These were some of the comments that we got when we first suggested that we should try using puppets at church. It seemed that if you'd never seen puppets done well before that it was very difficult to imagine what we were talking about! And yet, after that first sketch we did out the back with the kids, it was like a light bulb had suddenly gone on and most now understood why we'd been so excited to give it a go!

One of the initial motivations for wanting to use the puppets was because there seemed very little in a Sunday service that was accesible to our younger ones and yet they were expected to feel part of the church family and to consider Sundays as 'for them' as well. If we had been a young person, we'd have considered the kids groups out the back as 'for us' and the main Sunday meeting as for the adults. But in addition to this is, we passionately believe that the gospel can be fun - it is good news after all!

"...puppets are an exciting, fun and easily accesible tool that can help teach all ages and all levels of understanding of the Christian faith..."

We should be trying different things to find the most effective ways of communicating the gospel - both to those new to the Christian faith and those who have been professing faith for many years. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul talks about how he can be flexible about the manner in which he proclaims the gospel so that there are no unnecessary barriers for his listeners. He is not changing the message (that is important to remember!) but is changing the means in which he tells the truth so that people are most ready to hear it. Puppetry is such an incredible example of this. Think of the stereotype that many have of church - an old man standing up at the front giving a very long and boring talk that is neither interesting or relevant. For a new listener, the barriers are often already up because they assume they are going to disagree with what is going to be said. However, with puppets they can relax because they are being entertained. Now the end goal is not to be an entertainer - but if we can get people to relax because they are being entertained, they are then more susceptible to listen to the message that is being given because the natural barriers have lowered. This is also very effective for adults watching; because they assume that this is 'just for the kids' so they watch without any anxiety that they are about to be challenged by the message - and yet they then probably listen better! There is a reason that Sesame street has become popular in so many areas of the world and is able to teach kids about some really difficult topics - it's because it works!

Now we're not saying that we should replace everything in church with puppets (that would be mayhem!). Of course there is still a place for a well thought-out talk that can go into more depth. And neither are we saying you use puppets every week in your ministry because there are far too many creative tools available to you to only rely on puppets - variety is a good thing because people learn in different ways. But puppets are an exciting, fun and easily accesible tool that can help teach all ages and all levels of understanding of the Christian faith.