Celebrating your Commitment to Children and Families during a Global Pandemic!

by Cheryl Vassil Minor, PhD

The Stories are Leaving photo by Kathryn Lord

While the novel coronavirus had been in the country for at least a month, in March of 2020 cases began to jump at alarming rates, as did the hospitalizations and deaths. At that point many churches suspended all in-person activities, including Christian Formation. Churches scrambled to pivot from their usual ways of gathering to new ways to meet the needs of families juggling working from home and remote schooling. The Godly Play Foundation staff worked to provide resources for all of you doing this important work. As we entered 2021, we wondered what was most helpful. We sent out a survey to our mailing list, posted it on our social media sites, and began to collect those responses. Here is an overview of what we discovered.

We heard from 187 Christian formation leaders (lay and ordained) in 39 States, the Virgin Islands, and 7 of our global partners. The people we heard from represented 19 denominations, 3 non-denominational churches, and one Jewish Religious Educator.

Respondents shared with us how they worked to find new ways to offer Godly Play online, used materials developed by the Godly Play Foundation for use at home, and created many home-grown materials for children and families to use at home.

Zoom Godly Play was born!

The Godly Play Foundation College of Training developed a series of online workshops to support Christian Formation leaders. We were encouraged by the high participation (almost all the workshops filled) and hope they were a source of support and inspiration for all of you doing this work. We are now evaluating which of these workshops will continue to be offered post-pandemic.

Next Steps

One of the questions we asked on the survey was if the respondent would allow us to send a survey out to their families, asking about the impact of all these efforts (online Godly Play, Godly Play at home) had on their lives during the pandemic. Over sixty of those who responded said yes, so we will create the follow-up survey this summer and get it out to those families.

In an effort to continue to support the use of Godly Play at home, we are planning to develop more materials for families to use. First on the list is a take home kit for the season of Advent that includes the Home edition created for “Stories of God at Home,” the new DIY Nativity set, candles, etc. A guide will be produced for families to go along with this grouping, similar to our Lent in a Bag materials.

photo by Chaplain Gina Jenkins
St. Paul’s Episcopal School

We are also evaluating how we will continue to use virtual platforms to offer workshops and training online. Stay tuned!

Conclusion

The full report tells the story of this past year in the life of countless Godly Players around the globe who worked tirelessly to help children and families through a time of great trauma and anxiety. It is inspiring to look back and see the creativity, thoughtfulness, and sacrificial love embodied in this work. None of us know what the impact of this year will be on the spiritual lives of the children we serve, but we can be hopeful that they were given many tools to help them make meaning of all that they experienced. And no doubt….God came very close.

To read the full report on this work from the Center for the Theology of Childhood please go here.