Nurturing Faith: One Story At A Time
It is Sunday morning and the children’s message is about to begin. A heavy draw-string bag, filled with sand, is carried from the pews and thumped down on the floor of the raised chancel. In front of the chancel a group of children and adults gather, while those still in the pews move closer to the aisle. The bag is opened and spread out flat. The desert story begins with “The desert is a dangerous place, and nobody goes there unless they have to.”
Like other churches, First Lutheran Church, Vancouver, has been experimenting with new approaches to include children in worship and engage them in Christian education. One of these strategies has been the introduction storytelling approach, modeled on Godly Play. The stories of the People of God are shared using a variety of materials and four open-ended “wondering” questions that support deep reflection.
The process for telling the stories follows a regular pattern at First Lutheran: first the community is greeted and welcomed to move forward, the story is told, at the end of the story the words, “This is a story about the people of God, and this is our story” is shared. Finally, the community is asked at least two of the following questions: what was the best part of the story; what was the most important part of the story; what part could we leave out and still have all we need; or where do you see yourself in this story.
First Lutheran began to include a storytelling approach modeled on Godly Play within the Sunday morning worship service twice a month during the school year in 2016. After using all the stories available in the published Godly Play resources, a decision was made to start basing the stories on one of the lectionary readings for the particular Sunday.
For two of the three years of this experiment, the children’s engagement with the storytelling materials continued after the children’s message. Exiting the sanctuary immediately after the message the children and the storyteller further explored the story together. Sitting together they began their time together in prayer and then had snack together. Providing an opportunity for informal conversation and relationship building. Then, the storyteller would retell the story to the children. Until the invitation to share the peace with the large community, the children could explore and retell the story just shared or stories from before. Through this dedicated time and space relationships sprouted.
As with any experiment, there have been challenges. The decision to follow the lectionary required the creation of many new stories. The stories had to be sensitive to the diverse ages and abilities of the children. In a Lutheran church, they also had to reflect Lutheran theology (Berryman came from the Catholic tradition).
Another challenge was ensuring the everyone felt safe to share their thoughts when answering the wondering questions. In the past, children whose answers drew chuckles from the adults stopped participating because they thought they were being laughed at. To address this, the children’s message began with the following phrase, “May the words we hear and the words we share be received with joy and respect.”
Using this approach for three years in a Lutheran church has confirmed it can be used to engage both children and adults. It illuminates stories heard year after year in a tangible, creative, and accessible way. While the wondering questions create an opportunity for critical thinking, reflection and sharing. The result is a common experience for the entire community where everyone readily engages in shared stories of the faith.
