Clearing the Way for Grace

Bridging the gap between practice and theory


The Godly Play Foundation has received a grant of $1250,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support Clearing the Way for Grace: Bridging the Gap between Practice and Theory to Nurture Children through Worship and Prayer.

The program is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. The aim of the national initiative is to support faith-based organizations as they help children grow in faith and deepen their relationships with God. “Clearing the Way for Grace” is divided into two components:

Supporting Practitioners: The first component is supporting practitioners by expanding on our Godly Play liturgical lessons to use with children twelve years and younger, providing Godly Play infused liturgical resources for communal worship, offering congregational toolkits including assessments for engaging children in worship and prayer, and providing grants for congregations desiring to expand their support for children in worship and prayer grounded in a Godly Play approach.

Supporting Scholarship:  The second component is supporting scholarship through open-access publications (both peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed), hosting lecture series and gatherings, supporting research circles, and matching students and junior scholars with mentors, ensuring that those engaged in children’s ministry have access to the most up to date research regarding the challenges they encounter as they nurture the faith of children.

““In our conversations with practitioners in children’s ministry and clergy, we know they are longing for evidence-based practices and access to research to guide their path forward. With this grant funding, we will ensure that happens as we expand the work the Center has been doing for over thirty years. This is an important extension of the life and work of Jerome Berryman, which has already had an enormous impact on the lives of children worldwide. “”
— Cheryl V. Minor, Director of the Center

  • The founder of Godly Play, the Rev. Dr. Jerome W. Berryman (1937-2024), proposes a new doctrine of children in the church that views them as a means of grace; persons who worship and pray from a particular embodied way of being with and knowing God that becomes a mutual blessing for the children and adults gathered. More often, children are seen as undeveloped Christians in need of instruction so they can one day join in the communal work of the church. When we operate from Berryman’s proposed doctrine, we more fully include children in the life of the community, and everyone finds their worship and prayer lives enriched.

    In an effort to imagine children as a means of grace in the church,the Center, led first by the Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman, and now the Rev. Dr. Cheryl Minor, has been producing resources and research for over thirty years including:

    • Eight volumes of curriculum to support practitioners using the Godly Play method in congregations.

    • Training of practitioners in the Godly Play method globally.

    • Publishing books including the most recent publication by Dr. Minor about using Godly Play with children in middle and late childhood to support practitioners looking to expand the program beyond young children.

    • Research including two recent projects  examining the ways congregations supported  children in families throughout the pandemic and in the aftermath of the pandemic.  A  third piece of research in progress, examines the long term impact of Godly Play on the spiritual lives of children and young adults. 

    • The Director of the Center, together with Godly Play Foundation staff present widely on all of these topics at conferences and online webinars to practitioners serving congregations. 

    Despite the appreciation for the research and resources developed by the Center, we know that many clergy and children’s ministers do not have access to the research or the resources. For example, the articles we published are in peer-reviewed journals that require a subscription or a high price to download a single article. Furthermore, the volunteers working in congregations generally lack awareness and/or the ability to access this kind of information. 

    In our conversations with practitioners in children's ministry and clergy, we know they long for evidence-based practices and access to research to guide their path forward. With this grant funding, we will ensure that happens as we expand the work of the Center.