Godly Play was developed by Jerome Berryman, who uses a Montessori approach to spiritual development. Here's how the Godly Play Foundation describes this methodology:
Godly Play teaches children the art of using Christian language - parable, sacred story, silence and liturgical action - helping them become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence in their lives.
When Christian language is learned by the Godly Play approach, it is learned as a means to know God and to make meaning of our lives. This approach is quite different from the traditional model in which the teacher tells the children what they need to know. Godly Play is not about things that are that simple. It is not just about learning lessons or keeping children entertained. It is about locating each lesson in the whole system of Christian language and involving the creative process to discover the depths of meaning in them. It’s about understanding how each of the stories of God’s people connects with the child’s own experience and relationship with God. Godly Play respects the innate spirituality of children and encourages curiosity and imagination in experiencing the mystery and joy of God.
It "encourages curiosity and imagination in experiencing the mystery and joy of God."
Yes! That's what I want for my children!
But what does that mean in practical terms? How does that work? (I was a science major and a math teacher...can you tell?)
A full-fledged Godly Play session in a church setting is arranged in a worship-like manner that includes welcome, prayer, story, creative work/expression, music - like a worship service with a creative bent. Each story, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, is told by a trained leader, on the floor, with beautiful wooden figures and other natural elements like wool felt or cotton fabric or sand. This is no workbook page activity, but a visual and physical experience of the story. Each story is followed by "wondering" statements that children may respond to (i.e. "I wonder how Moses felt about this..."). The wondering is intended to help the children further imagine themselves into the story, helping them to see or feel it in new ways, but not giving them right or wrong answers.
Each story has its own basket or box for the story elements. A Godly Play room is arranged with shelves full of these story baskets and other faith symbols so that during the creative work time, children may work with both the current story or other stories they've already experienced. Connections between stories are encouraged, drawing a Big Story together.
After the story is told, children have a creative work time in which to respond to the story. This could include playing with the story figures or making art that responds to the story experience. For some groups, this can be very open-ended, while for others (particularly younger ages) there may be a more directed expression type ... but not a specific end product. The goal is not to create a prescribed craft but to involve a child's imagination and experience in creative expression of the spiritual story. There's no right or wrong expression, though there is still an emphasis on respectful behavior!
Though the church where my kids attend Art Camp every summer uses Godly Play (and I'm sure there are other churches around that do as well), I've never actually seen it done in a church. It's more common in the Episcopalian and other mainline traditions, I think, but it's rare in mine (Baptist, of the moderate ilk), so most of my limited knowledge comes from books and blogs. The Wonder Circle is a great blog showing in detail how it is being done in a church during the Sunday School hour. If you use Godly Play at your church, I'd love to hear about your experience of it!
Godly Play is such a different way of doing faith education that to switch to Godly Play from a more traditional Sunday School curriculum would require a concerted effort and buy-in by a lot of people in a church that's never done it that way before. The story-telling is different. The art is different. The supplies are different. The room set-up is different. The theory of education is different. It's daunting. Some churches, then, use it during a time other than Sunday morning. Some churches even use it with adults (and I'll say from my own limited experience that I could see how it would be wonderful in an adult spiritual formation setting as well).
We, however, use it at home. Or, I should say, we're trying. We're new at this and are still experimenting with how to best incorporate Godly Play into our home. We've still got a lot to learn, but tomorrow we'll share some of what we've been trying and the resources we use ... in Part two ...
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