Becoming Like a Child: An Experience with Godly Play

Jesus asks us to become like children, but how do we do that? Over a warm July weekend at St. Bartholomew’s in Poway, a group of children’s formation leaders and volunteers from around EDSD, including myself, ponder this question. We’re attending a three-day “Godly Play” training to equip us to be storytellers in our congregations. I’m eager and excited to learn more. The “stories”—simplified retellings of seminal Bible stories and liturgical practices—are captivating and memorable.

I was first exposed to the power of Godly Play last fall at a retreat at Camp Stevens. Charlette Presler, the Director of Formation for EDSD, told the Godly Play story of Holy Baptism. It was magical. As a daughter of two ministers, I’ve witnessed many baptisms, but this interactive Godly Play story told with a baby doll really brings the symbolism and meaning of baptism to life, and when the story is told with children, it really comes alive. I watched children from my congregation, including my own daughters, as their eyes lit up with wonder and delight at the pouring of the water, the lighting of the baptismal candles, and the meandering smoke from the extinguished flames. “See how the light has changed,” the storyteller says as she snuffs out a candle, “It’s not gone—it’s everywhere.”

It’s this mysterious, wonder-provoking quality that has drawn me to this training. The stories elicit a child-like curiosity and enchantment. Many of the sacred bible stories occur in the desert and so the storyteller sets the stage in a desert box, full of actual sand, which they move back and forth with their hands, telling the many journeys of God’s people. Parables are told against a backdrop of felt, with movable pieces and materials like pearls, colorful birds of the air, seeds, shepherds, and sheep—all of it ready to be manipulated by the small hands and inquiring minds of children at the conclusion of the story.

On the second day of the training, I can feel a rekindling of a spark inside me. It’s joy, joy from the simple pleasure of stories, wonder, and play. Part of the reason I became a teacher, specifically a teacher of young children, is because I felt this joy so keenly and clearly as a child and young adult. The spark has since dulled, buried under the burdens and cynicism of adulthood, but Godly Play is connecting me to it again.

Godly Play is much more than a Sunday school curriculum, it’s a whole pedagogy that is rooted in the very best of early childhood development practice. It is child-centered and honors the competency and capacity of children. The adult’s role is one of nurturing and guiding children’s spiritual development as they wonder and play. Questions are encouraged and not always answered. Storytellers invite children into the process of making meaning of scripture and exploring their growing relationship with God.

I’m aware of the audacity it takes to do this work in our churches today. In the face of diminishing attendance, fewer children and families at many churches, and church budgets stretched paper thin, how can we begin to think about growing children’s ministry? It can be hard to even see a future. Yet, this is what we are asked to do. Welcoming, nurturing, and guiding children is a central call of the church and of our baptismal covenants.

Back in the Sunday School room of St. Bartholomew’s Church, as the sun sets on the last day of our training, our facilitator, a priest, and Godly Play practitioner, Jana Sundin, puts the question before us: “Jesus asks us to become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven, but how do we do that?” She admits she doesn’t fully know, but thinks the answer lies in being with children. Such a simple but profound idea. Godly Play asks us to meet children where they are and as they are. The space, materials, and curriculum are carefully designed with children in mind. Imagine if we thought about children first when planning our services and programs. How would our work change? The potential for intergenerational work with Godly Play is tremendous, and in addition to children’s ministry, many congregations are already using the stories in this way. If I’m being honest, I’m learning as much, if not more, than the children in this process. Perhaps that is why Jesus asks us to become like children. Seeing through the eyes of a child is so much more fun anyway. So, let’s get to work, or perhaps I should say, will you play with me?

About the author: Alexandra McGuane lives in Palm Desert with her husband and two children and attends St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church. There, she is a member of the choir, serves on the vestry, and teaches Sunday School. She holds a master’s degree in transdisciplinary early childhood education and teaches third grade in the Palm Springs Unified School District.