Starting a Program

Find trainings, workshops, and other events here.

Licensed US Godly Play Trainers can add training events to the training calendar here. (Trainers, please note that you must be logged in to access the submission form.)

You can access our Inventory and Budget tool here.  This is a good starting point for new programs teams as it organizes all the stories by volume number and priority, but it can also be used by established programs for inventory/keeping track of materials.

The most effective way to bring Godly Play to your church is to do your research, learn some stories, and then take them to every meeting and event possible! As you do this work, it is important to explain that the story you are about totell is just one piece of the overall Godly Play session. But hopefully it will be intriguing enough that you gain support for your new program.

You can also print a What Is Godly Play? handout and bring it to your church's governing body to give them a sense of what your goals.

Program longevity corresponds directly to number of well-trained Godly Play leaders. Because Godly Play is a dynamic, spiritual practice, training is essential to every Godly Play program.

We recommend that all adults in the Godly Play room attend Core Godly Play training before beginning to teach Godly Play. Core training equips Storytellers and Doorpersons with the skills and processes to lead Godly Play sessions with children.

Start your program with the pedagogical and theological understanding Godly Play.  For a successful Godly Play program, you will want to have everything in place before the initial launch. This takes some time. From research to support to funding to training to building your Godly Play space, four months to a year is not an unusual amount of time to set up a fully functional program. 

The result of a lifetime of research and practice by theologian, author and educator, Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman, the Godly Play® method is a curriculum of spiritual practice exploring the mystery of God’s presence in our lives. The Godly Play curriculum engages what is most exciting about religious education: God inviting us into—and pursuing us in the midst of—Scripture and spiritual experience. Godly Play® practice teaches us to listen for God and to make authentic and creative responses to God’s call in our lives.