There are a lot of good reasons to start a puppet ministry. I have discovered it’s a wonderful way to share God’s word and the love of Jesus in a very nonthreatening way.
Puppet ministry is a team dedicated to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with your church community and the world using stories, songs, and humor through the art of puppetry.
Starting in a puppet ministry requires a great deal of thoughtful prayer and a willingness to commit your time and energy to a worthy cause.
A good way to start is to sit down, write it out, write out a mission statement. Your mission statement should define why your ministry exists. A good mission statement answers these questions. Who are we? Who do we serve, what do we do and why do we do it? And does this ministry and this mission statement point to God?
Next, you can set your goals and prioritize them. Be realistic about the number of goals that you can work on at one time. Do that for each of your goals.
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A great puppet ministry is designed to break down barriers in order to share the gospel and creative ways that appeal to children of all ages.
Of course, someone has to be in charge. So let’s call them the director. What qualities are needed for this position? They must be dedicated to the mission and should pray daily for God’s help and guidance. They need to have a positive attitude. Be willing to research and learn the skills needed to work in this ministry.
In starting a puppet ministry, you have to be very patient, especially when you are teaching the skills or you are learning them yourselves. So a good director will build positive relationships with the entire team and have a mission vision. Now, what are a mission and vision? Well, it can be whatever and however, you would like your ministry to share the love of Jesus with others.
Recruiting Team Members
Envision who to invite and pray for before you approach them. Make your invitation personal. No emails or texting aloud, inspire others, be enthusiastic, answer any questions and tell them why they would be a blessing to the ministry and why the ministry is a blessing and important to many.
When training a team member. Tell the person what is expected. Show them how to accomplish the task and allow them to do the task.
Invest your time and build a relationship with your team members. Schedule and hold regular meetings and encourage whenever you can.
Training Puppet Team Members
Puppet ministry can be super effective. But it’s not enough to just throw a puppet on your arm and go. Like any art, it’s important to study, practice and strive for excellence. Done poorly, it can just be distracting and counter-productive.
Take the time to train new puppeteers how to sync their puppet’s mouth movements to a song or to words they are saying from a script.
A couple of years ago, I did a gospel magic presentation for a church event. Two young ladies from the hosting church did a puppet skit. They were articulate, easy to hear and did a great job lip-syncing with the puppets. BUT when their puppet was not speaking, it was motionless. They had “dead puppets.”
Teach your puppeteers how the puppet show move and where it should look when it is not speaking. Dead puppets kill a show.
Equipment Required
What equipment do you need to start a puppet ministry?
- several puppets
- a stage
- audio equipment
- puppet scripts
- music
- You will need some money and a financial plan.
You can research where to find your puppets and your other items and just search around. You can look on the Internet and you can just have to investigate all of this. What can you afford?
Think of ideas to raise money. How about your church budget? You could accept gifts and donations or you could have an adopt a puppet plan. The adopt a puppet plan allows people in your congregation to select a puppet and name them.
Unique and fun puppets can be purchased from Possum Woods Puppets HERE, as well as other sites online. Puppetbuildingworld.com has instructions for building your own puppets.
Puppet Scripts can be written by you or you can purchase them online. Our RESOURCE PAGE has a couple of great books with scripts I have written and used for our ministry.
Often you can use the church’s sound system, but if you have a traveling ministry or have your puppet ministry in a room without a sound system, you will need to think about amplification. Also, each speaking puppeteer will need his own microphone. If you pre-record your scripts, you can avoid the expense and technical requirements of multiple microphones.
The Amazing Amp comes with two microphones so two puppeteers can use the system. It is inexpensive and will fill a gymnasium with quality sound. It is the system my wife and I have used for the last 4 years and we love it. It also works with Bluetooth so you can run your prerecorded scripts and music straight from your phone or tablet without wires. You can see the Amazing amp on Amazon by clicking HERE.
The next thing you need is a stage.
You need to figure out what size stage will work best for you. How many puppeteers will be behind the curtain? Will you have one curtain or a second one higher in the back?
If you have the stage you need curtains. Commercial curtains can be very expensive. You can buy large, heavy tablecloths very inexpensively and make really nice curtains.
Want to build your own stage and save money? There is a great article at Puppet Building World.
You can also purchase a portable stage if you will have a traveling ministry. These generally cost $300 to $400 dollars. For our ministry, Possum Woods Puppets uses a PVC pipe stage. It breaks down and sets up quickly. It was donated to us 14 years ago and is still going strong.
If you are looking for an inexpensive, simple puppet stage, I like this ONE
Are your wheels turning yet? I hope they are. Maybe a puppet ministry for your church is starting to take some shape.
Your next step is to name your group.
You want to try to come up with a name that will promote your message. Once you select your name, you can create your own tee shirts or shirts and jackets with your name and your church logo on there. If you use artwork, you can use the clip clip art that’s commercially available, to the public online. Do not just lift artwork off the internet. You will probably be violating copyright.
Puppetry Is Theater
You have to always remember that puppetry is good theater. Which puppets will work best for what you’re doing? Does the music fit in with your theme and does it fit with your audience? What’s your message?
We usually start our program with a peppy little, a song or light and funny material, or even a, a knock, knock joke, some kind of a joke. Then we build-up to the point that you want to make. We usually close with a Bible verse, and a song that will bless the audience. That is especially appreciated at the retirement homes and the nursing homes. Nursing homes love puppet teams because it is so helpful to the people who are in there. It brings them great joy in their heart.
When using music, either make sure it is public domain (non-copyrighted) or you will need to pay BMI/ASCAP. Your pastor can help you handle the legal aspects of music in your church. There are several sites online that sell royalty-free music, especially for puppets.
If you want to start a puppet ministry, we are willing to help any church that would like to start in any way that we can. The big thing is pray about it, pray for God’s guidance and pray for his blessings. Remember, God has given each of us our talents. Why? To use for building his kingdom. And it is such a blessing to be able to share his word and his joy and his promises with all those around us.
Contact us at www.winthechildren.com to have my wife and I train you and your people.
Please consider puppetry as a new mission field for your church. Remember, your mission field is all around you.