Thank you to Sr Lorraine Shorten who provided our first article.

I first experienced Godly Play during my training for ministry at a West Yorkshire Churches Together meeting. I was blown away by how simple the story telling was but how deep the thinking came out of the group.

Godly Play is a way of exploring and developing spirituality. It was developed by Rev Dr Jerome Berryman, a US theologian and educationalist. It was devised for use with primary school children but is a successful tool for all ages. It is a creative and imaginative approach to Christian nurture and spiritual life and is used with adults and children in churches, schools, hospitals, care homes for the elderly, and in prisons.

Godly Play is a Montessori-inspired way of telling Bible stories, the idea being that they are translated not into another language, but into 3D. Little wooden figures, sand boxes for the desert, green felt to represent the world or a meadow. The Godly Play creation story, shown in the picture, is told using seven plaques showing the seven days of creation in stylised form on a background of black or navy felt. The story narration is pared down to the bare minimum to allow the participants to sit with their own thoughts and feelings. Young people and adults benefit so much from taking a step back and fully immersing themselves in play. Berryman describes this way of learning as 'inviting God to come and play'.

In Godly Play teaching, parables, sacred stories and liturgical lessons are entered into in an experiential discovery way rather than taught. This way of learning engages the whole person - hands, heart, mind, senses and intuition. After the story is told the narrator asks a few 'I wonder …?' questions such as 'I wonder which is your favourite day? Could we do without any of the days?' etc. These are all asked in a safe space and there are no right or wrong answers.

There is a passage in Matthew's gospel: 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven' (NRSV, Matthew 18:30). I have heard and read this passage many times, but it is only through doing Godly Play that I understand better what Jesus was telling his disciples. Jesus is not saying we should revert to childish behaviour or a naive understanding of God, what Jesus is telling us is we need to see and learn about God with the joy and rapture of a child. We need to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, open ourselves to new possibilities and learning. Berryman says: 'In Godly Play, we enter into parables, silence, sacred stories and sacred liturgy in order to discover God, ourselves, one another and the world around us.' (Berryman. Godly Play volume 2).

I love leading Godly Play sessions. I shared the Creation story with the 2nd Bath Boys Brigade and Girls Association at their camp and over the summer Bath Weston, Bath Coronation Avenue and Brockweir congregations have immersed themselves in a variety of stories.

If you would like to find out more, please get in touch with me.

Sr Lorraine Shorten

Minister for Bath Weston and Bath Coronation Avenue Congregations