The Trustees of Faith & Play Stories are delighted to announce progress toward an important goal of the “Finding Ourselves in the Story: Growing Faith & Play for Friends” project: The hope to grow the network of Friends in the Faith & Play community of practice by adding more licensed trainers in our community and expanding the capacity to offer Godly Play/Faith & Play core trainings to Friends meetings and churches across the US, while also lowering our carbon footprint with travel.
From the project proposal: “Preparing new Trainers also provides a means to nurture emergent leadership among Friends who carry a ministry for religious education in their meetings, particularly younger adults. This goal increases the capacity for a group of Trainers to provide workshops, particularly in online spaces. These ongoing learning opportunities for religious education practitioners directly serve meetings and enhance their ability to reach families and grow community in local meetings.”
We are delighted to announce that Susanna Ballard (West Hills Meeting, OR, Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting) and Elizabeth Freyman (Albuquerque Meeting, NM, Intermountain Yearly Meeting), will be working first with trainers Melinda Wenner Bradley and Caryl Menkhus Creswell, then completing a Training of Trainers through the Godly Play Foundation to prepare them to step into this work.
“Meet” Elizabeth and Susanna by reading their bios below!
Please hold this work and the participants in the Light in coming months.
Susanna Ballard currently serves as a hospital chaplain in Portland, Oregon where she received her Master’s of Divinity from George Fox University. Susanna worships with West Hills Friends Church, initially drawn there because of their longstanding Godly Play program. As a third generation Quaker, steeped in the philosophy of pacifism and simplicity, Susanna had been looking for a theological resource and method to equip and guide Quaker children. When she discovered Godly Play, she knew this was it! Since joining the Godly Play community, Susanna came to discover the Faith & Play stories, which beautifully explore many of the distinctives of Quaker history and beliefs that shape our worship today. A child from her worshipping community wondered aloud after hearing a series of Faith & Play stories, “But aren’t all the Godly Play stories also Quaker stories?” What a gift that the overlapping method of storytelling interweaves the broader narrative of God’s movement in human history with the specific branch that is Quaker faith and worship so that a child can experience the wider narrative of which we all are part. When Susanna is not worshiping with story and song at her Meeting, she’s likely pulling weeds in her garden, pursuing climate activism, or exploring outdoors with her husband and two energetic boys.
Elizabeth Freyman is a longtime educator with over a decade of experience as a classroom teacher. She has been the youth and families program coordinator for Albuquerque Monthly Meeting since 2018. She has used Godly Play and Faith & Play in her First Day School and workshops with children and adults since being handed a copy of Faith & Play in 2019 and taking the PLaying in the Light training in 2021. Elizabeth has worked in both Waldorf and Montessori schools, and received training in Magda Gerber’s respectful infant care approach through RIE in 2021. Elizabeth moved to New Mexico after earning a degree in Developmental Psychology from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. She loves handwork of all sorts, and is especially dedicated to fiber arts: spinning, knitting, and felting.