Playing in the Light participants from across Aotearoa New Zealand and Hobart, Australia
After the experience of sharing a story with about 90 people during an online All Age Worship at Yearly Meeting in 2022, Friends in Aotearoa New Zealand planned for a visit from Faith & Play Stories in August 2023. For two weeks, Melinda Wenner Bradley traveled from Auckland in the north to Christchurch on the southern island, sharing workshops and programs at Meetings along the way. The weekend in the center of the trip was a Playing in the Light training for Friends from ten meetings held at the Friends Centre, George Fox House in Wellington. Other stops included the Auckland Quaker Centre and the Quaker Settlement Whanganui.
Faith & Play Trustee Sallie Welte creates the materials kits available through FGC QuakerBooks. These were assembled by friends and family in the US to go to Aotearoa/New Zealand and are now being used there!
In addition to deep gratitude for the hospitality shared by many Friends along the journey, there was the gift of new learning. Being in community with Friends in other parts of the world beyond the US, where Faith & Play was founded, provides new perspective on stories and the choices of language and imagery used. After recognizing the universalist approach of many Friends she was meeting, and the deep respect for Maori culture and language among Quaker communities, Melinda made the decision to “flip” the training and open the time with Faith & Play stories before work with parables and Hebrew Bible stories. Staying open to the needs of the community is vital in this ministry, with listening at the center of planning and facilitation. We often say that “there is more wisdom in the circle” than any one person holds, and this was illuminated again and again during this journey.
From a minute written at Northern Monthly Meeting (Auckland):
“We were encouraged to consider more widely how we might see and enhance children and young people’s spirituality and experiences of worship. Melinda spent the afternoon teaching and coaching three Friends on Godly Play from a Quaker context, as some were unable to attend the upcoming training. The time was rich with conversation and new discoveries and will hopefully lead to a new injection of energy into our children’s programme. A highlight was discussion on how to retell Faith & Play stories to pay more respect to the indigenous people.”
From Anne and Alistair Hall, Co-Clerks, Yearly Meeting of Aotearoa New Zealand:
“We are very encouraged that those attending your training have formed a “community of practice” to support and share with each other as they embark on story telling. It will be exciting to see what emerges with perhaps the possibility of Aotearoa New Zealand stories.”
Friends who attended the training are now sharing Faith & Play stories in meetings and a Friends school, considering what other stories for meetings in Aoteraoa New Zealand could be told in this way, and discerning next steps for how Faith & Play can be part of work with children and for all ages. They are part of our wider community of practice that extends across the globe!
From the 2024 Epistle of the Yearly Meeting of Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri:
“Our formal meeting followed a preparation day on the theme of ‘Faith & Play: an experiential tool for spiritual reflection,’ which had led us into listening: moving out of the day-to-day bustle of everyday life and focusing on Quaker values, thoughts and history, as we prepared for Yearly Meeting.”
“Listening for God” shared at Mount Eden Meeting in Auckland. The shell in the stories section of the materials was an adaptation to represent the many stories that cultures like the Maori people have passed down to today. Also in the photo is work done by a child during the time that followed this experience of an All Age Worship.