Dementia-friendly Worship Ideas and Tools
A warm, practical toolkit for making worship meaningful for people living with dementia — from shorter services and familiar songs and prayers, to sensory objects like prayer beads, lap altars, and search bags. Includes real photos of hand-made fidget and sensory items, plus links to further resources.
Worship
● Use familiar songs. Consider singing only the first verse, repeated several times.
● Large-print song sheets help.
● Choose familiar prayers, especially the Lord's Prayer.
● Use familiar scriptures, especially the 23rd Psalm.
● Consider having everyone remain seated throughout the service.
● Design shorter sermons with illustrations and stories to make them easier to follow.
● Try acting out the story - involve children in the skits if possible.
● Engage all the senses and incorporate simple movements.
● Use props to help tell the story.
● Plan shorter worship services, maybe broken up into two parts with no stigma for leaving after the first half. A trained volunteer/friend might be available to walk with the restless individual during the second part of the service, which would include the sermon and other parts that are harder to follow.
Note: Ask family and caregivers for clues to what will help the most
Support and environment
● Provide one or more rocking chairs, preferably glider rockers.
● Provide seating in a less distractible part of the sanctuary.
● Provide a calming sensory space in the narthex or corner of the sanctuary.
● Utilize space in the narthex for walking around during the service.
● Have a worship buddy available who can sit next to the individual.
● Offer hand-holding.
Objects
Everything should be adult-oriented, and faith-based to the extent possible.
Select objects that are safe from choking hazards, washable, or that can be spray-cleaned or wiped down to sanitize. Here are some ideas:
● Prayer beads.
● Simple lap altar with battery operated candle, cross, and Bible.
● A scrapbook or adult picture book with familiar Bible verses and pictures.
● Weighted lap blanket, preferably with a soft or fuzzy cover that can be removed for washing.
● Prayer shawl.
● Adult coloring sheet illustrating the scripture passage. Use a clipboard with a storage compartment for colored pencils.
● Fidget muffs, aprons, or soft fidget books
● Faith-based fidget lap pads, lightly weighted (see Etsy for examples.)
[Photo: a lap-pad style fidget mat on a yellow background, edged with blue ribbon "flaps," holding a small embroidered scripture panel, ribbons, a cross-shaped item, a pink sequined pouch, and a small book]
● Search bag with rice or birdseed and hidden objects inside.
[Photo: four clear-fronted fabric search bags in different colorful patterns, each filled with rice/birdseed and small hidden objects, with a printed instruction card visible]
● A fabric lap labyrinth with a marble sewn inside to slide around.
[Photo: two gray fabric squares, each with a blue stitched labyrinth/maze pattern for finger-tracing]
Resources
https://ncpd.org/resources_and_toolkits/dementia-friendly-worship-finding-spiritual-peace-dementia
https://www.amazon.com/Dementia-Friendly-Worship-Multifaith-Chaplains-Communities/dp/1785926659
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/the-dementia-friendly-church
https://www.umc.org/en/content/prayer-beads-for-united-methodists
Deaconess Lynn Swedberg, Updated August 2024