Blessed Minds: Breaking the Silence about Neurodiversity

by Sarah Griffith Lund Publishing March 24, 2025. Pre-order today Is your church truly welcoming to all of God's children? Many churches are unintentionally exclusive toward people whose brains work differently. Blessed Minds: Breaking the Silence About Neurodiversity helps churches embrace the gifts of neurodiversity and become a place of belonging for all. In this book, you will learn: • What neurodiversity is (and isn't). • How to create a neuroinclusive worship experience. • Practical tips for welcoming neurodivergent families. • Theological insights into neurodiversity as part of God's good creation. • Stories of neurodivergent ministers and their callings. Blessed Minds author Sarah Griffith Lund is an ordained minister and passionate advocate for neurodiversity. Her writing on mental health and neurodiversity is both personal and practical, offering a hopeful vision for the church. She is also the author of Blessed Are the Crazy, Blessed Youth, Blessed Youth Survival Guide, and Blessed Union. If you are ready to create a church that celebrates neurodiversity, this book is for you. Endorsements "I am so grateful and delighted for this sacred work. Spirituality is so much deeper than cognitive style, and we tragically limit and minimize people by rating and ranking them based upon their cognitive signature. Spiritual knowing is all of ours, nobody is left out. We are built to share through our awakened hearts a love that runs deeper than our mind’s calculations, intellect, cognition, or ‘downstream’ discernment, as it is our participation in the ultimate, sacred transcendent relationship. G-d’s love, through us as carriers, fluidly flows between all people. Heartful spiritual contact reaches right through the broad range of cognitive styles with which we have been endowed. Sarah Griffith Lund reminds us to tune into the awakened heart of every person whose deeper presence awaits our sacred touch." — Lisa Miller, Ph.D, New York Times bestselling author and award- winning researcher at Columbia University "In Blessed Minds, Sarah Griffith Lund weaves her personal story, pastoral experience, and information about neurodiversity into a tapestry that is brightly colored by stories from congregations who are intentionally including and celebrating the lives and gifts of people with various forms of neurodiversity, including those who feel called to ministry themselves. Using a strategy she names in the book as important for fostering inclusion, she invites readers to play with multiple implications of affirming neurodiversity as part of God’s diverse and beloved creation while also providing clear, flexible and helpful guidelines for celebrating that diversity within the lives of individual congregations. It’s engaging and fun to read!" — Bill Gaventa, author, speaker, trainer, and consultant in faith and disability, founder and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Theology and Disability and initial President of the Disability Ministry Network "In this fifth installment of Sarah Griffith Lund’s Blessed series, she once again opens our eyes to see the blessedness of all God’s children, some of whom are often forgotten. This time, with her focus on neurodiversity, she shows how our minds are a blessing even though one may differ from what is considered typical. Not only does she invite us to see with new eyes, but she also challenges faith communities to put out a welcome mat for the neurodiversity present in Christ’s church. Through stories of people who are neurodiverse and stories of faith communities actively providing a welcoming atmosphere for neurodiversity, Lund offers insights and practical ways for individuals and faith communities to do so as well. This is an important book to help members of faith communities, both lay and clergy alike, recognize and honor the lives, spirituality, and blessedness of all God’s neurodiverse children. — Rev. Dr. Hollie M. Holt-Woehl, Luther Seminary and St. John’s School of Theology-and Seminary "Blessed Minds is a must-have book on why and how to embrace neurodiversity in the church. Sarah Griffith Lund offers a theological and practical guide to confronting ableism and building a neuroinclusive church at the intersections. She calls us to listen to neurodivergent parables and pray neurodivergent prayers. This book is an invaluable resource that is accessible and enjoyable to read." — Rudolph P. Reyes II, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics and Latinx Studies, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary "Blessed Minds is a transformative call to embrace neurodiversity as a vital expression of God’s creation. Sarah Griffith Lund offers profound theological insights alongside personal narrative, challenging stigma and inspiring a vision of a truly inclusive church. With courage and compassion, this book invites us to celebrate the unique gifts of neurodivergent individuals and to build communities where all minds are honoured as blessed. Essential reading for anyone committed to justice, belonging, and the flourishing of all God’s children." — Rev. Professor John Swinton, King’s College University of Aberdeen, School of Divinity, History and Philosophy "Judaism exhorts people to utter blessings upon encountering aspects of our world. One of my favorites is the blessing to be recited upon observing a human or animal perceived as different." — Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Haolam, m’shaneh habriyot Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes people different "Part of Adonai’s nature, something that is to be praised, is their creation of diversity. Upholding diversity can be a challenge, but it is a divine directive. All people are created in God’s image, and just as God contains multitudes, so does humanity. Lund masterfully speaks alongside other neurodiverse folks, past, present, and future to encourage and equip the church to not only embrace such multitudes of difference but to celebrate them. Blessed Minds is an invitation to a celebration, a celebration of God’s goodness in creating diversity where all people are invited as our true selves, in all our messy glory. This book helps us to imagine this celebration. It is a one with stimming and shouting and singing and sobbing, where shame is pushed aside, and stories are shared. It is my sincere hope that Lund’s invitation is heard, accepted, and extended." — Dr. Kirsty Jones, Ashland University, Religion Department