Why Godly Play?
Storytelling is an ancient practice, and scripture has been passed on orally for most of the history of the people of God. Jesus himself often told stories and then let people come back to him for more when they had questions. He rarely exegeted the Old Testament, but sparked discussion and encouraged an individual or community to seek in response.
Godly Play is a unique and thoughtful multi-sensory curriculum centered on key biblical stories from the Old and New Testaments. Each story has small, simple, handcrafted materials that fit together to build a model of the biblical story or parable and to enable the children to envision the events being described. After the story is told, the children are invited to wonder aloud about the story and how it might apply to them. They are then invited to work with the story materials or to create an art project in their own way.
Everything that happens in the Godly Play community serves the child's personal and developing relationship with God:
1. Godly Play is based on what is known about child development. Children love stories and primarily learn through using the entire body. Even older children need to see and touch as well as hear.
2. Godly Play uses plain language in addition to Biblical terms, so that children can both understand what is being said and talk about important truths in inclusive language (language that people not in the faith community can understand). This is significant for our children who live in a postmodern environment where there is less Biblical literacy and Christian awareness.
3. Godly Play encourages children to learn to be active in their encounters with scripture from the very beginning – to explore it, question it, relate to it – and not just learn the “right” Christian answers. Other curricula sometimes provide an entire lesson for children, including interpretation and an imposed application of texts. The Bible stories chosen are often used to make a point about character development such as honesty and kindness (and obeying parents!). While character development is of great value, these behavior-focused curricula often neglect many key stories of the Bible that illuminate the character and wonder of God.
4. Godly Play seeks to create safe and sacred space for children to encounter God. We trust in the power of God’s Word and Spirit to ignite curiosity and faith, believing that God first initiates relationship with us. Moreover, we trust in the spiritual capacity of children to seek and respond to God in a manner that is personal and authentic. This means that questions are not only respected, but received as signs of genuine curiosity and emerging faith.
5. Children learn to be in community together – to take turns with materials, to listen to others when they are speaking. They also have an opportunity to share prayer requests and pray together at the “feast/snack time.” The focus is on relationship to others, and not being entertained by a program.
Please note that our Godly Play communities may not look exactly like those at other churches because we are a teardown church – our layout is simplified out of necessity.