The Cycles of Growing as a Godly Play Teacher

I am currently re-reading Teaching Godly Play: How to Mentor the Spiritual Development of Children by Jerome Berryman. The first time I read it was after I had been teaching GP for about two years. I read it, but hurried through some parts that did not seem that relevant to me at the time. Now I am going back to "digest" a few things. 

One of those things is the personal growth of a Godly Play teacher. The last few GP gatherings that I have been to have put an emphasis on this topic, so I am trying to listen with fresh ears and reflect on my own growth and how to keep developing it.

Berryman writes about three year cycles in the growth process. Now that I have been through one of these cycles, his words resonate with me a lot more. (This is also one important reason why a requirement to train to be a GP Trainer is a minimum of three years' experience.) 

 "The first year of a teacher's growth cycle feels somewhat awkward and mechanical, because one is thinking and trying to remember so much . . . One is not yet fluent."

I stumbled upon Godly Play almost by accident. I ordered the first two curriculum guides in German and set out with my friend Galina to try and figure out what to do. While we in general liked the philosophy and the stories, we were completely bewildered by some aspects of the stories. Why in the world would you ask the children to name the bird in the Parable of the Mustard Seed? (What a silly thing to do!) And why would you ask the kids what they would leave out in a story? (Are we saying that certain parts of the Bible aren't important?!!?)

Then, a friend suggested that I try to find another church in Berlin that was also doing Godly Play to find out more. Lucky for me, there was a "Kennenlernen Tag" (Get-to-know GP Day) three weeks later in Berlin. There I saw an experienced storyteller, Ulrike, who would be my future trainer, tell a story from each genre. And I was hooked. 

Thus began a long process of learning stories, experimenting, and making materials. Three months later, I spent a lot of money and a whole week doing the Basic GP Training. (In the States and England, it is a 3-day course, but in Germany it is a week long course.)

"The second year things flow better . . . a teacher's confidence grows. There is enough experience to do Godly Play better, but not enough experience to realize how much more there is to learn."

Boy, does that ever sound like me. I started the blog at the beginning of the second year and I cringe at some of the things I wrote back then.: )  But I don't delete them, because that is part of the journey. At that point, I thought that I really knew a lot about Godly Play and children. I know that I at times probably even sounded a bit arrogant with friends and co-workers about what I knew. I also only had a vague understanding of children's spirituality at the time, and how it might be different from adult spirituality. 

"In the third year of the cycle, confidence about mastery begins to evaporate, because teachers realize how much more they need to know to be really good at this art."

By the third year, I had told a lot of Godly Play stories, but began to see that there were many details that I didn't know. (Do you continually focus on the board in "Faces of Easter", even when the part of the story you are telling isn't in the picture? Or is it okay to glance at the children every now and then?) This sort of thing became particularly evident to me when I was in Belarus last April. People there had lots of questions that I wasn't entirely sure how to answer. 

I also realized that it was important it was to have a solid background in  children's spirituality. I began to read more literature from theologians and researchers in this area. Better than that, I started to listen to the children in a different way than I had before.

"The fourth year a teacher begins again and as a conscious effort is made to get better, awkwardness again intrudes. Teachers also realize that this time a new cycle and real growth is taking place  . . . Each three-year cycle adds to ones wisdom not only about teaching but about ourselves as well."

September marked the beginning of my fourth year.  I am very eager to learn more and allow myself to be stretched in new ways. I think it also a season of allowing God to work on my inner life as well. We'll see what happens next!

What about you?  Have you found this cycle to be true in your experience as well?

Children and Existential Limits

Jerome Berryman, the creator of Godly Play, writes about four existential limits that both children and adults are confronted with: death, the threat of freedom, the need for meaning and fundamental aloneness. We as human beings are confronted with these things at an early age, and how we learn to cope with them shapes both our character, worldview and ability to make wise decisions. When spiritually mentoring children, we allow children to be confronted with these limits through the Biblical narrative and invite God to be a part of the dialogue. How he initiates and engages with the children (and we teachers as co-learners!) is an exciting process. 

Many adults are afraid to talk with children about death. However, children are confronted with the concept of death often, be it from the falling leaves in autumn to the passing away of a beloved pet. And if they don't have the opportunity to work out for themselves how to respond to this limit set to our humanity, then the child is completely unprepared when something much more heart-breaking occurs, like the death of a grandparent.

Often we adults also fail to consider that children struggle as well with aloneness (despite being part of a community) and finding meaning and purpose in our lives. We think that only adolescents grapple with these issues. Children most definitely deal with them, but express much of their thoughts non-verbally. This is due to their language development, which has yet to reach a level that allows them to share more of their thoughts with words.

Young children share their thoughts more easily
in non-verbal ways.

This is where the "play" in Godly Play comes in. Children learn best while playing. (If you ever tried to teach a child math or a foreign language, you know they respond a lot better to a game than to a worksheet!) When children play "house" or Star Wars, they work out possibilities. They do the same when playing with God.

This type of play can make the adults in the room nervous, because they project their own life experience onto the child's play. Sometimes it can sound sacrilegious to the adults, even when it is not. Recently, we told the baptism story to our Sunday Godly Play group. This story involves baptizing a doll in order to show the children what actually happens during a baptism. During the response time afterwards, a little boy took out the materials and began "baptizing" the doll. He then immersed the doll in the water and pretended that it was swimming. Then, he began to pretend that  the doll was drowning.

Materials for the Godly Play story, "Holy Baptism".

I think at that point, many children's workers would have rushed to intervene, thinking that either the boy was being too wild in his play or poking fun at a sacred rite. (Fortunately, my co-teacher is not phased by things like that, although she does get a little nervous when they light the candles!)  I knew that this child had been talking about baptism  for a while and was even thinking about being baptized in one of Berlin's lakes in the summer. Most likely he was working out what it would be like to be baptized by full-immersion. Could you drown while being baptized in a lake? Would it be okay to go swimming afterwards? Important things for a child to consider. I looked over as he was happily playing and said, "I'd sure like to swim in God's love", something that I have meditated on this week (a week that has been difficult and most certainly has not gone according to my plan!)

Learning to recognize when the children and God are working these matters out in a playful manner takes time and patience. It requires one to listen more than talk or instruct. But it is essential for both the children and us.

Linked to Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

Expedition in the Desert: The 10 Best Ways to Live

Wir erreichten diese Woche das letzte Reiseziel auf unserer Expedition in die Wüste: den Berg Sinai, wo Gott seinem Volk die 10 besten Wege zum Leben gab. Wir kennen sie auch als die 10 Gebote.  This week we reached our final destination in the desert: Mount Sinai where the people of God were given the 10 Best Ways to live, also known as the 10 Commandments. 

Mose und das Volk erhalten die 10 besten Wege.
Die Herzen Tafeln sagen: "Liebe Gott, Liebe die Menschen,
Gott liebt uns".
Moses and Israel receive the 10 Best Ways.
The heart pieces read: "Love God, Love people,
God loves us".

Das Volk Israel war endlich von Ägypten frei. Sie konnten gehen, wohin sie wollten und tun, was sie wollten. Aber wohin sollten sie gehen? Welcher war der beste Weg? Wir hörten, dass Gott seine Volk so sehr liebte, dass er ihnen die 10 Besten Wege zum Leben schenkte. Sie sind sowie Wegweiser, die den besten Weg kennzeichnen. Und obwohl sie sehr alt sind und manchmal schwierig zu erfüllen sind, bleiben sie bis zum heutigen Tag die besten Wege zu gehen. The children of Israel were finally free from Egypt. They could go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. But where should they go? Which way is the best? We learned that God loved his people so much that he gave them the 10 Best Ways to live. These 10 Commandments are like signposts that show us the best way to go. And even though they are old and sometimes really hard to follow, they are still the best way to go even today.

Wir machen uns Gedanken über jeden von den 10 Wegen.
Discussing each of the 10 Best Ways.

Das Ergründungs gespräch war aufregend, weil wir uns Gedanken über jeden Weg gemacht haben, was es wirklich bedeuten könnte. Gibt es einen Weg, der uns am besten gefällt? Welcher ist wohl der wichtigste? Ist einer für mich im Moment besonders? Als wir zu "nicht lügen" kamen, ist ein bestimmtes Thema unter den Kindern hochgekommen: wenn etwas verloren geht und ein Geschwisterkind uns anklagt. Einige teilten Situationen mit, wo sie ungerecht anklagt würden, und wir fragten uns, was man darüber machen könnte ohne zurückzuschlagen. Gemeinsam kamen wir auf die Idee, es wäre besser nicht darauf zu bestehen, wer Recht hat, sondern das aktuelle Problem zu lösen. Nämlich das verlorene Ding zu finden und mit der anderen Person zu einigen, wo man vielleicht das Ding stehen lassen könnte, damit man's nächstes Mal findet. The Wondering for this story was particularly exciting, because we wondered about what each of the 10 Best Ways meant, and then if there was one we liked best, or was most important, or particularly meaningful to us at this place and time. One theme seemed to emerge among several of the children as we talked about "Do not lie": the age-old theme of siblings or friends placing the blame on us when something goes missing.  The children told about such situations where they felt unjustly accused, and we wondered together what we could do about it instead of arguing, trying to get revenge, or hitting the accuser. We came to the conclusion together that in such situations we needed to shift the focus away from who was right or wrong and try to solve the problem. For example, when something was missing, we could try and find it, and then agree with the other person to always put in in one particular place, so that it doesn't get lost in the future.

In der Kreativzeit haben die Kinder ihre Wüsten-Schatztruhen fertig gemacht. Nachdem sie die Schatztruhem anmalten, haben sie kleine "Schätze" aus Ton gebastelt. Die Schätze sollten etwas sein, das sie an Gott oder an einer Geschichte erinnerte. During our creative time, the children finished up their desert boxes. After painting the treasure boxes, they made "treasures" out of clay to put in the boxes. Their treasure could be something that reminded them of God or a story that they heard.

Einige Schatztruhen und Ton-Schätze.
The treasure boxes and some of the clay treasures.

Einige haben neue Bilder entweder mit  Kreidepastellen auf Schleifpapier  oder mit Sandfarbe gemalt. Some made new sandpaper drawings with chalk pastels or painted with sand.

Andere arbeiteten bei der "Danke, Gott" Station, wo sie etwas an Gott geschrieben haben oder ein Bild für ihn gemalt haben. Others worked at the "Thank you, God" station drawing a picture for God or writing something for him.

Diese Woche baten wir den Kindern Hefte an, wo sie weiter sich Gedanken über die 10 besten Wege zum Leben machen konnten. Es gab leere Seiten in der Heft, damit die Kinder schreiben oder malen konnten.  This week, we also gave the children a booklet where they could write or draw about one of the 10 Best Ways that they wanted to think more about. 

The cover has the summary of the 10 Best Ways from the  story:
"Love God, love people, God loves us"

Zwei von den Jungs haben mir die Geschichte von Mose erzählt! I was also treated to a story when two of the boys decided to tell me the story of Moses.

Nun ist unsere Expedition jetzt vorbei und wir haben Herbstferien. Es war eine wünderschöne Zeit mit Gott und einander! Now our expedition is over and it's fall break here. It was a wonderful expedition together and with God! 

See our other expeditions:

Expedition in the Desert: Joseph

Expedition in the Desert: Moses

Expedtition in the Desert: Abraham and Sarah

For more about "The 10 Best Ways to Live" click here.

(For my Godly Play Readers: This is one of the core stories in the Godly Play curriculum. There is a short version for younger children and a longer one with more historical background for older children. I used the shorter version since the children had already heard the historical info in the story of Moses and so we could focus more time on each commandment.)


Linked to Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

and Seasons of Joy

Godly Play: St. Elisabeth of Portugal

I must admit that I was not previously familiar with this fascinating woman's story. Living in Germany, I am much more familiar with her great-aunt, Elisabeth of Hungary (known as Elisabeth von Thuringen here in Germany), for who this Elisabeth was named. Elisabeth of Portugal was ahead of her time intellectually, politically and environmentally. 

This Godly Play story comes from The Complete Guide to Godly Play: Volume 7 by Jerome Berryman. Peter Privett pointed out to me that each of the saints in this volume have a difficult childhood experience in common. Elisabeth's was family intrigue and in-fighting. Through it all, she learned to be and remain a peacemaker. 

Each of the objects above represent something about Elisabeth's life:
1. map of Portugal -  Although Elisabeth was a princess of Aragon, she married Denis, king of Portugal at age 12 and became his queen
2. rose - Elisabeth consistenty refused riches and gifts throughout her life and gave everything to the poor. Legend has it that one day when Denis demanded to see the gold coins in her apron that she was planning to give away, they turned to roses. 
3. pine tree - Denis and Elisabeth planted pine trees along the coast to prevent further soil erosion.
4. donkey - Elisabeth bravely prevented her husband and oldest son from killing each other on the battlefield by riding a donkey in the middle of the two armies. 

In my own background research for the story, I found out some other interesting things about her. Elisabeth apparently received a great education as a child and was adept at languages and singing. In this article, I read about her engineering and architecture skills as well. Elisabeth not only funded hospitals and other institutions for social well-being, but designed and oversaw the actual building process as well. 

Her marriage was not an easy one. Denis was said to be a philanderer and the dispute mentioned in the story with his oldest son came about as a result of the father's favoritism shown to an illegitimate child.

During the Wondering time, my children were very verbal. This has not always been the case with the other saint stories. They were shocked that Elisabeth married so young. And both seemed impressed by her courage to come between two armies ready to tear each other apart. (Living in Europe, they have seen lots of medieval weapons in museums and can picture somewhat how terrifying it must have been!)

Above all, Elisabeth knew what it meant to love her neighbor, even if it cost her a great price. She knew how to make peace an active thing. And I pray that we will follow her example and continue to allow God to transform us into active peacemakers as well. 

Click here to read how I made the materials for this story.

Making St. Elisabeth of Portugal

My latest saint story from The Complete Guide to Godly Play: Volume 7  by Jerome Berryman is about St. Elisabeth of Portugal. She is also the first female saint that I've worked on. (Thomas Aquinas and St.Patrick are the other saint stories I've made materials for.)

For Elisabeth I chose a  slender peg doll that I thought looked a bit more feminine. And drawing inspiration from internet pictures, I made her painted her green and then made her coat from blue felt and her crown from gold pipe cleaner. 

In my other sets, I have always included a wooden cut-out of the saint's home country borrowed from a wooden puzzle of Europe that we own. Wouldn't you know that the Portugal piece is missing?

What to do? If you have been reading this blog for a while, I'm sure you saw this coming. I think that all Godly Play storytellers eventually become woodworkers at some level. While I still can't claim to be a woodworker, I did pull out the fret saw and cut a simple square out of plywood to paint Portugal on. 

I then painted a map of Portugal and outlined it with a Sharpie.

More on the actual story later!

In the next few months, I hope to make Mother Teresa of Calcutta and St. Teresa of Avila as well. We'll see how far I get!

Linked to Keep Calm Craft On at  Frontier Dreams

On the Language of Silence in Godly Play

In June I wrote a post on the various genres in Godly Play.  My fellow blogger, Storyteller, reminded me in the conversation that ensued that there is actually a fourth genre called the "Language of Silence" that is very important to the holistic concept of Godly Play.  I replied to her that I might have subconsciously left it out, because this area is a week spot in my ministry with the children.  Sometimes I don't allow enough time for this language to come through in telling the stories, because I struggle with impatience. Also, because we are often in either small spaces (like my kitchen) or wide open spaces (like the park), the children banter with one another rather than being fully engrossed in their own work.  I haven't yet found the key to helping them solely concentrate on their own individual work.  


I was then rather surprised a couple of weeks ago to find a kind and encouraging e-mail from Jerome Berryman, whom I have never met, in my inbox about this particular post.  (You never know who is reading your blog!)  He had this to say about the language of silence, and with his permission I would like to pass it on to you:


"The genre of contemplative silence is very important.  It appears between the words as the lesson is spoken in a measured, energy-filled, and mindful presentation.  It is in the movements of the materials.  It is when the children are concentrating.  It is in the room, woven among the materials, which do not speak.  It is in the children who can speak but choose not to.  It is in the awareness, even when speaking, that there is more about God's presence than can be said.  There is even a lesson, "The Greatest Parable," which has a movement that involves only shapes, colors and movements.  (The words come later.)  This kind of silence is fullness rather than absence."


The world we live in often overcrowded with words and ideas.  So many things compete for our attention and the attention of our children. Making room to just "be" and hear God's "still, small voice" is an art and an invaluable, necessary thing to learn. Many times we think of silence as being passive, but as Jerome Berryman points out, it is indeed active.  It is choosing not to speak and knowing when to listen. It is acknowledging that we have a greater need beyond our own words and thoughts. 


I am reminded of Brother Lawrence, the 17th century French monk, who wrote Practicing the Presence of God, a book about this sort of stillness. He uses the term "practice", because we don't usually get it right the first time. I, for one, know that I need a lot more practice learning and teaching the language of silence. 

If you have any thoughts on how you cultivate the language of silence in your own life or in your Godly Play practice, please share them!

To change or not to change?

Can one change the text of a Godly Play story to fit one’s own church tradition or theological beliefs?  That is a controversial question in the Godly Play world. Jerome Berryman wrote the Godly Play stories with his own Episcopal church background in mind. As a result, some of the ideas or interpretations contained within Berryman’s texts differ from other Protestant traditions as well as the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.  The tension comes from a fear that Godly Play will be changed so much that it won’t remain Godly Play.

My personal opinion on the matter is that for Godly Play to be used on a widespread basis, the individual storytellers must be able to use the stories within their specific theologically context.  Storytellers learn a text by heart, internalize it, and act it out in a sense to draw the listeners into it.  Must of the effectiveness of this teaching method depends on whether or not the teacher really believes and stands behind what he/she is saying.  Otherwise, the telling of the biblical stories becomes a fairy tale hour with no relevance.  I was fortunate enough to have a trainer in my Godly Play training here in Germany, who told us very clearly that we had freedom to tweek the stories to fit our theological beliefs and that no one could expect to say something that we couldn’t stand behind.  While Godly Play Germany as an organization is very concerned that the GP stories remain as true as possible to Berryman’s texts, it has translated all of his stories with variations for the both the Catholic and Lutheran traditions here in Germany in mind.

An example of how I have tailored stories to fit my context is the Godly Play baptism story.  I absolutely love this story, but in our church tradition, we do not baptize infants. So when I told the story to our children, I explained that although many Christian churches baptize babies, our church only baptizes older children and adults who are old enough to make the decision themselves.  Rather than using a baby doll, I used an adult figure from my daughter’s dollhouse and we baptized her.  The children in our church plant were delighted with the story and played baptism with the dollhouse figure just as I have seen children play with the baby doll in other churches. 

Another example is “The Faces of Easter” story that I have been telling in the Easter Club.  While I think this story is just about perfect, my one criticism would be that it only gives very little information about the resurrection itself and is a bit anticlimatic. This did not sit well with me, so I added a few lines from the biblical text where Mary Magdalene and the women visit the tomb, find it empty, and receive the news from two angels that Jesus is actually alive.  (When I do add to GP stories, I usually add things directly from the biblical text, because I figure you can’t go very wrong if your words are straight from the source!)

I recently volunteered to be a part of a research project by a graduate student in the U.S., who is researching how other Christian traditions are adapting GP into their context.  Also, I will be taking part in a field study for Godly Play in the Russian language. So, I hope that I will have much more to say on this subject later!

Godly Play Outside of the Church: Part 2

Surprisingly, Godly Play is not just for children.  Its creator, Jerome Berryman, writes that it is for children ages 2 to 99.  And while Godly Play may not be for everyone, I can confirm that it works with adults in a variety of settings.  After reading a chapter in Berryman’s book about his pioneering work with Godly Play in hospitals and with anorexia patients, I had a slightly crazy idea. 

In 2007, I began volunteering with a non-profit organization that serves women involved in drugs and prostitution.  We run a café on the Kurfürstenstrasse, one of Berlin’s most notorious red light districts, that serves as a gathering point and counseling center for the women.  (We also work closely with other organizations in the area.)  I have a background in voluntary social work that dates back to when I worked with homeless people in college.  Through the years, I have always worked with organizations that help people in a holistic way, offering practical as well as spiritual help and support.  Many people in dire situations are searching for God in their lives, but don’t know where to start to find Him.  In the Christian tradition, one of the classic ways to give spiritual support is to offer a Bible study.  Unfortunately, handing drug addicts or street people with very little education a large Bible is intimidating for them.  The word  “Bible” alone can make them run away as fast as they can, even if they are searching.  For this reason, I had the thought that Godly Play might be an answer to the question of how to offer spiritual support.  Because it is an oral story-telling method that allows one to draw one’s own conclusions, it is not as scary as a thick book.

I started experimenting in our café in May of 2010 by telling the stories in the Parables of Jesus genre.  Since then, I have had all manner of women and even a few men listen to the stories:  educated, uneducated, Germans, foreigners, transvestites, etc.  Most of the women have been drawn into the stories.  One woman from Slovakia told me, “When you first pulled out your figures, I thought this was for small children.  Then, I realized that it was not and that I really had to think.”  Occasionally, a woman doesn’t like the method at all and that is okay, too.  After all, the Gospel is a gift and not something to be forced on anyone. 

How it all develops and the long-term fruit remains to be seen. But one thing I am certain of: Godly Play allows me to step back in a sense and let the Holy Spirit speak through the story. My prayer is that our women will find themselves in the Biblical narrative long before they are able to read the Bible by themselves.  May God’s love and enlightenment produce profound change in their lives. 

 

Spirituality in Young Children: The Role of Language Development

Recently, three-year-old Natalie, the daughter of a friend, suddenly came bounding into the kitchen in the middle of the day where her mother was preparing something and jubilantly exclaimed, “Mommy, Jesus loves me!”  My friend was very pleased to hear her daughter saying this and lovingly confirmed her daughter’s insight.  At the same time, she was a bit puzzled as to what had prompted Natalie's statement.  It had seemingly come "out of the blue", but was it?

Children come into this world as spiritual beings, but also as non-verbal beings.  Understanding this is essential to cultivating spirituality in young children. In the Gospel of Luke, we find the curious story of the yet unborn John the Baptist responding physically to Mary's voice.  Research, of course,  shows that babies in the womb are aware of their environment and begin to learn by responding to external stimuli such as music and familiar voices. In the book Baby Minds, child development experts Acredolo and Goodwyn also share research proving that children are inborn with certain abilities such as rudimentary mathematical and problem-solving skills. However, while already possessing some amazing cognitive skills, babies lack an essential developmental skill that they must learn in order to make it in this world: language. 

This process of learning to apply words to our thoughts opens what Jerome Berryman in the German translation of his introduction to Godly Play (Godly Play: Einführung in der Theorie und Praxis)  as “the great gateway of language”.   The ability to name things, be it people, emotions, situations or problems, opens the gateway to becoming whole, mature adults. As parents, teachers, and pastors, we have to see children on the continuum of non-verbal to verbal and help them develop language skills to describe their spiritual experiences.   That means that we recognize and take seriously the non-verbal ways that children already express spiritual thoughts and help them put words to those experiences.

What is the non-verbal communication that children use? They communicate through their bodies, emotions, pictures and play, among other things. They are sensorimotor beings. Dr. Sonja M. Stewart, in her book Young Children and Worship, says, “Children do love and worship God, but they need to be introduced to  . . .  worship in a sensorimotor way. They need to know how to find the quiet place within, which enable them to get ready to worship ‘all by themselves’ . . . “.  When we pay close attention to what children are communicating non-verbally, we can better assist as they explore God on their spiritual journey. We can help them find the language to express what they are experiencing with Him and how to express that to Him in worship. 

Back to little Natalie.  I am sure that the simple sentence she excitedly proclaimed to her mother did not come out of nowhere, but was rather the result of several experiences in the past few days and pictures in her thoughts.  As a three-year-old she expressed in a perfectly age-appropriate way what she had been thinking about.  While it may sound simple to adult ears, it shows that Natalie is learning to enter into the mystery of friendship with the Creator of the Universe “all by herself” without prompting from anyone else.  And as her pastor, I couldn’t ask for anything better. 

What is Godly Play?

How do I summarize Godly Play?  The technical definition would be that it is a form of religious education that developed out of the teachings of Maria Montessori.  But it is much more than that.  It is storytelling at its best. It is an art form.  It is a gateway to exploring the Biblical narrative and helping others find their way within as well.  It is a language teacher that helps young children find words to describe what they experience with God. It is a way of preparing one's self to meet with the triune God.

Maria Montessori was the first woman to gain a medical degree from the University of Rome. At age 40, she stopped practicing medicine in order to devote herself entirely to the world of education and she revolutionized it.  Though a devout Catholic, she never specifically developed her ideas in the area of religious pedagogy.  Her successors eventually took on this challenge.   In the year that I was born (1971!), an episcopal priest named Jerome Berryman from Houston, Texas travelled to Bergamo, Italy to study with Montessori's direct successors.  Out of his educational experiences there, Berryman developed the concept of Godly Play and put his ideas into practice at Christ Cathedral in Houston.

Godly Play is quiet, meditative and thoroughly engaging.  A storyteller sits with children in a circle around him.  The children are asked to if they are ready to hear a story.  Then storyteller then begins to tell a Biblical story using natural materials (wood, paper, felt, sand, etc.).  He intentionally doesn't make eye contact with the children, but is completely focused on the story, so that the listeners become absorbed in what they are hearing.

After the story, the storyteller leads the children in an "Ergründungsgespräch", which literally translates as "to fathom" and "conversation".  In English, this is called "The Wondering Phase".  The storyteller asks open-ended questions beginning with phrases like "Ich frage mich . . . " (literally: I ask myself . . ., but English-speaking storytellers say, "I wonder . . .") invites the listeners to say whatever is on their minds. The questions sound a bit strange the first time you hear them, but they are designed with intention to allow the listener to identify with and put themselves within the story.  I have to admit that I was shocked the first time I heard this phase described as "The Wondering Phase" in English, because it sounded to my ears a bit too fairy tale-ish.  (I first learned about Godly Play entirely in German and it wasn't until much later that I became acquainted with any of the English terms. ) 

Afterwards comes the "Creative Phase" in which the children are invited to pick out artistic materials to express their thoughts and respond to what they have heard.  They are also allowed to play with the story they have heard or pick another story from the shelves in the room to play with, which is very important since children learn by playing.  In case you're wondering (no pun intended), a  typical Godly Play worship also has a prayer time with the children, worship in the form of singing, and a "feast", a snack that also has the idea of communion embedded within it.

Although Godly Play came from America, it has been translated into the culture here in a thoroughly German way.  There is a German non-profit made up mostly of theologians and professionals who are now writing their own original Godly Play stories instead of merely translating Berryman's stories.  They also train people (like me) to do Godly Play in churches and schools.

That's about all I can describe in one post and any Godly Play enthusiast will tell you that I left out a lot, but I hope to talk more about specific aspects in future posts.

Below is a picture of Erich playing with some of the materials. You can see Jonah, the Nativity, the Risen Christ and Mount Sinai being used as a boat with the articles of the tabernacle in them: : )  The sand is our "Wüstensack" (Desert Bag).