Kinship in the Household of God

“Tam provides churches a way to move from inclusion to belonging for those with profound autism. . . . It fills an important gap, not just in welcoming individuals with autism into our church communities, but in helping us understand that a faithful Christian community rejoices over and benefits from the differences among us.”


—Mark Chapman, Tyndale Seminary





“Tam has written a sensitive and articulate book that widens our view of how persons with autism can be accepted and included in our communities of faith. Her vision that each person is needed to become the kind of spiritual communities that bear witness to God’s love inspires the reader. . . . This book helps us to recalibrate our understanding of the gifts that persons with autism bring to our communities and the ways in which we can facilitate and strengthen our practices of belonging.”


—Phil C. Zylla, McMaster Divinity College





“This book is incredibly important for the local church. Cynthia Tam goes well beyond mere advocacy and leads us straight into a vitally important conversation about the nature of the local church and its mission in the world. This book not only offers practical advice but also helps the reader wrestle with the deeper theological implications of offering real belonging (kinship) in the household of God.”


—Jared Siebert, Cofounder, the New Leaf Network, Canada





“Cynthia Tam has written a well-conceived and thoughtfully researched book that adds a distinctive, case-study-based, practical theological voice to the literature on theology and disability. . . . The takeaway is compelling: belonging together as church is itself a process of ongoing discovery through which all—those with autism along with neurotypical—learn to value each other as indispensable members of the body of Christ.”


—Thomas Reynolds, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto