Godly Play is an experiential way of teaching children to worship. The program is based on work done by Dr. Jerome Berryman, using the child-centered teaching method applied to religious education. Dr. Berryman is an Episcopal Priest, author of "Teaching Godly Play" and founder of the Center for the Theology of Childhood.

This method termed "Godly Play" by Berryman, describes an approach to children's spiritual formation that is based on creating a sacred space in which to present the stories of our tradition. The key to this approach is a worship context for sharing Biblical stories, instead of a traditional school environment. Children learn to find the quiet place within, which enables them to prepare for worship, all by themselves.

The stories are told very simply and without interpretation or moral instruction. After a story is presented, the children and the storyteller wonder together about aspects of the story that draw their interest. After a time of exploring and wondering, the story is put away. The children then choose the art supplies they would like to work with. They spend some time creating whatever they choose, in response to what they feel is most important or interesting about the story. This method of spiritual formation invites personal involvement in the story, utilizing a child's natural sense of imagination and wonder; thereby helping them become more fully aware of the mystery of God's presence in their lives. Godly Play allows us to meet God along with children rather than teaching them what we as adults think they ought to know.

This approach uses simple, yet beautiful, natural materials, sparse language and movement, and quiet centering response time and is useful for all ages, though it is especially designed for children 3 to 11 years old. This tradition honors the child's natural sense of the sacred and enables children to experience God while learning about God. It is learned from the inside out. Godly play is also deeply satisfying for the adults who engage the stories along with the children.

Goals of Godly Play

• Helping children and adults develop their own inherent spirituality.

• Helping children to know God, in addition to knowing about God.

• Presenting Bible stories and liturgical lessons in an interesting and engaging manner.

• Encouraging children to move into larger dimensions of belief and faith through "wondering questions" and open-ended response time.

• Making religious education a joyous and interesting opportunity.

• Addressing the reality that children learn at different paces, and have different learning styles. Success in the Godly Play classroom is not dependent on reading ability or on group discussion

• Helping children manage their own time and space by making choices, and caring for the Godly Play environment. Children also learn how to respond to one another in way appropriate to a faith community. The worship center becomes a peaceful place in which to experience and explore the mystery of God's presence.

• Learning stewardship through presenting and caring for the Godly Play materials and classroom.

• Learning and practicing prayer through silence, music, writing and spontaneity.

The value of silence

Children need silence if they are going to learn. The ability to contemplate is the foundation for wonder, which opens up the creative process, which in turn causes growth. Practicing being silent helps children grow comfortable with silence.

• In the oral tradition (storytelling) the speaker remains present and in control of the silence. The silence is not empty, but full.

• Silence gives us the opportunity to contemplate the lesson.

• Silence allows us the opportunity to become aware of the elusive presence of the mystery of God.

• Silence allows us the opportunity to "hear" God's voice and discern his meaning for us.

Key aspects of the program

• Storytelling: A trained adult tells stories. The pace of the story slows the listener to think about what the story means.

• Room furnishings: Story items, liturgical elements, and art materials are placed around the room. Special attention is given to the placement and quality of items. Children may work with the materials in response to the story.

• Relationship of the child to God: The program assumes that the Holy Spirit is already working in the lives of the children. Teachers listen and interact as the child chooses to talk while working on a response.

• Liturgical sequence: Children learn greetings, songs, Bible readings, prayers, and blessings.

• Respect for individuals and community: The children work on individual rugs. They are shown very carefully how to respect their own space and the space of others. They learn how they can walk in the room, talk more softly, sit, listen, get things out, and put things away.

Classroom structure

The structured time in Godly Play has four parts:

1) Coming in
    a) Entering the special space
    b) Getting ready

2) Hearing the Word of God
    a) Participating in the lesson
    b) Responding to the lesson

3) Sharing the sacred meal
    a) Preparing the feast
    b) Sharing the feast

4) Going Out
    a) Saying good-bye
    b) Leaving the special place

Objectives

The goal of Godly Play is to help children learn the art of using the language of the Christian tradition to encounter God and find direction for their lives. There are six objectives that help to meet that goal.

1. To model how to "wonder" in Religious Education, so children can "enter" religious language rather than merely repeat it or talk about it.

2. To show children how to create meaning with the language of the Christian tradition and how this can involve them in a living relationship with Christ.

3. To show children how to choose their own work, as a personal expression of their relationship with God in response to the lesson.

4. To organize the educational time to follow the pattern of worship that the Christian tradition has found to be the best way to be with God in community.

5. To show children how to work together as a community by supporting and respecting each other in an environment that is their own.

6. To organize the educational space so that the whole system of Christian language is present in the room; so children can literally walk into that language domain when they enter the room and begin to make connections among its various parts as they work with the lesson of the day and respond in a way that is uniquely their own.

1. Leaving parents at the Threshold.

2. Joining the Circle

3. Storytelling

4. Wondering

5. Response

6. The Feast. This allows the child to discover connections with the sacrament of Holy Communion.

7. Leaving with Peace.

Entering the classroom...  A threshold is very important - it divides, but it also invites one to come through. At one time Jesus called himself a door, the way into a deeper reality. The threshold in Godly Play is the place where one begins to "get ready". The first person the children meet at the threshold is the doorperson. The children become aware of the threshold by the doorperson's attitude and manner.

Joining the circle...  The doorperson greets the children individually and invites them to join the circle when they are "ready". Some children will be ready when they arrive while others may need to spend time with the doorperson to get ready. It helps the children learn one of the most important things about how the Christian language works. If you are not ready, then it is very difficult to enter the language. If you cannot enter the language, then it cannot help you discover the elusive presence of the mystery of God.

Storytelling...  Stories come from the Old and New Testaments, and include stories about Jesus, parables, and liturgical lessons. All Godly Play stories are told using hands-on materials, which the children are free to use during response time to retell the stories. All story materials remain in the room once they have been presented. These stories are the visible "language" of faith, and as the year goes on, the room becomes full of the language, full of the signs of our faith. All story materials in the room are durable, beautiful, and of good quality. This conveys non-verbally the value we place on the stories and on the God they reveal.

Sacred stories... 
1) The stories are about the people of God encountering the elusive presence of the mystery of God. 
2) The story's main character is God. 
3) The stories are stories of identity. They give us our identity as people of God. 
4)The stories help us identify our own stories within the stories of our faith.

Wondering...  Wondering is an essential part of Godly Play. Our goal is not so much to pass on information, as it is to encourage children to grow to recognize God in their own lives. The stories of the Bible are much larger than one single interpretation, and children must be encouraged to hear the story speaking to them. When we give them a "right" answer or meaning, we rob the children of the opportunity to make the story their own. Wondering together about the story, and exploring shades of meaning beyond the obvious one answer, allows the story to grow with a person's understanding.

Wondering together helps us to come closer to the mystery of the presence of God. We learn to recognize God's presence in our own lives; the truth revealed through the stories is no longer limited to an adult's idea of what a child's view would be. The meaning of the story grows with the hearer's (and the presenter's) understanding.

Wondering questions... 
A. "I wonder what part of the story you liked best?" This question allows the children to share what delighted them in the story. It supports the children in their individual likes and feelings.

B. "I wonder what part of the story is the most important part?" This question suggests there may be a difference in what delights us and in what we think is important. It takes both the thinking and the feeling of the children seriously.

C. "I wonder what part of the story is about you, or who you are in the story?" This question encourages the children to enter the story more deeply. This is more difficult for children in early and middle childhood than in late childhood but that should not prevent us from asking such an important question. Even by asking themselves what the question means is the beginning discovery for the children.

D. "I wonder if there is any part of the story we can leave out and still have all the "story we need"? This question gives the storyteller a way to see if the children were able to find the central core of the story. It allows the children to express personal interests by editing the story. This kind of wondering helps improve the language and initiates the creative process.

Responses...  Individual, self-directed response to the lesson provides each child an opportunity to use their time in a way meaningful to them. They may choose from working with the story materials (even those that were presented earlier in the year), making a creative art response using a variety of art media, caring for the Godly Play center by dusting or watering plants, or working on puzzles, reading books, listening to tapes, writing in journals, copying scripture, etc.

The Feast... This allows the child to discover connections with the sacrament of Holy Communion. It is a time of giving thanks, a time of celebration. It is about being together, a time of "breaking bread" with each other. This is also a time to visit about school, pets, family and other things that may come up.

Worship-Education Center

We treat each Godly Play worship-education center as "sacred space". A greeter or door Person waits at the door to help each child become ready to enter the room quietly. A child who arrives late will be admitted as soon as this can be accomplished without disturbing the circle of children. The Godly Play rooms contain shelves full of objects for the children to use-objects that make the images of our religious language come alive. It is customary for the children and storyteller to sit in a circle on the floor, literally surrounded by our religious language system. The multi-sensory materials used to help in telling the Bible story of the day can then be placed in the center of the circle, symbolizing the fact that God can be present and accessible to everyone-both the students and the teacher. Working in a circle also helps us emphasize many aspects of being together in a Christian community.

The worship-education center holds a variety of art supplies for the children to use as they respond to the stories they hear. Because each child may be wrestling with different existential issues, each student will bring a different perspective and a different response to the Bible stories told in class. Some student may want to work with one Bible story for several weeks. For this reason, we do not assign crafts or give out take-home sheets as a part of the Godly Play program.

One of the goals of Godly Play is to create a safe space for children, a place where their ideas, opinions, and gifts are deeply respected. Because everything in the worship-education center is designed for children to use and enjoy, most children look forward to Sunday school.

In Godly Play, children are encouraged to form their own community and take care of one another. A classroom is not "over-adulted." This allows children to form a community and empowers them to be responsible for their space. It also keeps the storyteller and doorperson focused on the children and their work.

Summary

Godly Play is a wise and effective method to impart sacred wisdom and spiritual values to young children. It relies on the grace of the Holy Spirit to teach and act in the individual lives of each child. Godly Play offers a model for silence, sacredness, respect, wonder, mystery, community and religion, so that each person might experience the constant awareness of God's loving presence.