Children’s Ministry isn’t Play …. began one article – but isn’t it?
The article went on to detail one perspective on the importance of taking Children’s Ministry seriously, and that’s an issue I won’t argue with (although their particular perspective is probably not my own), but the title grabbed me, Children’s Ministry isn’t Play, because much of my musing of late has been that Children’s Ministry SHOULD be play.
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. – Heraclitus
Where I am coming from:
When I wear my “other work/career” hat (apart from the best hat of all – as a mum!) I am a primary teacher and educational consultant. I have a particular passion for the first years of school, and for a “hands-on” learning-through-play kind of learning. I am privileged to be one of the chosen replacement teachers at our sons’ school – where in the team-taught Prep-One-Two they are implementing an exciting and innovative play-based developmental learning curriculum. I have worked with these teachers in “getting it going” and have been spending time revisiting familiar academic texts and encountering new ones on ‘learning through play’, talking, playing and exploring with them what this all means.
It is hard to separate my two hats – Primary School Teacher and Children, Families and Youth Worker. They are both about, in essence, providing opportunities for learning for children and young people, supporting families and making the most of educational opportunities – be they with quite different foci. So musing about play – what it is, why it is important and its role in learning – crosses over both areas.
Learnt… not Taught!
In Children’s Ministry I think we are only just discovering the role of play as a model for learning – we have often been too caught in “teaching” and “making it fun”, to see that learning happens through play. Play seems okay in crèche, playgroup or similar programs for young children, but its purpose is seen as “occupying” children whilst parents worship or participate in study or meetings, and with older children it has become what you do when the “real” learning is finished! We haven’t seen that the play can act as a vehicle for developing understandings of faith, Bible stories, “doing church” and “being church”.
I’m not for a minute saying that “having fun” is not already part of the picture, or that “teaching” does not have a role in Christian education programs – but I believe strongly that we can learn much from play-based and developmental curriculum understandings – and that the role of play has been severely undervalued in Christian Education and Children’s Ministry programs – and it is not just for young children.
We are all too aware that some models of Christian Education have done little to engage or educate those who experience the programs. We are more aware than ever that we are dealing now with families where parents and children are “unchurched”, where not only the beliefs of our faith are unfamiliar, but also are the stories, symbols and traditions that underpin our faith. We are at a point where it is possible that Peter Rabbit is believed to be a Bible story, and the biblical literacy that has influenced many of our cultures and community is missing for many – including those who are part of the church community. Families often do not have a culture of faith sharing in the home, Bible stories and understandings are scare and the symbols and traditions of our churches are unfamiliar and foreign. Over recent years programs such as “Seasons of the Spirit” have attempted to embrace understandings of different styles of learning (see “Choice… for many reasons!” below for further discussion of this), but we are still a little caught in “tell a story” “everyone do the same activity” models.
The approach suggested here allows for an immersion into tradition, symbols and stories. Where children can play with and explore these – and where families are also exposed to these. It inherently contains choices and selection by the learner, where the same story or experience is encountered time and again in different ways. It doesn’t, however, happen in a vacuum. I see play approaches as part of a church community’s life and Christian Education – as part of a faith community which values and includes families. It must be part of a facilitated environment – where worship, activities, conversation and resources are geared and developed to enhance understandings of faith, Bible stories, “doing church” and “being church”. Play must occur within a context of story sharing.
At Croydon Uniting we have modified our Sunday morning Christian Education program – it is now known as Sunday STEPS (Stories Told Experienced Practised and Shared). It is based on the premise that stories told, experienced, practised and shared are stories remembered, and that it is through encountering the stories of our faith that faith develops. The idea is that the three level groups (Stepping Stones 3yr olds – year 2; Stepping Up years 3-5; Stepping Out years 6-8) immerse themselves in a Bible story over a longer period of time, perhaps only encountering two stories during a term. This story would usually be a key extended story from the lectionary. For instance, during second term in 2006 they explored the life of King David – rather than just looking at an episode or two. Each group immerses themselves in the story using different methods, Stepping Stones often use play and Stepping Up and Stepping Out particularly focusing on different media – puppetry, construction, animation, video etc during the term finishing with a presentation during worship – with play also a component of these groups. Our hope is that the children learn through the stories, play and experiences – rather than expect we are teaching them.
Continue reading this essay by downloading the entire document as a pdf file below.
Download: Playing Into Faith by Carolyne Chandler (pdf)
About the Author:
Carolyne Chandler is currently the Co-ordinator of Children, Families and Youth Ministry (CFYM) at Croydon Uniting Church– a mid-sized congregation in a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Carolyne’s working life began as a primary teacher during thisd time Carolyne married Paul – who is a lay preacher, secondary teacher and expert in teacher change.
After just over 8 years of teaching, she took extended leave to begin a family, and became full time Mum to first David (now 10) and then to Jonathan (now 6) as well. She worked during this time (and still occasionally does) as an educational consultant specialising in maths education. This included writing for and editing a periodical for the Victorian Mathematics Association for a number of years and working with small and large groups of parents, teachers and children.
Her move into lay ministry began when she began a playgroup when David was 18 months old – -Carolyne has a keen interest in supporting children and families to grow in faith and know the unending love and grace of God, and in encouraging church communities to be “family-friendly” and welcoming to the “unchurched”.
Her passions include her ministry, family and cooking, craft and bike riding (the last three when she gets the time!).
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