Starting a Puppet Ministry

[Pickles]

Do any of you have any experience starting a puppet ministry? It's something I would like to approach our pastor about. Years ago, I remember there was a group of Christian puppeteers that you could hire to do a weekend training session. You'd present a show at the end of the session and you'd also learn the basics of what's involved
with this type of ministry. Have any of you heard of such a thing? Any advice?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Hi Pickles... I've got a small Little puppet ministry at my church. I built a stage out of PVC pipe (Its big enough to accomidate about three or four puppeteers..) we use ours for our vacation bible school. I have a boy and a girl puppet "Manny, and Wanda", a Grandpa Puppet, and a "Billy the Bible Puppet" we use those the most... Manny, Wanda, and Grandpa are all "Puppart puppets" and they all came from Lifeway Christian Bookstore.

Year before last our Christmas pageant was an entire puppet nativity. We ordered those puppets from Puppet Emporium but they are a bit smaller.

Our VBS lessons come with a printed out devotional for each day... What I did was take the devotional and turned it into the puppet skit.

The first year we did it I just had Manny and Wanda and they talked about the lessons that the kids would learn that day. Our theme that year was "Gods Great Rescue."

Last year our theme was "From Raindrops to Rainbows" so I turned "Grandpa" into "Wally B. Weatherman" and it was like the kids were visiting the local weather station where the Daily Lesson forcast was presented and then Wanda and Manny talked to Wally about the lesson presented that day. We also used the Bible puppet to present that days memory verse.

There should be pics of my puppets in the Puppet section of the gallery... if you have any other questions just ask me!

[Waldo]

I am a one man show at our church. I have a puppet, Cecil the Dodo bird that use both with Waldo and as my normal self (kinda normal). You can google puppets and get a plethora of sites, prices range greatly, but I think the big mouth puppets would serve you well. Also you can get plans on line for a puppet stage, this is pvc pipe and draped cloth. VBS is a good place to introduce them, but also can be used as a regular spot in childrens church. They are great for stories and helping introduce and sing songs.

I use Cecil as a ventriliquism puppet. The children all know him by name and are excited to see him. He is kind of a Mortimor Snerd character, that gets things fowled up and I play the straight man. Though he is intended for the children, the grown-ups love to see him as well.

[Bonkers #361]

I contacted my Children's Pastor at church. And offered my clown to them for different activities. We have about 1500 - 2000 Kids ( LARGE church ) So he is excited and I am scared. But, I am also working with him to try to start a Clowning Ministry to go out on Disaster relief. I want to work with kids that have been traumatized. I had a really crummy Childhood and I know what it is like. SOOOOOO wish me luck.

[Pickles]

That's great that you want to make a difference in the lives of ALL THOSE KIDS, Bonkers. (Yikes, that IS a big church!) You will have to share your experiences with us as you launch your ministry.

Anything I do at our church will be on a much, much smaller scale. Our church is a little country congregation. In fact, I'm worried that we might not have enough kids to get a puppet ministry going. We won't have an audience, because all of our youth will be in the show!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Pickles thats kind of the boat I'm in ... I attend a small country church, I'm the only clown there, and we have maybe 10 kids who attend each Sunday. I'm the only "Young Adult" there... So thats why our puppets only appear at VBS. The first year My sister and I did the two puppets... but the next year I had the two oldest kids do 'Manny and Wanda' while I worked "Wally" and "Billy the Bible"

[Pickles]

Mr Dazzle: That's great that you are making this work at such a small church. It gives me hope!

I think I've told you that I haven't even approached the pastor with my ideas yet (honestly, we're not even members yet; we join this Sunday). But if and when I do get this puppet thing underway, I will probably be asking you to share some of your skits with me. Thanks in advance!

[SparkyDMFD]

Hey Pickles!

Are you thinking about starting a "solo" puppet ministry or a "troupe" ministry through your church?

Our church has a large puppet ministry averaging 60 puppeteers ranging in age from 10 - 55. They have it broken down by age:

Elementary
Jr/Sr high
Adults
Skit troupe

In addition to doing regular "bits" during services and children's church, they do 2 productions a year. Each Christmas they put on a Puppet Dinner Theatre. Each spring they host a "spring musical." They sometimes do roadtrips to outlying communities.

I have many puppets, but I don't use them very often in my ministry work. Only because we have such a GREAT puppet troupe. I use them in my safety work.

There are several workshops that travel each year all over the country and put on economical training events. Visit both:

One Way Street - Puppets and Creative Ministry Resources
Puppet Productions: Your source for all things puppets!

One Way Street puts on a full week camp each summer in Kankakee, IL (just south of Chicago). It's called "International Puppetry Festival." Location It's AWESOME! I attended once several years ago and would love to return someday. It's not just about puppets either. There are classes on everything!

One of my favorite places to purchase puppets is:
AXTELL*EXPRESSIONS*Official Site - Puppets & Magic |Puppets
They're a little pricey but worth it!

All of the above have newsletters you can sign up for and also receive their sales.

Good luck!

Sparky
LAFS For Life
ACTSClownMinistry.org
ACTS Entertainment
MySpace.com - Sparky - 99 - Female - DES MOINES, Iowa - www.myspace.com/sparkylafs

[sunny61]

So, who actually does ventriliquism and who uses puppets in different ways? I have a great puppet and I am trying to learn the art of how to be a ventriliquist. It's hard! Any other ideas on how I can use this puppet??? Thanks.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'm trying to learn to 'vent'... but keeping my mouth shut is a lot harder than I thought it would be.