image. If we prevent people from participating, we narrow our view of God. And that is a loss for all people. 

I also think this is a justice issue. There are ways in which neurodivergent people are barred from full inclusion. I think it is the work of the church to do justice and to include people who have been marginalized, who have been left out.

EP: As an autistic person yourself, do you struggle with being fully present and participating? 

HL: I struggle with worship services, particularly in services where I don’t know what’s happening next or what to expect. That can be hard because I’m more fixated on trying to anticipate what’s going to happen than being present. I also have a hard time sitting and focusing for that long of a period. There are sensory aspects to it. I am more on the sensory seeking end of autism rather than the sensory avoiding, but church can just be a lot sometimes. 

Then sometimes I feel like everybody else knows what to do and I don’t, and I can feel like I’m messing it up. Especially during certain times, like greeting times or “passing the peace,” when there’s unclear communication about what is meant or expected.

Is “passing the peace” just a fancy way to say we’re gonna say hello to each other? Or are we literally passing the peace? Like, is that literally what I’m supposed to be doing here? In my work, as I visit many different congregations, a significant portion of the worship time is spent observing others to anticipate what’s about to happen. And that can be challenging. 

So it is super helpful to have a standard order of worship. We can ask ourselves, “What can we do with our order of worship to be more inclusive and help people be prepared for the service?”

I encourage folks to be more explanatory from the pulpit, to say what’s about to happen at the beginning of the service. 

For example, start the service by saying: “We’re so glad you’re here. We typically worship for an hour. We anticipate being out of here at noon. If you need to step out, you’re welcome to step out. Restrooms are located outside these doors for anyone who needs to use one. Here in a minute, you’ll see that we have a greeting. This is what this is gonna look like.”

Throughout the service, one of the things that I think is supportive of all people is providing definitions and instructions in both written and verbal formats, especially when it comes to words like “invocation” that may not be familiar to everyone.

EP: Regarding alternative seating you mentioned earlier, what could that look like?

HL: The popular version of that right now, whether a church has chairs or pews, is making a more floor-level space. We have those little blow-up wobble seats that kids can use. We’ve also had low-to-the-ground rocking chairs that have a little movement to them. We have had these little picnic tables for the kids to sit and draw on.

I know a church that uses Yoga mats. The yoga mats serve as a way to still maintain boundaries, so that kids know exactly which space they are allowed to use. 

EP: I come from this small, incredibly beautiful, old country church where yoga mats and wobbly chairs don’t fit the aesthetic design of the space. How do we address these concerns? 

H: I read this book a few years ago by Henry Nouwen, and he talks about the experience of being in a monastery, and how it was easier to pray in that space because of all the prayers that have been prayed there before. He talked about it almost like wearing grooves in the room. For me, that was transformative in terms of thinking about sacred space, as it suggested that sacred space isn’t sacred because of what we keep out. It’s not because we limit ourselves to certain colors or maintain a specific aesthetic. It’s sacred because of what we do there. And if we can create a space where children can be physically present and comfortable, and if we can imbue that space with prayer and worship, then that’s what makes it sacred.