Godly Play

A way of working with children which encourages them to gather, listen, and respond to the Christian story in a worshipful, playful way.

A souvenir brochure was produced by the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church for the launch of the Godly Play Charity. Download it here!

http://www.methodistchildren.org.uk/adults/Godly Play brochure.pdf

Visit www.godlyplay.org.uk or www.godlyplay.org for more information on all aspects of the Godly Play way and read the lecture and introductions from the Westminster Abbey Service! http://www.godlyplay.org.uk/experiences.html

MethodistChildren recently hosted a Godly Play networking day for some of those people who already had, or were developing an interest in Godly Play.

Some of the questions that were raised on the day are answered below.

What is Godly Play?
if you burnt all the books can you still do Godly Play?
yes, it is more about sacred space, freedom to think through, open process, and safe space
the process is creative, responding, relationship building, and sharing with others

“The Heart of Godly Play” Candy Moser
Four Key Aspects
1   Creating sacred space – relationships, listening
2   Building Community
3   Religious language in the centre
4   Creating a space where people can make meaning for themselves

the books stress open language, Berryman is economical with verbal language. The key is creating a space in the silence
deliberate space and pace of words is important
it has to raise loads of questions – to enable discovery

Do you have to have all elements?
Sometimes you just cannot can’t do all -  if you have limited time never miss out feast
One week – tell story, wondering
Second week – recap, then response time
Third week – recap again
Adaptable, adaptability – work with what you have.
There might be other opportunities to use process; holiday clubs, etc.
Be aware of the process – not just storytelling!
Story, wondering, interaction with practical activities.
Ability to just ‘be’ – take time in session to just sit and be there to be approached.

Concerns around Space, timing, setting up?
On website how to create minimum Godly Play shelf
Important to have a focus – what is your focus.
Look in room how is it? Set out. Create a focus. Could be simple. Minimum to create a focus. How you are, shelf, just sit and be.

What turns noisy space to creative space?
Focus, set up of room
Empty shelves – each week as introduce story, put in place on shelf. One step at a time. Do it slowly and build up confidence. Relational.

Ownership – How do you achieve it?
Try for a period – invite lots of people, e.g. six weeks of Lent
Give people opportunities to see – showing, sharing
Invite people in.
use consistent ways of being, structural, process, person at door, circle, focus, consistency
expressions, response: have you got room to try different expressions, e.g. drama one week
drama – using Godly Play principles, e.g. what do you like best about play? What would you leave out of play?
use story exploration to bring out issues, wondering – opportunities
use processes
invite people along for showings, spend time introducing to wider community
Try something like Companions in Christ which is similar to Godly Play working on the same  Four core points. Good resource – uses principles.
keep working at it
networking – create a group to look at material with ‘Methodist friendly’

What resources are available?
List: Books and where they come from
Teaching book
Volume 1 – theory
Stories
Liturgical materials need adapting
Volume 6 – stories about Old Testament figures
Point people in direction of resources, web pages, books, etc. Peter working on handbook
The Saints – need some work on how these fit into Methodist liturgy.
Amazon doing a promotion on Godly Play book right now! CLICK HERE!

 

Godly Play contacts across the Connexion
The following people are happy to be contacted if you want to discuss how to use Godly Play where you are -

Jeanette Daly (Thirsk and Northallerton Circuit,York and Hull District) Rainbows34end@aol.com

Rev Sarah Jemison (Shipley)  revsaj@blueyonder.co.uk

West Yorkshire District Diocese of Bradford Godly Play Group (contact Helen Tawn at saintpeter@addinghamrectory.fsnet.co.uk)

Sheila Jeffries (Guiseley, Leeds District)  tonyandsheila@jeffriesag-sma.fsnet.co.uk

Pauline Sawyer  jpsawyers@blueyonder.co.uk    (Bristol South Circuit)