7 JUNE 2025 10 AM - 4:30 PM
AT ELIM COVENTRY CHURCH
We would love you and your teams to join us for Belong Conference!
‘Belong’ is an additional needs conference for children and youth workers serving in a church context.
It is important to know that you don’t need to be qualified to be inclusive. When we begin to recognise the needs of our children and the importance of inclusion, God will give us all we need to love, care, teach and create spaces for our children and young people to ‘Belong’.
Our Aim.
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To equip leaders to create spaces of inclusion in their church settings.
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To give a greater understanding of different additional needs.
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To provide teaching that can help leaders recognise and support children with additional needs
BELONG 2024 HIGHLIGHTS
CONFERENCE HOSTS
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Tiana currently works at Elim Coventry as administer and leads the Student and young adult ministry. Prior to this Tiana was Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at the recruitment marketing agency TapIn.
Tiana graduated from Warwick University with a first class in Sociology specialising in Race & Politics, having completed an award-winning Dissertation; and excitingly was named the #6 future leader for 2020!
Tiana has a real heart to see inclusion in all spaces and has been involved serving in our additional needs Ministry at Elim Coventry Church, supporting children and parents.
She loves cooking for friends and family, going to the gym, road trips, and exploring how technology can be used to creatively solve issues of inclusion.
SPEAKERS
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EMMA BACON
KEY SPEAKERS
Emma is the founder of the Belong conference; works as the full-time children’s worker at Elim Coventry and leads the Elim Coventry additional needs ministryEmma has a level 3 diploma in Childcare and Education and a diploma in Popular Music and Worship; both of which have contributed to her years of working with children who have additional needs. Emma has a massive heart for inclusion, and her work is centred around ensuring that all children have equitable access to church life. She is passionate about seeing all kids encounter freedom in Jesus through worship.
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EVANGELINE THANASEELAN
KEY SPEAKER
Evangeline is a Speech and Language Therapist with over 10 years of experience working with children with a range of communication difficulties, particularly those in special education. Evangeline works with both schools and families, equipping them to confidently communicate with children who have additional needs.
This role has deepened her passion for supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) to fully engage in church activities and learning, communicate in ways that feel most comfortable to them, and—most importantly—find ways to build a relationship with God.
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MARK ARNOLD
KEY SPEAKER
Mark Arnold is the Additional Needs Ministry Director at leading national Christian children’s and youth organisation Urban Saints and is Co-Founder of the Additional Needs Alliance, a vibrant and fast-growing online community. He is an enthusiastic national and international advocate and ally for children and young people with additional needs. Mark blogs as the national award winning ‘The Additional Needs Blogfather’, and is father to James who is Autistic and also has Learning Difficulties, Epilepsy, and Social Anxiety.
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SHIRENE AGBELUSI
KEY SPEAKER
Shirene serves as Associate Pastor at Coventry Elim. With a professional background as a trained counsellor and over a decade of experience supporting families in complex educational settings, she brings deep insights into relational dynamics. Shirene is passionate about empowering people across generations and backgrounds to embrace their God-given identity and authority. Married to Sope, Shirene is also a mum of two incredible teenagers.
TESTIMONIES
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Testimonies are powerful to hear, as they give us hope that if God has done it once, he will do it again! At Belong we love to share testimonies and pray that those hearing will be blessed and stirred by what they hear. Belong 2024 Testimonies TBC
SESSION TITLES
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The power of words is profound, especially when spoken to and about children. Our declarations can shape their perception of self, potential, and the future. In this session, Shirene will provide actionable insights into deliberately speaking life, strength, and victory over children, demonstrating the transformative potential of intentional communication.
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Communication is key to building relationships and knowing how to communicate effectively with non-speaking children requires a much deeper understanding of them and how this can be done. In this session, Evangeline will draw from her experience as a speech and language therapist to share her passion for helping us to find ways to communicate with children, and also to truly hear and embrace every child and young person’s voice. Evangeline will offer practical tools and resources to use in church settings to help children connect with God through the Bible, worship and prayer.
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As a child grows, so does their development and understanding of the world and for every child this looks different. Church culture is so important when it comes to growth. They will one day go from being a child in Kids' Work to becoming an adult in the church congregation. In this session, Mark will share some ways to navigate how our children transition to youth and then to adulthood. He will explore what this could look like practically, and how we can support this transition and those we care for. He will also touch on wider church involvement and parent support.
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It can seem challenging to discern how to utilise the spaces and resources we have, when trying to create places of inclusion for our children and young people. In this session Emma will share her personal process of building an additional needs ministry at Elim Coventry Church. She will take you on a journey through testimony to express the significance and importance of this ministry, whilst sharing the challenges and successes that she has experienced throughout the years. Emma will offer practical suggestions for designing your own space in your home church.