Play things

AROUND South Billingham Methodist Church they call David Parkin “The lad”, and with some justification. “If anything needs doing, anyone has to go up a ladder, they send for the lad,”

he says. He’s only 67, still a bit bairn, after all.

Many among the customary 25 or so in the congregation are older. Almost none is young. “We decided that we had to do something,” says David. “It was getting to the stage where the last one standing would have to lock up.”

What they did was officially launched at a simple service last Saturday. It’s called Godly Play – bold, innovative and adventurous, broadly centred around stories, but not the old, old story at all.

This is what folk call “old” Billingham, where once the Central Methodist church had more rooms than that familiar funeral text. When it closed they established North and South Billingham in its stead.

“South” is in a former Trustee Savings Bank – lines about Jesus saves may be inserted here – next to a fishing tackle shop and a vet’s. The fishing tackle shop may also suggest biblical metaphor, the vet’s a bit trickier.

The main street also has a tattoo parlour and a mobile phone shop, twin symbols of the 21st Century.

South Billingham moves equally with the times.

Godly Play is far more than a bit of scrap paper and a few felt-tip pens, light years from the Plasticene age, in no way a glorified creche.

It is structured – “richly structured,”

says one of the leaflets – operates worldwide and has cost them about £30,000 to establish in Billingham.

“Godly Play,” adds the leaflet, “is a way to gently encourage and support children in Christian belief and faith through simple stories, wondering questions and open-ended response through play.”

It’s aimed chiefly at four to 11-yearolds, but has worked with teenagers and, it’s claimed, with those suffering from dementia.

David Parkin and Janet Capstick, the minister, first saw play at work at North Ormesby parish church, near Middlesbrough. An hour apart last Saturday, they offer precisely the same reaction – “It blew me away” – though David adds a little codicil: “That we had no money didn’t matter at all.”

THE concept was pioneered about 25 years ago by the Reverend Dr Jerome Berryman, a US evangelist. There’s a US church, says David, that already has nine Godly Play rooms.

Each is specially created. South Billingham had to knock down walls, shift quite a few imaginary barriers, too. Parents are encouraged to wait, with refreshments.

“It’s about helping people realise that the church is still relevant,”

says Janet. “It’s not a gimmick, it’s about offering a welcome, a sense of belonging. It’s different and it’s fun, as complicated or as simple as the child wants to make it. You have to be realistic about the society in which we live.”

Each 75-minute session has a doorkeeper (on no account to be confused with a bouncer) and a story teller (in no way synonymous with a tall story teller).

The doorkeeper lines them up, tries to ensure that they’re in the right frame of mind, announces each by name as the child enters. The children sit cross-legged on the floor, the story told simply, without interpretation or moral instruction.

Afterwards they’re encouraged to ask about it – to “wonder” about it – and then to play it out among the great gallery of aids provided specifically for that purpose.

“There are no right or wrong answers,”

says David. “If they think it, it’s right.”

Many of the toy library props are kept in gold-coloured “parable boxes”, most already “sponsored” by church folk. Others are still available, this space to let. The Mystery of Pentecost is on offer at £40, though many would pay very much more to have that loquacious little business satisfactorily explained.

The room also has a copy of The Complete Godly Play Guide. It runs to seven volumes.

At the end there’s what’s called the “feast”, though having learned about the Parable of the Prodigal Son they should forget the idea of fatted calf. Juice and biscuits must suffice, THE dedication service is led by the Reverend Ruth Gee, chair of the Darlington Methodist district, who talks of a great adventure.

Like everyone else, she has to remove shoes before entering. I can never remember whether it was Jemima Puddleduck or Mrs Tiggy- Winkle who went round barefoot.

Beatrix Potter fans will know.

“We are celebrating the power of story and the deep spirituality of children,” says Ruth.

Officially the Jean Watson Godly Play Room, in memory of its principal and hugely generous benefactor, it’s opened by Dorothy Thompson, one of the church’s oldest members, and by Emmaus Frank, one of the youngest present.

Emmaus – named after a town near Jerusalem in which Jesus appears after the resurrection – is one of five. His siblings are Trinity, Calvary, Cana and Nicea.

Their father’s Christian, name and nature, their mother Joanne. “Emmaus got quite upset yesterday. He thought adults were in his room,”

says David.

He seems a great guy. It’s wholly without offence that soon they hope he will be the lad no longer.

■ Godly Play sessions at South Billingham Methodist Church, in Station Road, take place every Sunday at 10am during morning worship, at 10am from May 31 to June 3 (half term) and on Thursday evenings from June 10. Sessions are free, although a £1.50 donation is asked to cover the cost of art materials and the “feast”. Further information from David Parkin, 01642- 554281. North Billingham Methodist Church, in Marsh House Avenue, has a flower festival today, from 10am to 4pm.