The Complete Guide to Godly Play

Nineteen new and revised stories that invite children to enter into a deeper relationship with God.

Revised and expanded, The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 8 offers new concepts, new terminology, new illustrations, and a new structure —all of which stem from more than fifteen years of using Godly Play® with children. Based on the Montessori method, Godly Play uses purposeful telling of stories, engaging materials, and the community of children to encourage children to seek and find their own answers to faith questions. In the process, children form deeper, more spontaneous, and more playful relationships with God.

This volume features resources for telling nineteen new or thoroughly revised stories, along with take-home resources for parents and families. Included in this volume are:

· The Greatest Parable—Jesus

· Jesus and Jerusalem: The Story of Holy Week

· Mary, the Mother of Jesus

· Knowing Jesus in a New Way

· The Church

· The Liturgical Synthesis

Revisions to each story focus on inclusion and are the result of consultations across the diverse Godly Play community. New parent pages for each story offer opportunities for families to continue to discuss each lesson. An appendix introduces the Godly Play approach and offers an overview of stories across all eight Godly Play volumes.

The late Jerome W. Berryman was the founder of Godly Play and had years of experience working with children ages 2–18. Priest, writer, lecturer, and workshop leader, Berryman was, for years, Senior Fellow of the Center for the Theology of Childhood. He was the author of The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Teaching Godly Play, Children and the Theologians, The Spiritual Guidance of Children, and Stories of God at Home.
 

Rosemary Beales has been sitting in circles with children for nearly 30 years, including 12 years as chaplain and religion teacher to 400 children at an Episcopal school in Alexandria, Virginia. She received her DMin from Virginia Theological Seminary and is a licensed Godly Play Trainer and an Episcopal priest, currently serving in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
 

The Rev. Cheryl V. Minor, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for the Theology of Childhood, the research and development arm of the Godly Play Foundation. For over 20 years, she has served as Co-Rector at the All Saints' Episcopal Church in Belmont, Massachusetts, where she is privileged to practice Godly Play with children ages three to thirteen. She is the author of Godly Play in Middle and Late Childhood.