wfn.org | TCN: Tainan church uses drama to boost children’s self-confidence and skills

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>2997 Edition

>August 3~9, 2009

Tainan church uses drama to boost children’s self-confidence  and skills

>Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

Nan-Shi Presbyterian Church in Tainan County invited Morning Star  drama team

to town and lead a “Youth Drama Camp” where youth were  taught how to perform

different roles and bring to life all sorts of characters. The  team used several

parables and stories from the Bible as inspiration for plays.

Though it was a hot and humid summer day, many children gathered  around

Morning Star team members with great interest and listened  attentively. They had

a lot of fun and tried to imitate moves or gestures they had seen  the team perform

>earlier in the day during Sunday service.

This is the first time a drama team has visited the small town and  the camp was

made possible with much effort from Lu Li-li, wife of Nan-Shi  Church’s pastor,

and donations from many Christians. Morning Star drama team had  previously

won an award from the Ministry of Education and it performed two  family-oriented

shows on August 2nd during the church’s Sunday service. One  show was called

“The blessing behind the gift” and the other was called  “Don’t give up”. Not only

did the team unveil two wonderful performances, it also held a  drama camp in the

>afternoon to help youth experience acting.

Lu had thought of introducing drama and arts to Nan-Shi Township  for quite some

time now to help children and raise the church’s visibility  in the township. She felt

it was very important to let residents know that the church also  cared about the

community. The idea of holding a camp was born when she noticed  many church

youth were uncomfortable and somewhat clumsy on stage during  Sunday

>services because they lacked self-confidence.

Lu believed that inviting a drama team to town for a performance  and a workshop

might help children in the community. After sharing this idea with  others, she

found out the town was very excited about this idea too and in  less than two

>months, she was able to raise enough funds.

Though teaching drama to children is a good idea, Lu also hoped  there would be

some evangelistic content during the camp. She got in touch with  Morning Star

drama team by chance and the latter promised to hold two shows in  addition to a

>workshop for youth.

After much anticipation, the show was held on August 2nd and many  villagers

entered a church with their children for the first time on that  day. Parents thought

the show was very interesting and relatable to real life and hoped  the church

>would host a similar event in the future.

For Nan-Shi Church, a church that often uses drama as a means to  introduce the

gospel, taking an up close and personal look at how professionals  do it was a

great learning experience because they were able to see the whole  process

unfold, from setting stage props to dress rehearsals to the actual  performance

>itself.

For youth interested in acting, they got to see a performance in  the morning and

try their hand at it in the afternoon. The drama camp included  lessons on facial

expressions, role playing, creativity, and more. The church plans  to invite another

drama team on September 18th to perform for the townspeople.

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