I love puppets. I have loved them for a very long time. Ever since I saw some of the Muppet movies, I was hooked. What I now love more than anything is helping other people use puppets well, especially when talking about the Bible or the good news of Jesus!
When we get to share the Bible with others, whether it be in a formal setting like a church service, or in an informal setting like talking to our friends, we want to make what the Bible says as clear as possible. This is where I think puppets play a key part.
Puppets get to help you be as clear as possible. They get to ask follow up questions, they help you to clarify a point, and they get to reiterate the main point, so that the listeners can understand.
Today I want to help you, if you ever get to use puppets to share the good news of Jesus, I want to help you think about the way you might go about that.
Firstly, I am going to presume that you have already done your homework. By that I mean, you need to have done a lot of thinking about what you want to teach, what you want your audience to understand, and most importantly, what your big idea is.
Whether this is from a talk from a particular passage in the Bible, or if it is on a theme, or question of some sort, before you get to think about what the puppet might say, please know what you want the hearers to understand. That is the first priority.
Once you have that, then you are ready to look into your puppet talk.
My way of thinking when I write a puppet talk is this:
1) Put the puppet into a scenario that the hearers understand. This may be children, or adults or both. Either way, the puppet is at, or has done something, that is somewhat parallel to the big idea. It works best if the scenario is something were the big idea could play out, but the puppet has had some sort of misunderstanding.
For instance, say we are looking at Matthew 14, where Jesus has fed the 5000.
The puppet could possibly have been at a party where there was meant to be catering, but they didn’t show up. Something happens in the puppets life, that is similar to the story, or passage the person is looking at.
2) The person talking to the puppet poses a question to the puppet, that hints at the Big idea you are talking about.
In this setting, this could be something hinting at How would you show care to the people at that party? If you had power to change that situation, what would you do?
Something that hints at the big idea of the passage.
3) Hear from the Bible
This is the point where you tell the story, read the passage from the Bible. Here is where both the hearers, and the puppet, learn from the Bible itself. If we are teaching people about the Bible, we want to teach them from the Bible, not simply about the Bible. We want the Bible to speak for itself.
4) The puppet here may ask a question ‘but what does that mean, or what has this got to do with my party’
This is the point where the person telling the story gets to say the big idea again. How Jesus is the one who…., how God is always there…. How God is always in control, like in the story.
This is where we get to spend a small amount of time explaining what we have just read.
5) Sometimes (nearly always) there is a question you don’t want people to ask. It’s the complicated question that comes as a follow up from a passage. This is where the puppet themselves asks that question. This gives the person sharing a chance to tackle those questions head on, especially if they come out of the passage. This is one of my favourite features of using puppets. When they ask questions, no matter what question, it comes across perfectly fine! But if a person tried to act out asking it, it comes across flat. Puppets are our friends in this moment, they do the hard work of breaking through for us!
6) So What?! This is the section where we get to answer the question ‘what has this got to do with my normal life’, or ‘how is this going to change anything I do’. This is where application comes in. Telling both adults and kids, what this means for their daily lives. This often talks time. We do not want to be teaching moral lessons ‘Therefore everyone, go and be good’, but we want to teach people what it means to follow Jesus, and how that makes actual difference to our lives.
7) The puppet thinks about the original setting, and applies teaching to it. Here, the puppet reflects on how they started. Reflects on what they have learned, and here, repeats the big idea to show that learning has happened. The benefit of doing this is that the Big Idea gets said at least 3 times. It also gives people an example of how ideas can change, and thinking can change. The puppet leaves, thinking about what they have learned.
The person sharing then does a very short reflection, sharing what the big idea is, how they have shared it from the story.
This method has helped me write many many talks in churches, and I pray it will help you too.
Stephen Urmston is a full time puppeteer and performer that shares the good news of Jesus all over Australia. He has 18 years of experience in children’s ministry and has been a children’s and families minister in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Stephen loves Jesus, and loves being creative, and especially loves when his two loves combine, turning into some kind of super powered passion!
Sarah Urmston previous articles may be viewed
http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/stephen-urmston.html
Stephen Urmston is a full time puppeteer and performer that shares the good news of Jesus all over Australia. He has 18 years of experience in children’s ministry and has been a children’s and families minister in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Stephen loves Jesus, and loves being creative, and especially loves when his two loves combine, turning into some kind of super powered passion!
Sarah Urmston previous articles may be viewedhttp://www.pressserviceinternational.org/stephen-urmston.html
