The Rev. Shannon Blosser sees how his son loves church — the music, the singing, the communion. But the United Methodist pastor said his family hasn’t always felt that 11-year-old Noah, who is autistic, has been welcome.

At one point, Blosser’s wife and the couple’s two sons stopped attending in-person services at a church where he served. “If we felt more supported, we probably would have pushed through.”

Many with disabilities, advocates and families want more religious congregations to know that there are ways to be accommodating and inclusive of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities this holiday season — and year-round — and to fully embrace them and their families.

“They just have to have the willingness to be the church that sees the image of God in every child and every adult,” said Blosser, who now serves two small West Virginia congregations that have been supportive of his family’s needs.

Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, one of the congregations, is hosting “Calm Christmas,” a sensory-friendly celebration and worship, where music will come from a guitar, rather than a piano, and candles will be swapped for glow sticks to avoid any dangers. There are fidget toys and a “visual schedule” to help those needing images and graphics to better process the sequence of events.

Blosser’s message to attendees? Be you.

“Families like mine who feel overwhelmed with just the lights and the cameras and the pomp and circumstance of Christmas Eve, they can come in and be themselves,” he said. “If you need to run around and do laps ... do it. This is a place for you to be you so you can experience God’s love.”

He hopes it could be the start of something more regular, like a quarterly or monthly service.

Linda Bunk, who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a former name for one form of autism, said it’s important to work on not just facilitating accessibility at churches but also fostering belonging.

Ask someone with Down syndrome if they’d like to be on the welcome team or if they sing or play the guitar, suggested Bunk, who’s a photographer and has served on Christian mission trips, including to Ukraine.

“Let them serve at their ability,” she said. “God blessed them with all kinds of talents, and if we don’t ask them or welcome them, we’ll never know what they can do.”

Bunk, who has bipolar disorder and lives in Virginia, said she especially likes seeing people with disabilities worshipping with the full congregation, rather than separately.

“Why can’t we have that all together ... and having fun, dancing, singing, eating food,” she said. “It breaks down those barriers of ‘disabilities are scary.’ ”

Blosser said people with disabilities must be part of planning about inclusion to offer guidance and flag mistakes.

He also encourages congregations to follow the Golden Rule: “What would you want done? For most of us, we would want understanding, we would want compassion.”

In Teaneck, New Jersey, Congregation Rinat Yisrael is hosting an inclusive Hanukkah service this month. The synagogue’s Hanukkah minyan, the quorum of at least 10 men needed for public worship, will include Dov Marcus, a congregant who has autism and will recite blessings over the Torah.

“The idea isn’t to give him his one opportunity a year to be called up to the Torah for the blessings,” said Stephen Glicksman, a synagogue member and director of innovation at Makor Care & Services Network, which supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families and is co-sponsoring the service. “It’s for people to see that he’s capable of being called out … and then be put on the roster like everybody else who will periodically get called up to receive that honor.