Participants will be invited to nominate workshops on arrival - here is some information to whet your appetite and help you decide where you will spend your time.
We are inviting people to register for the whole weekend or day by day - so this information might be helpful particularly if you are only able to attend for one day.
Friday afternoon
Steve Taylor - crafting our own stories to share: participants will explore the craft of storytelling as it applies to telling our own story - how do we identify the beginning, middle and end of the story we wish to tell of our experiences of our faith, so as to communicate the meaning we have discovered?
Gary Stuckey - Lectio Divina: Storytelling implies another activity – story listening and hearing. Lectio Divina, sometimes referred to as Sacred Reading, is really about how we listen and hear. As one Ancient said, it is about listening with the 'ears of our heart'. That is, listening beyond the words in a way that allows the Story to shape and guide our story. This workshop will introduce participants to the process and practice of Lectio Divina, as a way of letting go of our own agenda and listening to what God has to say.
Judyth Roberts - Introduction to Godly Play - a form of biblical storytelling that uses silence and wondering as well as natural, simple materials to make space for children to explore their spirituality and learn about how people have come close to God for thousands of years. Two things about Godly Play that set it apart from most Christian teaching are that it is counter-cultural and non-coersive. Although Godly Play was specifically designed for children, it has now moved into new areas; prison chaplains and aged care chaplains have found it profoundly effective in their ministries. The Fresh Expressions movement in the UK has used it experimentally in worship, both all age and more specific alternative experiences.
There are three types of Godly Play story; parables, sacred and liturgical. I will demonstrate each of these and there will be time for wondering and time to play with the materials and ask questions.
Saturday morning
Jeannette Ackland - Godly Play, the Berryman method: Godly Play is a method of doing religious education with children. Jerome Berryman, who wrote the program, drew on the wisdom and work of Maria Montessori and of Sofia Cavalletti.
Rina Wintour - praying with Matthew: exploring in prayer and ritual some key themes in Matthew's gospel
Gillian Powis - Taking the words to Heart - This workshop for beginners, aims to share with participants some techniques for learning biblical stories and enable them to experience the process with one story.
Sunday morning
Andrew McDonough - Story Preparation by Imagining out the Bible Passage - We need to get into a story for our audience to get anything out of the story. And a key tool for getting into a Biblical story is our imagination. In this workshop we will explore how meditation and imagination enable us to enter and experience Biblical stories. We’ll practise some meditation and imagination exercises and explore how they draw colour, emotion and understanding out of a Bible story.
Carole Danby - Biblical Storytelling for classroom and children's church - This workshop will provide creative ideas to break open the Word of God with children of all ages, using craft, drama, prayer and storytelling.
Chris Dolman - narrative and healing: for over twenty years many counsellors, community workers and other healing professionals around the world have been exploring the implications of the story metaphor for their work with individuals, families, groups and communities. This presentation will provide participants with an overview of some of the key principles and practices that characterise what has become known as 'narrative therapy'. Participants will also have opportunities to consider how these ideas and practices might build on their existing skills in their own contexts.
Sarah Agnew - 'Bringing Matthew's story of Jesus to life' How has the author of the gospel of Matthew crafted the story of Jesus, and how can we enter into the story to find meaning so that we might bring this story to life with our reading / telling, as an invitation into the renewing love of God? Identifying the narrative threads that shape meaning; discovering the narrative clues to help communicate meaning.
