Support, challenge, nourish, and guide children on their spiritual quest.
Godly Play® is an imaginative approach to working with children, based on Montessori principles. It is more akin to spiritual direction and guidance than what we generally consider as religious education.
Revised and expanded, The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 6 offers new concepts and terminology, completely new illustrations, and a new structure that stems from more than fifteen years of using Godly Play with children across the world. More than 30 percent of the text is new or revised, including two new lessons, a revised introduction, and a full appendix.
Jerome W. Berryman is the founder of Godly Play and has a wide experience working with children ages 2–18. Priest, writer, lecturer, and workshop leader, Berryman is Senior Fellow of the Center for the Theology of Childhood. He is 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. He lives in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
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.
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.
“This updated volume benefits greatly from insights of children and mentors over the fifteen years since its original release—the language is clearer, and connections to both Godly Play Core stories and the biblical text are stronger. Through these stories, we find examples of courage and resistance and remember God’s persistent commitment to journey with us over the course of our lives.” —The Reverend Emily Griffin, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC
“With a mix of new, slightly tweaked and wholly rewritten lessons, Jerome Berryman continues to bring the essence of our faith stories to life with accessible language that sparks a child’s engagement. The attention Dr. Berryman takes with each word choice allows children to connect their lives and today’s challenges to those of the People of God from long ago. I highly recommend this new publication.” —W. Lee Dickson, Godly Play Foundation Executive Director, Retired
“‘The Great Family Grew’ . . . meet some more of them in this updated version of Volume 6. The addition of new stories and revisions to familiar ones is one of the things I love about Godly Play. Thanks for the ongoing commitment to improving both language, materials and instructions, that help us all come a little closer to the Holy and to one another.” —Reverend Ruth Lumax, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada
“This updated volume benefits greatly from insights of children and mentors over the fifteen years since its original release—the language is clearer, and connections to both Godly Play Core stories and the biblical text are stronger. Through these stories, we fi nd examples of courage and resistance and remember God’s persistent commitment to journey with us over the course of our lives.” —The Reverend Emily Griffin, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC
“With a mix of new, slightly tweaked and wholly rewritten lessons, Jerome Berryman continues to bring the essence of our faith stories to life with accessible language that sparks a child’s engagement. The attention Dr. Berryman takes with each word choice allows children to connect their lives and today’s challenges to those of the People of God from long ago. I highly recommend this new publication.” —W. Lee Dickson, Godly Play Foundation Executive Director, Retired
