This summer, as part of the 20th Anniversary of Faith & Play Stories, we’re honoring the ministry and leadership of Caryl Menkhus Creswell, who has been a trainer, mentor, and friend to many in our community of practice. Caryl responded to interview questions about where this work began for her, and how her story intersects with the story of Faith & Play . . .
How did your journey with Godly Play begin?
I had just taken a position at Reedwood Friends Church (Portland, OR) to oversee the children’s ministry, which was basically sharpening pencils and checking in with parents. Two weeks after I started the released minister told me about a conference on religious education put on by the Presbyterians – “It’s by a man named Jerome Berryman, an Episcopal priest, and I think you should go.” She said she read his book in seminary and really liked him. So two weeks later I found myself walking into this large room with a circle of people and a bearded man sitting on the floor with a gold box. He opened that box and it changed my life. He told the story of the Parable of the Sower.
I went back to my office and I made my own copy of that story’s materials, which I still have. It took two years to convince the leadership of the meeting to invite Jerome as a scholar in residence. He came for a month and told story after story and shared his vision of the spirituality of children. We built a Godly Play classroom and started using Godly Play with our children. Shortly after that I got a letter from Jerome asking me if I would come and train to be a trainer, which I did, and began doing Godly Play training in different parts of the United States.
What memories do you have of the 2005 training with Quakers in Philadelphia?
A couple of years later my phone rang and it was another Godly Play trainer from the east coast. She knew I was a Quaker and told me that a Quaker had contacted her and wanted to do a Godly Play training. She asked me if I would come and be the second trainer. The training was hosted by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting at Burlington Meeting in NJ. The organizer was Helen Fields who was on PYM staff and had become interested in Godly Play through Michael Gibson at Friends General Conference. It was about half and half Quakers and ecumenical.
It was a fabulous training. Melinda Wenner Bradley and Michael were there, who would later train as trainers, and Candace Shattuck who is now clerk of the Faith & Play trustees. It was a group of people that were so ready to hear and engage deeply with Godly Play. They loved the sacred stories and the parables and the silence. But when it came to the liturgical lessons the hair started standing up on the back of their necks! They said we don’t do liturgy. We don’t baptize, we don’t have communion, we don’t follow the calendar of the church year.
I said, “Liturgy literally means the work of the people.” And I proposed that every faith community works to figure out what ways they can experience God. I suggested that they needed to write their own stories of how Quakers work to come close to God.
They took me seriously and that was the beginning of Faith & Play.
How would you describe Faith & Play stories as part of the bigger picture of religious education, alongside Godly Play stories? How are they not just “tools” or “curriculum” (or, “nice stories”) but part of a broader approach to formation?
Godly Play/Faith and Play are designed to offer children and adults the opportunity to experience the divine in their own lives. They are built on the belief that every human being has a spark of the divine within them. They seek to create the conditions for people to have a personal experience of the sacred. They are based on a belief in the power of story to connect us with people of faith through the ages.
Are there any F&P stories you have particularly enjoyed sharing?
“Listening for God” is one of my favorites and one that many Godly Play trainers (who are not Quakers) use regularly. In Godly Play there are stories about saints, and I appreciate the Faith & Play stories about weighty Friends like George Fox, John Woolman, Margaret Fell, and Mary Fisher.
Why is it important for Friends to seek training and that experience?
Godly Play is not just a good way to tell stories. There are so many things to learn beyond just telling the stories. It is about being present to children and creating a space where they can experience the divine themselves. The queries we always ask at the end of the stories begin with the question, “I wonder what you liked best?” This invites the child to connect with their own experience of the story instead of trying to think of what the teacher wants them to say. In a Godly Play training you experience these stories for yourself first and then you learn how to tell the stories in the same open and welcoming way. There is also power in learning this new way of being with children in a supportive community.
The trainings also build community among the participants. Melinda, Michael, and I led trainings together at Pendle Hill. Many people were trained at those early Pendle Hill weekends. Melinda and I also co-led trainings at Wellesley Meeting in MA. And we were in Peru together for the FWCC World Plenary in 2016, where we did workshops in Spanish and English. Many new connections grew out of that experience.
Are there stories you think we need to add to F&P collection?
I feel like the Faith & Play team are doing such a good job of developing stories. It’s not necessarily about adding stories but having the stories shared with children and getting feedback, paring the stories down to an economy of words and an economy of gestures.
What memories might you share from trainings among Friends in the US and in Latin America?
It was such a gift for me to work with Melinda, Beth Collea, and Cynthia Ganung to realize their vision of bringing Godly Play/Faith & Play to Cuba, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They wrote grants, and helped me and my husband, Jeff, to take materials to the Quakers in these countries and to introduce them to this wonderful way of working with children. We all felt led by the Spirit in all of these endeavors. As Beth always would say, “Way will open!”
What encouragement would you give to Quaker practitioners of Godly Play and F&P?
Trust the process. Be gentle with yourself. Take the time to sit with these stories over time. It takes several years before you begin to feel comfortable with this way of working. And in your community, create a Godly Play/ Faith & Play community of storytellers and doorpersons so that you are learning from each other as you go along.
Why are stories important?
We are wired for stories. They are how we make meaning. We find OUR story within THE story. Stories are the way that we learn about our world.
What are your core beliefs about the spirituality of children?
Children truly have that of God within them. Biologically adults produce children, but spiritually children produce adults. They do not need us to tell them about God. They only need us to offer them the stories so that they can experience God for themselves.