Help every family feel welcome at church
For families with children with autism, an unfamiliar building can mean a meltdown before the service starts. Visual social narratives prepare your guests for what church will be like, before they walk in.
Free for ministry use ยท Designed with child privacy in mind ยท No app store needed
Built for ministry use
Free for ministries
Most special needs ministries run on tight budgets. StoryRetriever's free tier covers the basics ministry leaders need. No upsell, no time limit.
Welcome families before they visit
Create a story about your sanctuary, your check-in process, and your children's classroom. Share it with new families before their first Sunday so kids arrive with familiar context.
Photos of your actual space
Upload photos of your real building. The greeter station, the elevator, the bathroom, the children's room. Children with autism do better with the place they will actually be in, not a stock photo of "a church."
Stories for events outside Sunday morning
Vacation Bible School, the Christmas Eve service, the back-to-school kickoff. Big events that draw new families also create new sensory challenges. A short story sent the week before lowers the temperature.
Share with families who are not yet members
Send a story to a family considering visiting. They do not need to create an account to view it. Lowering the entry bar is the entire point.
Works on the family's own device
Parents view stories on their own phone. Your ministry does not need to provide tablets or manage accounts for families.
How to get started in your ministry
Sign up for a free account
A children's ministry director or special needs coordinator creates a single account. The whole ministry uses it.
Build your first story
Start with the most common new-family situation: arriving Sunday morning. Take photos of your parking lot, the front door, the welcome desk, the children's wing. Caption each photo simply.
Share with one family
Pick a family you already know whose child would benefit. Send them the link before next Sunday. Ask for feedback after the visit.
Build a small library over time
Most ministries find they end up with three to five stories: arriving on Sunday, the children's classroom, the sanctuary for big-service days, and one or two seasonal events.
Questions from ministry leaders
- Are you a Christian organization?
- We are not a faith-based company. StoryRetriever is built for any setting where children with autism or developmental delays need help preparing for new situations. The free tier works equally well for synagogues, mosques, and other faith communities.
- What if our ministry serves children with disabilities other than autism?
- Visual social narratives work for many children, including those with anxiety, developmental delays, ADHD, and communication challenges. They also help typically developing children adjust to a new place.
- Can volunteers in our ministry build stories, or only the director?
- Either. The free account can be shared among trusted volunteers, or each volunteer can create their own free account. We recommend keeping accounts simple early on and adding more as the ministry grows.
- We are a small ministry. Do you have any examples of churches using this well?
- We are still building case studies. If your ministry uses StoryRetriever and you are open to sharing what worked, email us. We would love to feature your story.