Author Staci McLean is producing materials and giving seminars and support on neurodiversity issues in the church. (Neurodiversity refers to the percentage of the population who have conditions such as autism, ADHD etc). She suggests fifteen to twenty percent of the population of New Zealand is neurodivergent, which is quite a significant number. CCNZ hasn’t looked at any Staci McLean materials just yet but the intention is to acquire a book she has written (A Place Where I Now Belong) at a suitably convenient opportunity to analyse its content in order to see how neurodiversity is addressed by it.
CCNZ is engaged in its own independent investigation of neurodiversity in the Church. A particular focus is neurodivergent sexuality, knowing that this is likely to be a significant issue, as academic studies indicate neurodiversity is strongly implicated in gender dysphoria. Private study and impressions to date suggest neurodiversity is most probably implicated in a range of sexuality challenges that neurodiverse Christians face and CCNZ’s focus is on developing sufficient knowledge of these challenges to be able to guide a response of intercessory prayer for implicated individuals. In other aspects, CCNZ believes neurodiverse men are strongly represented in technical teams and neurodiverse women in worship teams.