A Church for Elijah
“This isn’t right that he can’t be at church,” thought Joan Rozeboom.
Rozeboom had always enjoyed being involved in church and finding a place to belong. But when she started fostering Elijah, a young child with autism who is nonverbal, she realized there wasn’t a place for him to belong.
As a child with autism, Elijah exhibits certain behaviors and has needs that can make a typical experience at a church worship service or program difficult to navigate. He can be boisterous, so he might interject during a sermon or a Sunday school lesson. Busy spaces and loud noises can overwhelm him. Unfamiliar people and places can make him nervous.
Rozeboom tried to bring Elijah along with her to worship at her church, but there wasn’t a place for him to thrive. That was stressful for Rozeboom, and she couldn’t focus on worship or other church activities. More often than not, she had to find a babysitter and leave Elijah at home when she attended church. Although she loved her church, its inability to accommodate Elijah didn’t sit well with her.
“God was starting to make clear to me that Elijah needs a place too,” said Rozeboom. “And I needed a place where we could go together.”
Then she learned about City Hope GR, a Resonate Global Mission partner church plant in Grand Rapids, Mich., that aims to be a church for people of all abilities.
From her first email response from the City Hope GR pastor, Dave Vander Woude, Rozeboom knew that “he got it.”
“It was very clear to me that he already understood what some of our barriers would be,” said Rozeboom.
Vander Woude invited Rozeboom and Elijah to tour the building at a time when nobody else was there so that Elijah could familiarize himself with the space. They met with Vander Woude and his wife, Julianne, who is familiar with various disabilities and helps lead City Hope GR’s children’s ministry. That helpful visit was hard for Elijah, said Rozeboom, but they made it through together, and they were able to attend worship the next day.
It was immediately evident that this church plant could be a place where Elijah could learn about the gospel and be cared for by a faith community, said Rozeboom.
“Everyone was very welcoming, but—more than that—people with disabilities were serving alongside everyone else. They were participating in the service. It was all together. I found that so refreshing. I just loved getting to experience that,” said Rozeboom.
At City Hope GR, Elijah’s unique way of expressing himself wasn’t seen as a disruption or a disturbance—it was seen as a part of worship. And while some days are still hard, and Rozeboom and Elijah are still figuring out how to navigate church together, Elijah is often able to participate in the children’s ministries while being supported by volunteers who are patient with him.
City Hope GR is gradually becoming a place where Rozeboom can focus on her faith as well. She has been able to participate in book and Bible studies again—one woman in particular invited Rozeboom to join the Bible study she was hosting at her home, and she invited Elijah to come along too. The woman’s husband hung out with Elijah so that Rozeboom could focus on the study and fellowship.
Stories like Elijah’s are one of the reasons why church planting is an important part of the denomination’s work through Resonate. This church plant has made a difference for Rozeboom and Elijah—and for many more people and families who would otherwise have trouble finding a faith community where they feel they can belong.
Elijah “loves to go and do things in places where he feels safe. It’s been fun to see church become that place,” said Rozeboom. “If he’s comfortable at church now, and he knows that people care about him while he’s seven . . . I think City Hope GR could also be his church when he’s 30, which is an amazing thing.”
