Additional Needs
We strive to ensure that United is an event that welcomes, enables and recognises the value of everyone and the unique gifts they bring to God’s kingdom. We aim to remove any barriers which may prevent people from playing as full a part in the event as they are able.
The New Wine Accessible Church Ministry provides several teams which serve and support people with additional needs and their families at United. We would love you to join us as we build this essential ministry. The more team members we have, the more people we can support! If you are interested, please read the information below.
The term ‘additional needs’ includes physical and sensory disabilities, learning and cognitive needs, neurodivergence, mental health, trauma related needs, illness and other undiagnosed needs.
The teams are –
- Inclusion support teams in each of the Kids venues
- Kids Specialist Venue Team
- Inclusion support teams in each of the Luminosity venues
- Luminosity Specialist Youth Venue Team
- Inclusion support for adults with additional needs in the main worship venues and support for team members with additional needs.
- Access Venue Team supporting adults with additional needs in a specialist venue
- Breathe Venue Team – supporting parents and carers of those with additional needs (numbers for this team are limited, and preference will be given to those who have a lived experience of additional need in their family.)
Age: 18+ for all inclusion teams, 21+ for the Breathe team
Requirements:
Experience of working with people who have additional needs is not essential, as full training and support will be given, both before and during the event. Please do apply if you feel you are able to meet the requirements below:
- Attend online training sessions before the event.
- Able to work under the guidance of the team leaders and inclusion coordinators.
- Have a positive and enthusiastic attitude to enabling those with additional needs to participate in the programme as fully as possible and to feel fully included as part of the family of God.
- Have good emotional resilience and able to keep calm if challenging situations arise.
- Able maintain confidentiality for any personal information you may be given about an individual, or individuals you may be supporting.
- Attend a debrief meeting with your Inclusion Coordinator at the end of each session.
- For those applying to serve on the Kids and Luminosity specialist venue teams, or kids/Luminosity inclusion support teams, prior experience of working with children or young people, such as serving on a kids/youth team at your church is preferred.
Please note that serving on the kids and youth based teams can be quite physically demanding and require a lot of moving around, and sitting on the floor. If this may prove difficult for you, please contact info@new-wine.org to discuss how we might best support your needs.
Hours:
Team hours are dependent on the role. Inclusion teams generally work a morning and evening session, but some roles are more out of hours or shift based (for example, if supporting an individual to serve on another team).
As with most teams, you’ll get a free ticket to the event (except for the £25 fee that covers admin and all meals); you will need to provide your own accommodation (either on or off site).
Please contact info@new-wine.org if you have any questions or queries.
Specialist Venue (Our Place) and Inclusion teams
The Inclusion Teams form the largest part of the Accessible Church provision for children and young people who have additional needs at United. Each of the kids groups and Luminosity groups has an Inclusion Coordinator and a small team of volunteers who specifically look out for, and work alongside, children who have any kind of additional support need.
Volunteering for this team involves supporting one, two or a small group of children or young people, to be included as much as possible within their age group. Although you will be officially registered as part of the Our Place team, you will be part of the mainstream team in which you are placed, going to their team times and wearing their team t-shirt.
Although we cannot guarantee to offer your preferred choice, please state on your application form if there is a specific kids’ or youth team you would like to be considered for. You will need to be flexible if required.
Our Place Kids’ Team and Our Place Youth Team support a small number of children and young people in the specialist Our Place Kids and Our Place Youth venues. This involves helping the children and young people, who may find the mainstream groups challenging or overwhelming, to participate in worship, ministry and teaching that is adapted to meet their needs. Team places in these venues are limited, and priority will be given to those who have prior experience.
Access Team
The Access Team aims to include adults with additional needs across the event. Volunteering with this team could involve supporting an individual with additional needs to be on another team, helping to include adults within the mainstream adult venues, or helping to run a seminar stream specific to adults with learning disabilities.
We try to take team members’ preferences into account when allocating team to roles. However, we do have to balance team numbers with delegate numbers and needs so we can’t guarantee you will get your first choice. Let us know your preferences on your application form (Access Preferences section), but please be prepared to be flexible.
Breathe Team
Breathe is our venue for parents and carers of people with additional needs. We want to provide a space and opportunity for mums, dads, grand parents and carers to have time and space at United, literally to breathe and be refreshed and renewed. Breathe is our little oasis on site!
We run informal worship, seminars and social events, and provide opportunities for prayer ministry and support around specific needs, alongside an abundance of tea, coffee and cake! If you have experience in working alongside parents and carers, we would love to have you on this team.
Please note that Breathe team places are limited.
Expectation for team members
Those who volunteer for New Wine teams at United do so based on their Christian profession and way of life. As a team volunteer, your conduct on site is expected to be consistent with New Wine’s ethos and understanding of the teaching of the New Testament.
Part of New Wine’s ethos is our adherence to the Evangelical Alliance (EA) basis of faith and in submitting your team application you are acknowledging your acceptance to do the same.
