St Nicolas Church, Nuneaton Godly Play Room St Nicolas Church, Nuneaton Intros Background

What is Godly Play? For children and adults A way of creating sacred space Telling a story with special objects and artefacts Exploring the story through the language of ‘wonder’ Connecting the story to personal experience Responding to the story "In most religious education we are told who God is. In Godly Play we discover who God is." What is Godly Play?

Imagine... A Godly Play Room Imagine A Godly Play Room full of resources (Ottershaw) Having a special room is important The environment is part of the unspoken lesson. The room should have an obvious threshold. Teaches the children that they are entering a special place Teaches the children that this place is different from the place they have just left The room should have a focal shelf that is in a prominent place. The three shelves hold the most important materials. Teaches that there is a special purpose to this place. Teaches what is important in this room. The materials should be easily accessible. Teaches that people are capable and valued. The room should be uncluttered, clean, organised and stable. Teaches that this place is valued. Suggests that people will be valued too. Teaches that there is a special place for everything

Imagine... Special Story-telling Resources Imagine Quality of materials and construction are important. The objects are not just visual aids for a story but are there to be played with and explored but treasured. Many of the objects are either kept in baskets, on trays or boxes but they are available in the room to be used. Each set of objects relates to a different story: Sacred Stories often use plain wooden figures with little detail to help the identification of the story of the People of God with our story. Parables are kept in gold boxes because they are valuable , they are a gift and sometimes difficult to get into. Liturgical lessons often have small replicas of what might be seen in places of worship or part of the faith tradition.

Imagine... Groups from your church exploring stories Imagine Groups from your church exploring stories together

Imagine... Children being nurtured through stories Imagine

Imagine... People trained and equipped Imagine

The Plan... Apply for a DMF grant to furnish and equip the room Create the space Identify and train story-tellers Use the room and resources for groups throughout the deanery The Plan... Apply for a DMF grant to furnish and equip the room. Total cost in the region of £3500. Specially built furniture – right size, sturdy, attractive, built to last - £1600 Resources in the region of £1400 Training pot of £600 which could provide three-day training course for 2 story-tellers or could be spread amongst more people if other churches wanted to train people and help cover training costs. Create the space Identify and train story-tellers Groups ‘book’ room and resources Not the sort of story-telling you can do without some training and practice. Quite distinctive approach, specially written scripts. Aim to train a few people at St Nicolas but it would be lovely if others from other church in the deanery wanted to be trained too so that the room is even more accessible to other churches. But also people are equipped through gaining a better understanding of the Bible. Godly Play bring stories to life in a way that is engaging, non-threatening, draws on personal experience. Too often we reply on didactic teaching in our churches – someone like me stand at the front and says ‘this is what this means and this is what you need to do, and those in your position have a quiet doze. GP takes a different approach.

St Nicolas Church, Nuneaton Godly Play Room St Nicolas Church, Nuneaton