6.3.16
Godly Play España - website
For up-to-date-information about Godly Play España - association, training events, articles, blog, etc. - please visit our website at godlyplay.es.
5.12.12
Godly Play National Annual Lecture & AGM
Parable, poetry... and Godly Play
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| University College 'Archbishop Fonseca' |
This latter approach is the one that has been adopted by Charles W. Hedrick (Parables as Poetic Fictions. The Creative Voice of Jesus, Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishers: 1994), where he analyses the parables as 'poetic fictions'. He highlights their languaje as 'aesthetic objects' and thus the figures of speech that are found in them: assonance, consonance, euphony, etc.
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| Alfredo Pérez Alencart |
DATE: Saturday 2 March 2013
PLACE: Evangelical Church in Salamanca, Paseo de la Estación 32 (http://
PRICES:
-- The lecture 'Parable and Poetry' is free and open to the public.
-- For the whole day's programme (registration, conference folder, workshops, Godly Play session, coffee/tea, lunch and afternoon snack all included), there is a fee of 30 euro.
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME: (all sessions will be in Spanish!)
10:00 Welcome & Godly Play session (Evangelical Church, Paseo de la Estación)
11:30 Guided walk through the Medieval heart of Salamanca (Plaza Mayor, etc.)
12:30 Public lecture + discussion (Auditorium, University College of Archbishop Fonseca)
13:30 Display of Godly Play books & materials + information about the Godly Play Spain national association (Auditorium, 'Fonseca')
14:00 Lunch (Restaurant, 'Fonseca')
15:00 Guided visit to a Godly Play classroom (Evangelical Church, Paseo de la Estación)
16:00 Workshops (options):
(a) 'The poetic language of Godly Play' (the verbal language, scripts and translation issues)
(b) 'Beginning Godly Play' (for those who are new to the method)
(c) 'Godly Play materials' (how to create your own materials)
17:30 Farewell ceremony + afternoon snack
18:00 AGM of the Godly Play Spain national association (1st call)
18:30 AGM (2nd call)
20:00 Farewell
ACCOMMODATION:
For participants visiting Salamanca and who need accommodation (and who may wish to extend their visit in order to explore the city), we recommend thel Hotel Emperatriz (http://
REGISTRATION:
Please contact...
--Dori Alonso Santamaría... teléfono: 653683021; correo-e: joseydori [at] hotmail.com, or...
-- Arantxa Urrue Anttila... teléfono: 600417470; correo-e: atxanttila [at] hotmail.com
18.3.12
Programme about Godly Play on Spanish TV
8.3.12
National Godly Play Day
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| Speaker, Ulrike Labuhn (Photo: Jacqueline Alencar) |
This year, the gathering took place at the Evangelical Church in Castiñeiras, where there are two Godly Play classrooms as well as the space usually dedicated to services.
The main speaker was Ulrike Labuhn, a Godly Play trainer from Germany and a teacher & specialist in early years education. Ulrike spoke on the subject of 'Opening up spaces for young children's curiosity' and challenged us to take the spirituality of under 3s seriously and to use some of the Godly Play stories with them from such a tender age. Basing her main points on her own experience and research with young children in Protestant kindergartens in Potsdam and Berlin, she declared that even (or specially!) tinies are able to wonder philosophically and theologically on existential matters. "The aim of theological reflection with very young children is not to produce a final result", she stated, "but to help them practise an attitude of ongoing seeking after God. The roots of this are in early infancy and accompany us throughout the rest of our lives,"
The day's programme also included a full Godly Play session, lunch together, the AGM for the Godly Play España association and two practical afternoon workshops ('The importance of the Godly Play environment' and 'When children draw near to God'). Aditionally, there were times for worship, music, meditation and discussion.
An important aspect of the members' meeting of the association was to appoint the first Board of Directors for Godly Play España. The elected board members were: David Pritchard (president), Laura Rísquez (secretary), Maribel Flores (treasurer), Celia Paterson (member) y Raquel Souto (member).
More photos HERE
31.12.11
4th European Godly Play Conference - Germany 2012
The theme of the conference is Playful Mentoring. Godly Play supports children's spiritual nurture and one of its chief features is acknowleging the contribution that play makes to a child's spiritual development. But how do Godly Play practitioners -- in their roles of storytellers and door persons (welcomers) -- understand and support this specific link between play and spiritual growth?
Certainly, much of what takes place in the Godly Play process depends to a large extent on the attitudes of the adults in the room. Therefore, this conference focuses on the role of Godly Play teachers as mentors. What do they need to do to encourage playfulness in children? How do they encounter their own needs to (re)connect spiritual experience, knowledge and community with play? What are the limits and opportunities to evaluate the Godly Play process when it is characterized by this quality of playfulness and joy? The conference programme has been designed with the aim of helping participants address these questions. There will be times to discover and to wonder, to share thoughts and to enjoy silence, to celebrate and to be surprised by the unknown.
Lugar
'Burg Bodenstein'is a small XI century castle in the heart of today's united Germany, just a few miles from the old border ('iron curtain') separating East and West, and near the medieval city of Mühlhausen, whose cathedral the young Bach was organ master.
More information
Godly Play Germany's website contains more info in English, as well as a number of photos.· Conference flyer
· Registration info
· Conference programme
· Children welcome
· Travel instructions
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| Organizing group: Hilde Delin (Norway), Peter Privett (UK), Martin Steinhäuser (Germany), David Pritchard (Spain), Juha Luodeslampi (Finland), Evamaria Simon (Germany), Rune Oystese (Norway), Ulrike Labuhn (Germany) y Uwe Huchthausen (Germany), who took the photo. |
5.12.11
Advance notice of the next Godly Play day in Spain
We now have a date for our next national Godly Play day. It will take place in Castiñeiras (in the Galician province of A Coruña) on Saturday, 3 March 2012.The programme will include a talk/lecture, workshops and the AGM of our new Godly Play Spain association, in which we hope to elect the first board of directors, as well as agree to projects for this first stage of this new structure.
The invited speaker is Ulrike Labuhn, a Godly Play teacher trainer in Germany, a specialist in the spiritual mentoring of young children, and a recent author.
We will soon post more details about the event and the programme. Meanwhile, please note the date in your diary!
Photo: Ulrike Labuhn
27.10.11
Greetings from the Founder of Godly Play
Welcome to the second national conference for Godly Play in Spain. It is wonderful to be able to greet you on behalf of Godly Play everywhere, but “wonder” is hard to translate. Let’s pause for just a minute, as we begin, to ask why.A slightly different version of this same article can be found here
Put your hands on your heart and close your teeth and lips very tight. Then gradually move your hands out as far as your arms will allow and at the same time begin to smile. Slowly, slowly show your teeth, not to snarl or bite, but to laugh. Then, laughing, fold your arms around your neighbor with a hearty hug. The embrace makes a small, circle of safety out of wonder’s expansive opening. This provides the way for the creative process to come out of hiding and begin to play. It is important for our creativity to come out of hiding, for we were created in the image of The Creator. This is why Godly Play is full of wonder.
“Wonder” is difficult to translate, because it is so fundamental to whom we are, especially as Christians. Its meaning is carried more in our bodies and expanding spirits than in our minds, which distance us from God by abstractions, analysis and logic. Wonder is the special gift of children who show us how to be open to the very tiny, such as flowers and pebbles as well as to the very large, such as a sunrise turning the mountains pink or to the metallic, gray light of an angry sky over the ocean. In such pervasive wonder God’s laughing embrace can circle us around to complete us.
Children are drawn to the larger safety of God’s embrace, but it is also strange and scary. This is why they need the smaller safety of the Godly Play circle to try it out and test it, as they learn the language that both helps them identify this experience and gives them the means to express, share, and evaluate such experiences. This is also why they need guides who are not afraid to let go of trivial safety to move with them towards the Kingdom of ultimate safety.
My prayers go with you on this journey.
Jerome Berryman (Founder of Godly Play)
A note for those who might be interested at a later time:
To know God -- beyond, beside, and within -- one needs to be able to be open to what Rudolf Otto called in 1917 “The Holy” (Das Heilige). The Holy is not just full of mystery (numinous)but is at the same time terrifying (tremendum) and fascinating (fascinans). This is why we desperately try at times to control or reduce The Holy to some kind of artificial safety, but God’s safety, a paradox of fresh springs in the desert and the solid rock of Mount Zion goes beyond space and time.
II National Godly Play Conference
The conference took place at the Casablanca Playa Hotel in Salou, and also at the Salou Evangelical Protestant Church, who hosted the event.
The weekend programme began with the reading of greetings from Jerome Berryman, founder of Godly Play, especially written for the conference. Other activities also included sessions of Godly Play; workshops on different topics, such as starting Godly Play in the local church, creating materials, new stories, and children's spirituality; a visit to the dedicated Godly Play space at the Salou Protestant Church; evening fun activities and times for sharing experiences and building friendships.
An important part of the programme was devoted to creating and setting up the 'Godly Play Spain' association, with the reading and approval of the statutes, and the signing of the minutes by 16 founding members. As soon as the conference finished, these documents were handed in to the Spanish Home Ministry for the formal registry of the new association. It is hoped that the first AGM will be held in Galicia in April 2012, when the board of directors will be elected. This meeting will be combined with a lecture and a series of workshops in what is expected to be the first annual Godly Play Day. So, at the leaving ceremony in Salou, the delegates from Galicia gave their fellow conference members a warm welcome to the next event.
It was highly significant that, whilst the initial greeting at the II National Godly Play Conference was from our Founder (Jerome Berryman), the final prayer was spontaneously offered by one of the youngest children present. It was thus a clear sign that Godly Play is alive and well in several regions in Spain, and that members of different ages and generations are actively involved in its growth!
PHOTOS: 1. Dani García, from Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona) presents the parable of the Good Shepherd [(c) Laura Rísquez]; 2. Delegates at the II National Godly Play Conference [(c) Laura Rísquez].
More photos here
23.6.11
The Holy Family in Valencia on Pentecost Sunday!
As I travel around Spain (and beyond) leading training sessions on Godly Play, invariably my Holy Family set of figures journeys with me.I am particularly fond of these materials. They were given to me in compensation for all the hard work I had put in organising the second European Godly Play Conference three years ago in Madrid. The set can be purchased from GP Finland (http://www.godlyplay.fi).
This time the figures ended up on the focal shelf at a church in Valencia (the First Evangelical Baptist Church), where they are in the process of setting up a new Godly Play classroom, but have still to make or buy their own material for the Holy Family.
It coincided with Pentecost Sunday, and the liturgical colour changed from Easter white to the red-hot underlay used on this special Sunday. I think the wooden figures look wonderful against the red cloth and the sky blue wall of the classroom!More pictures are displayed here.
1.2.11
The Implementation of Godly Play in a Church in Galicia (Spain)
On Sunday 3 October 2010, Godly Play classes began for a group of 3 to 7 year-olds, at the Evangelical Church in Castiñeiras, a small fishing town in the Galician province of La Coruña. They have continued uninterrupted every morning Sunday since. Throughout the first term (Oct-Dec 2010), detailed monitoring of the classes was carried out, with special emphasis on observing the responses made by the children through their wondering, expressive art and play. Open-ended response is encouraged by this imaginative approach to engaging with Bible stories. This brief report provides only general information on a few of these observations. For a more detailed explanation on how Godly Play has been implemented in the Castiñeiras Sunday school, we hope that local inquirers, or indeed visitors to Galicia, will feel free to speak to one of our Godly Play teachers about it, ideally in our specially prepared classroom. Alternatively, they can contact me (David Pritchard) by email.
GODLY PLAY CLASSROOM, FURNITURE & TEACHING MATERIALS
The Godly Play sessions took place initially (from October to December 2010) on the 1st floor of the chapel in Castiñeiras, in one of the small classrooms. Following the pastor's recommendation, we later moved to a more spacious classroom (since January 2011). In both cases, careful analysis of the available space was made so that the furniture could be arranged and the teaching materials displayed in the most suitable way possible, taking into account the nature of Godly Play and its cyclical curriculum. It is important for its development that a safe and stimulating environment is created which is conducive to learning Bible stories and reflecting on existential matters. Furthermore, the teaching materials need to be attractive for children of all ages. They must also be sufficiently robust and durable, and their simple design should evoke the imagination of boys and girls as they use them in free play to draw meaning from the Biblical narratives.
Shelves were constructed before the summer of 2010 to house the teaching materials and art supplies. At around this time, too, the task of crafting our own resources was begun, and this is a work still in progress. Our do-it-yourself resourcing has advanced very rapidly thanks to the collaboration of a large group of volunteers, including church members, young people and other folk who are not themselves churchgoers, but offered to lend a hand. The result has been materials of excellent quality and beauty. The team of Sunday school teachers, who represent the children attending the class -- and these youngsters are surely the real beneficiaries of these resource materials! -- feel tremendously grateful for this collaboration.As of today, most of the basic resource materials have been created. This is the stuff necessary for teaching the core lessons in the Godly Play curriculum. We reckon that the task of crafting the remaining basic materials will be completed by the end of this term (January-April 2011). Following that, it is hoped that materials for the enrichment lessons will be added bit by bit.
By making our own materials, a substantial amount of money has been saved. We reckon that, had we purchased the equivalent materials from one of the official Godly Play resource suppliers, the bill would have come to at least 1,600 euros, plus additional costs of post & packaging from abroad. Taking into account the stuff that is still being made, the amount needed to equip a Godly Play classroom with the essential materials for the core curriculum would come to around 2,700 euros, plus p&p. That is the overall amount that we would have saved. Obviously, money has been spent: the main expense was the shelving. However, thanks to the collaboration mentioned above, other expenditure has been limited to the purchase of supplies (wood, felt, paint...) needed to make the resources, as well as accessories such as trays, rugs, art materials, etc.
TEACHER TRAINING
A series of workshops have been organised in order to present the Godly Play method and to train teachers in its techniques, as well as to promote a deeper grasp of its theological and pedagogical underpinnings. These workshops have been run by Castiñeiras Evangelical Church in collaboration with Unión Bíblica (Scripture Union Spain). Registration has been open to anyone interested in attending from any church. The training events have taken place on Saturdays (8 hours each workshop):
- 8 May 2010… ‘How to Share Parables with Children Using the Godly Play Method’ - 13 members of churches in Castiñeiras-Ribeira, Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela attended this training event.
- 12 June 2010… ‘How to Tell Children Sacred Stories through Godly Play’ - There were 9 trainees from churches in Castiñeiras and Ferrol.
- 11 September 2010… ‘Godly Play Space and Materials’ - 7 trainees attended from Castiñeiras and Ferrol.
- 29 January 2011… ‘Children and Liturgical Action in the Godly Play method’ - There were 13 trainees from churches in Castiñeiras, Ferrol, Moaña and Ramallosa.
Besides these training days, the team members of the Godly Play class at Castiñeiras have benefitted from ongoing, hands-on learning, above all through supervised teaching experience with the children. Throughout the first term, three of the teachers gained experience in different roles: as 'storytellers', 'door persons' and 'observers'. Other teachers have joined the same process at the start of the 2nd term. This training is based on a discipleship-mentoring-coaching model, involving observation, trainer modelling & supervision, teaching experience with the children, and reflective analysis and evaluation of that same experience. This process will continue, for Godly Play employs the ancient art of storytelling and - as with any other creative process - 'practice makes perfect'. Likewise, the art of facilitating and supporting 'wondering' and the spiritual growth of children is continuously worked on and matured.CHILDREN'S RESPONSE TO THE METHOD
Without a doubt, the most thrilling and satisfying aspect in this process of implementing Godly Play has been the entirely favourable response of the children. We have observed the following features, amongst others:
- Their eagerness and ease in learning the different routines and phases of a typical Godly Play lesson: (i) THRESHOLD – getting ready at the door; picking up their individual rug; quietly joining other children on the floor as together they form the Godly Play circle; greeting the storyteller…; (ii) BIBLE STORY – observing and listening to the storyteller as s/he presents the lesson; wondering out loud as the storyteller leads the group in active reflection; listening to and respecting the opinions of the other children in the group…; RESPONSE – though expressive art or by means of free play and interaction with the story materials; working individually or in small groups; finding a place for their work and respecting the space of others…; FEAST – taking turns in serving the rest of the group, bringing napkins, glasses, fruit, water, etc.; passing the offering; praying and hearing the Bible reading; watering the plant…; DISMISSAL – waiting their turn to approach the storyteller to say goodbye and receive their blessing; collecting their rug and depositing it in the rug box; leaving the room…
- Their progressive asimilation of the implicit values in a Godly Play session: silence and slowing down, active listening, wondering, respect shown to others and their work space, respect in taking turns, serving others, care for the environment and the materials, freedom/responsibility, sharing, blessing, awe at life's mysteries and the presence of God…
- The enthusiasm with which the children receive the Bible stories and their level of engagement with the stories; their curiosity and openess to ongoing discovery; their ability to draw connections between one story and another, and with their own life experiences…
- The gratitude that the children have displayed at the opportunity to freely choose their work and means of response, that they can engage playfully with the lesson materials without undue teacher interference, and for the attractive range and quality of the art materials.
- The creativity displayed in the children's expressive art and play.
A 6 year-old girl was observed during the work time, as she began to take out several lessons and lay out the materials on the floor. First the green underlay of the Good Shepherd parable. Then, at its side, the brown felt cloth of the Parable of the Deep Well. She then placed the figures of each of these stories on their respective underlay. Then she began to move the Good Shepherd and the sheep through the green pastures towards a small piece of blue felt representing the quiet waters. She then broke with the 'normal' Good Shepherd parable as, instead of leading his sheep towards the 'dangerous places' on the green felt, the figure of the shepherd led his sheep over to the second story, across the 'desert' towards the deep well. The girl then asked the door person to help her tie together the 6 golden threads and miniature bucket. She then proceeded to lower the bucket into the well, draw out the refreshing water and hand it to the sheep to drink. Finally, she took out the Baptism lesson and proceeded to baptize a little wooden figure in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit... This 6-year-old had never witnessed a Godly Play 'side-by-side' presentation. However, she was already intuitively anticipating such presentations (normally reserved for older children) and playfully making hermeneutical connections through her project on water.OTHER COMMENTS
- Our classroom has already served as a reference and a source of inspiration for visitors from other churches. They have expressed curiosity and interest in learning more about Godly Play, and some have attended workshop trainings as a result.
- There are already plans for extending the Godly Play classes to the groups of older children in our Sunday school. This will probably start in the 3rd term of this school year, as well as enjoy periodic sessions during the summer holidays.
- There are also plans for offering parents the chance to take part in a number of Godly Play sessions so that they can get a first-hand grasp of the type and style of teaching that their children are receiving on Sunday mornings.
28.12.09
III European Godly Play Conference
Please make a note of the dates for the next European Godly Play Conference: from Friday 17 to Monday 20 September 2010. It will take place at the Finnish Lutheran Church Training College, near Helsinki, overlooking a beautiful lake.The Godly Play Finland website has further details about the conference, besides a provisional programme and an invitation from the organisers.
The international speakers will include Jerome Berryman, the founder of Godly Play.
18.11.09
Godly Play introduction in Granada
On Saturday 14th November, I was in Ogíjares (Granada) leading a Godly Play introductory seminar that included a general presentation of the method and also offered the participants a chance to learn some of the Old Testament sacred stories for themselves. Sixteen teachers from several different churches and schools in Granada came to the seminar: the Mosaic fellowship, Cristo de la Yedra R.C. school, Inmaculada Niña R.C. school, the R.C. parish church of San Miguel Arcángel, the Iglesia Evangélica Española (IEE - Methodist/Presbyterian), the Baptist church... Here is some of the participant feedback following the seminar: - I would like to see Godly Play used in practice with a group of children. It has been very interesting. It would be good to have a workshop set up for the creation of Godly Play materials, maybe coordinated by the future GP Spain association.
- It's a great way to evangelise. I would like to attend more workshops for every aspect of Godly Play: 'door persons', 'storytellers', crafts people, etc.
- I love the similarities between this approach and the Sunday Eucharistic celebration.
- I'm looking forward to practising this at home with my own children.
- It can be easily applied to mixed gender and age groups. The material is very resistant and durable, and re-useable for different lessons.
- A good method to share God's truths and teachings. Right from early childhood, it invites people to see God as very close, as it encourages wondering and personal involvement.
- I think this a a great way to tell children Bible stories.
- I would like to learn how to use this to teach my students and children Catechesis.
Besides Godly Play, Mosaic has also run sessions on Living in a Fragile World, Godly Play style activities on ecological issues, conservation & citizenship. They have done this experimentally in the open air with all-age groups.
On Sunday 15th November, the day after the seminar, I took part in an ecumenical activity based on two Godly Play stories (the Parable of the Leaven & the Parable of the Deep Well). Children and adults from several Protestant, Catholic & Moslem communities or families attended this event.
More photos HERE
26.10.09
I National Godly Play Meeting
Over the recent long bank holiday weekend (9th to 12th October), the first national Godly Play meeting took place in Madrid for teachers who are already committed to this method in Spain.Fifteen people took part, coming from Barcelona, Galicia, Madrid, Menorca and Tarragona, and representing churches who use Godly Play in English, Spanish and Catalan. Special guest, Ulrike Labuhn joined us from Berlin. Ulrike, a Godly Play trainer in Germany, speaks good Spanish, having lived for a time in Bolivia.
The motto for the gathering was Ultreya!, the old pilgrim's cry of encouragement - Onwards!, and this mutual encouragement was really the object of gathering together.
Our meeting was structured in two main parts: 1) Looking backwards at the lessons learned on the way, regarding Godly Play practice, and 2) Looking forwards to the next stages of the continuing journey, especially as we travel together in terms of establishing common structures aimed at consolidating, extending and supporting Godly Play practice in Spain. As is common in other GP events, the programme was also based on the usual GP cycle: 1) Building the circle ('threshold community') - getting to know one another; 2) Storytelling - telling our own individual and corporate stories, as well as a full GP session; 3) Getting out our work - responding individually and as a group to different proposals, especially those relating to the development of Godly Play in Spain; 4) Feast - times of fellowship between sessions, especially at mealtimes and in the evenings. There were also brief times of collective worship each morning and evening led by different members of the group, as well as a leaving ceremony, in which we symbolically blessed one another and the children we represented, as well as all the children in Spain and beyond whom we also wished to join the Godly Play 'circle'.
Time was made available for the participants to share, often through visual presentations, the development of their own practice of Godly Play in their respective churches and localities, as well as resource materials which they may have made themselves. This gave us better insight into the GP classrooms that are already functioning, or being developed, in Barcelona, Madrid and Tarragona.Our guest, Ulrike Labuhn, also gave us an overview of the growth of GP in Germany, with particular emphasis on the process of translating and adapting stories from volume 6 of The Complete Guide to Godly Play. Ulrike had already told us the German version of the story of Job in a previous session, which was rather different from the 'official' GP version that is found in the manuals. The developments in Germany were very useful to us as we discussed the future of GP in Spain. One of the main differences at present is the high proportion of professionals (teachers, theologians, therapists...) in the German movement, whereas in Spain the majority of GP practitioners are volunteer Sunday school teachers.
One of the doubts the group raised was the difficulty of going ahead with an organized structure for Godly Play Spain when there was a perceived vacuum of knowledge about GP internationally. This was seen to be part of a much wider problem, as there is so little being translated into Spanish about recent research and study in fields such as the theology of childhood / child theology and the spirituality of children, both of which inform the development of Godly Play and methodology in general. So, time was dedicated at the meeting to offering basic background information about these topics, as well as the international structures of GP, which are also presently in a state of renewal and development.It was stated very clearly at the meeting that the most important thing for the practitioners was what takes place at ground level (literally) within the circle of children in a real-life Godly Play session. Everything else (e.g. training, resourcing, publications, associations, etc) were there to support such action. The vision was to help make it possible for children anywhere in Spain to join a Godly Play circle, and that this work be of an increasingly deeper understanding and higher quality. To facilitate such growth, we need to create certain structures. However, we certainly did not wish to create another organization simply for the sake of it!
Apart from the sessions on helping us to work towards a structured organization for Godly Play in Spain, there were also two workshop sessions: 1) Raquel García gave a practical demonstration on her work with adolescents, which uses an adaptation of the Play of Life model of psychodrama, developed by the Argentinian pyschiatrist, Dr Carlos Raimundo; and 2) Dr Raúl García gave a talk on the Therapeutic Power of Narratives, followed by a time of questions and answers.In the final stages of the meeting, the participants reached agreement regarding the next steps to take towards setting up a Godly Play association in Spain. A representative group has been appointed to work on the statutes and aims of such an association, and another to find a place to hold the next meeting in Salou, Tarragona, probably for next autumn. Ulrike and I will work on a plan for accredited training (which was one of the major issues that the group felt was important to address in the short term). It is hoped that the next National GP Meeting will include an accredited training module and also a session in which the new GP Association will be formally created and the first board of directors elected.
So, there seems to be plenty of work to get on with in the coming months!
22.7.09
I National Godly Play Meeting
Next October, the first Godly Play national meeting will be held in Madrid. It is aimed at teachers who are already practising Godly Play, a way of helping children engage imaginatively with Bible stories.This gathering is being convened by David Pritchard, children's ministry coordinator of Scripture Union Spain and an accredited trainer of Godly Play. David started introducing this approach into Spain (with initial help from Peter Privett) in 2004, and throughout these last 5 years, churches and other groups throughout most of Spain have been offered introductory Godly Play days or taster sessions, as well as different workshops aimed at helping the participants get started in the method and training them in basic skills.
The result of this work is that Godly Play has now taken root in the educational practice of several local churches belonging to a range of denominations and languages (Spanish, Catalan & English speaking). Some churches are now using the method every week in their Sunday schools, whilst others more sporadically. In some places, dedicated Godly Play classrooms have been established. Other people have seen that Godly Play is useful to them in contexts beyond the church doors, and not only in their work with children.
As such rich and varied experiences have built up, David Pritchard believes that the time is right to make a stop along the way and to take a breather, so as to ponder and reflect on what has been learned so far and to share that with others. This is the reason behind this first national meeting.
The slogan for the gathering, '¡Ultreya!', means 'Onwards!', 'Press on!' or 'Keep on going!'. This word of encouragement comes from Latin –- ultra (beyond) and eia (an interjection for 'to move') -- and it was used by the Compostelan pilgrims whenever they met along the way to greet one another and to be encouraged to press on towards their destination. So, the purpose of this first national Godly Play meeting is precisely so that the participants can encourage one another mutually to carry on with their use of Godly Play.As the next stage of the journey is considered, there will also be attention paid to the contents, structures and models of partnership and cooperation for the development of Godly Play in Spain over the next few years. One of the people attending the meeting will be Ulrike Labuhn, an accredited Godly Play teacher and trainer from Germany, who will give input regarding the growth and development of the method in that particular European country, so as to offer the gathering an element of comparison. It is hoped that other participants will also take responsibility for different aspects of the programme.
So, the meeting will be more of a consultation or discussion forum, rather than a 'conference' or 'training event' per se. It is intended mainly for practitioners of Godly Play in Spain.
The sessions will take place in both Spanish and English, and translation will be provided according to the needs of those attending.
For more information about the event, the brochure can be downloaded in Spanish or in English.
20.10.08
II European Godly Play Conference - photos
Many other photos of the II European Godly Play Conference, which took place last September in Madrid, can be found here. Enjoy!
The next conference will take place in Finland in 2010.
17.3.08
II European Godly Play Conference
This coming September, Spain will be hosting the second European Godly Play Conference.
After the success of the first European GodlyPlay Conference in 2006, this gathering is aimed at exploring issues that relate to the response time in Godly Play. How do we honour and give value to the responses of the children and what space is needed for this to happen?
The Art of Creation will help us consider the nature of such response in the light of different means of creative expression and a diversity of cultural and confessional contexts.
This international conference offers a time...
• to build the circle and share our different cultural experiences of Godly Play
• to have our thinking stimulated by contributions from our main speaker
• to experience Godly Play and the "Art of creation" in different workshops
• to enjoy one another’s company.
The 3 main input sessions will be given by Dr. Christina Kalloch (Germany), our guest speaker. The workshops will be led by group members from Spain, Germany, Finland, Norway, UK and Canada.
The conference will take place from 18-22 September, at the Casa de Espiritualidad “La Concepción y Pío X”, Los Negrales (Madrid). Due to limitations of space, registration is by invitation only. Each participating country is allowed a maximum of 6 delegates.
16.3.08
Godly Play España
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