By Gloria Young
What? A finger puppet ministry? Why not! When my granddaughter was about 8 years old, she and her mom and dad took me to Leavenworth, Washington, for my very first visit. As we went from shop to shop, I stumbled on a small basket with some very lively, unusual finger puppets. I bought them all. My granddaughter thought I was buying them for her and said, “Yaya, I want another toy.” At the time I wasn’t sure what or how I would use or need them although I knew I had to have them.
I stashed the finger puppets away and even added to the collection over the years. A couple of years later I had a budget retreat with my managers. I pulled out my stash and added them into our mix of activities. The idea was to have fun with them and use them as a source of inspiration for speaking into our session. The results were amazing!
As a trainer in a program entitled “The Courage to Lead,” I pulled out my stash again. This time the finger puppets were placed in a large bag and each participant pulled one out and spoke to what the finger puppet represented or meant to him or her. The stories were surprisingly deep, including the story of one participant who had just returned from India where she traveled to have her hair cut off after she had grown it for years as a donation for a cause special to her. She had the Gandhi finger puppet. In this instance each participant kept their finger puppet.
The stories go on and on. The finger puppets allowed folks in meetings to delve into critical discussions with enough levity to keep discord from surfacing and to solve issues at the same time. The humor and ingenuity that was evoked was contagious.
1Peter 4:10 NKJV says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Little did I know that the finger puppets could become a sort of ministry. There are so many more stories I could share about using finger puppets to encourage relational dialogue and ministering to one another.
New Wine, New Wineskins is a perfect example of providing ways and means to building relational bridges through Jesus in contemporary culture while breaking down barriers that impede people serving people in the home, church and community. The Finger Puppet Ministry is an adaptable tool that allows one’s heart to be exposed to another’s in relationship building.
You may contact Gloria Young at the following email:
gyoung@new-wineskins.org.