On Saturday 5 October, over 50 people gathered for an afternoon of immersive WAVE experiences at The French Protestant Church in Soho Square. The workshop was a collaboration between Wave for Change and the Diocese of London.
WAVE – We’re all valued equally – is a mixed ability community that originated in Muswell Hill and now has 12 communities in London and around the UK. WAVE’s ethos is to create mixed ability communities in which people with and without learning disabilities can find friendship, have fun, worship God, and celebrate the joy of our human diversity.
With WAVE church, a Challenge Group for parents and carers with younger children, and WAVE Community Café, WAVE offers the opportunity to build communities of friendship and mutual support for all.
The WAVE ethos is to do things WITH and NOT FOR each other.
The vision is to see more people with and without learning disabilities mixing together and having fun in the heart of communities across London and beyond.
At the workshop people gathered to hear the WAVE story and discover the foundational principles of a WAVE community. Celia Webster, with Mia and Andrew, told us about the founding vision and how this has grown and developed into the WAVE of today. Bernice Hardy shared more of the WAVE experience and how, often with small and faltering steps, God has guided WAVE to be a place that enriches the lives of all who take part.
WAVE has a vision to grow and support mixed ability communities around the UK and has developed ‘Wave in a box,’ a suite of resources to help establish and resource new WAVE groups. WAVE offers support and encouragement to all who are exploring what WAVE could be in their context.
The workshop ended with a recorded message from WAVE’s patron, The Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London. We then joined together with WAVE members in a church service with plenty of singing, fun and laughter as we heard the story of Jesus walking on water and Peter’s attempt to join him. Often Jesus calls us to step out of our comfortable places and take a risk if we are going to grow in faith and action. And then there was the opportunity to visit a WAVE pop up arts café with food and cake and a chance to draw and make and laugh together.
The day was an inspiring and challenging celebration of all that WAVE is and an invitation to people to explore how they might plant a WAVE community in their context.
If you would like to know more about WAVE, visit wave-for-change.org.uk
Or email John Beauchamp on john.beauchamp@london.anglican.org
This article first appeared in Disability Ministry News. Subscribe to the quarterly newsletter here.