Faith In Action: Sharing A Place of Wholeness
Part of A Place of Wholeness
Activity time: 45 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Cake, popcorn or other treats to eat
- Beverages
- A copy of the story from each workshop in the program
- Newsprint and markers
Preparation for Activity
- For the week before this activity, write the names of the stories from the program on a piece of newsprint.
- Invite the participants' families, the minister, the director of religious education, and any other members of the church you think would be appropriate to share in the closing celebration.
- Ask participants to bring either a beverage or a treat for the closing celebration. Remember to check for food allergies within the group.
- The week before the last workshop, ask each participant to volunteer to tell one of the stories as part of the closing celebration. Remember that some stories, like the John Murray play, will need more than one person to tell the story. If you do not have enough participants to read all the stories, have participants choose their favorites. If you have more participants than stories, pair people up and make sure that everyone who wants to participate has a part.
Description of Activity
This Faith in Action is an expansion of the celebration in this workshop. It expands the celebration beyond just the participants to include participants' families and selected members of the church. If you choose to do this activity, you need to reorder the activities in this workshop. Do the closing worship right after Activity 4, What is Wholeness? and then end with the celebration.
One Week Before
At the end of the next-to-the-last workshop, direct participants' attention to the list of all the A Place of Wholeness stories you have written on newsprint. Explain that they will each have a chance to share one of these stories with their guests at the workshop's closing celebration. Ask them to decide which story is their favorite and then write their name next to that story. This will be the story they will tell. Remember that some stories can have more than one storyteller. For example, the John Murray Story has three parts and the Racial Justice Timeline story has six parts. In addition, two people can share the reading of stories that have only one part.
Over the next week, participants should practice telling or reading the story. They should also think about why they liked that story and what insights they gained from it, as hey will be asked to share that information as well.
Celebration
Invite your guests into the meeting space. Ask a member of the group to read or summarize the following:
Welcome to our group. We invited you to come to our celebration because we wanted you to experience a bit of what we experienced while taking part in A Place of Wholeness. To do that, we will share with you our favorite stories from the program and why the story was significant for us. We hope you enjoy the stories. After all the stories are over, we will have time for reflections and fellowship.
Proceed with the presentations.
Once all the stories are shared, invite questions from your guests. After ten minutes, encourage guests and participants to continue the conversation over refreshments.
Including All Participants
Be aware of any food allergies in the group and avoid them or provide alternate treats.