To help understand what Godly Play is, we have to know what it’s not. First, Godly Play is not merely another children's Sunday School program. Godly Play employs the art of knowing how to use the language of Christians to explain the mysteries of our life in God.
Godly Play, is rooted in the Montessori method of religious education. It is an imaginative approach to working with children, an approach that supports, challenges, nourishes and guides their spiritual quest–in other words, a form of spiritual formation. Godly Play uses play to teach children, who have some experience of the mystery of the presence of God in their lives, how to use language and understanding to express it. In Godly Play, children learn through parables and sacred stories to discover God and one another in the world around them.
Godly Play, is rooted in the Montessori method of religious education. It is an imaginative approach to working with children, an approach that supports, challenges, nourishes and guides their spiritual quest–in other words, a form of spiritual formation. Godly Play uses play to teach children, who have some experience of the mystery of the presence of God in their lives, how to use language and understanding to express it. In Godly Play, children learn through parables and sacred stories to discover God and one another in the world around them.
Typically, one of our teachers acts as the storyteller and sits at the top of a circle waiting for the children to enter. A second teacher helps children get settled within the circle. The storyteller relates a spiritual story using props such as a sandbox and wooden models of buildings and people. After telling the story and eliciting responses from the children, the other teacher helps the children break away to work on expressive art work or other projects.
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During the time when we are not able to gather because of the health crisis, each week's lesson is recorded and posted to our For Children and Their Parents resource page. Click on the link above and once you are there scroll down to the appropriate Sunday. In video at right, Mother Mary Kisner, our Minister for Children, Youth, and Young Adults, explains how we are using Godly Play as we respond to the the COVID-19 pandemic.
Want to know more?
Watch the video below for an introduction to the work of Godly Play. Contact Mother Kisner at youth@stlukeslebanon.org |