Pip: The Play Collective is where ministry gets a little more imaginative — and in this episode, Pastor Heather Roth Johnson, one of the players, makes the case that play is not a detour from faith formation; it might actually be the road.

Mara: That’s the territory we’re covering today — what it looks like when creativity, collaboration, and a willingness to experiment become tools for discipleship. Let’s start with the invitation to fill your bucket.

Fill Your Bucket

Pip: The question underneath this post is one a lot of ministry leaders quietly wrestle with: what do you do when your program calendar feels stale and your imagination has run dry?

Mara: The post puts it plainly — “play isn’t a distraction from discipleship — it is often the doorway to deeper relationships, courageous imagination, and meaningful faith conversations.”

Pip: So the upshot is that play isn’t a reward you hand out after the real work is done. It is the mechanism by which people actually connect, take risks, and talk about faith honestly.

Mara: The event making this concrete is a Fill Your Bucket gathering on Wednesday, August 19, from 9:30 to 11 in the morning at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Saint Paul. The team leading it is the PLAY Collective — Rev. Jen Rome, Rev. Stephanie Luedtke, and the magnicficent Emily King alongside the author.

Pip: PLAY is also an acronym, which is either very on-brand or a sign that someone had a very productive afternoon with a whiteboard.

Mara: It stands for Play on Purpose, Leading into the Future, Art, Storytelling and You, and Yes, And — a framework built around imagination, collaboration, and what the post calls faithful innovation.

Pip: That “yes, and” piece is worth sitting with. It comes straight from improvisational theater, and the idea is that you don’t shut down a new idea — you receive it and build on it. In a ministry context, that’s a genuinely different posture than most planning meetings model.

Mara: Practically, attendees are asked to bring their ministry program calendar and come ready to brainstorm. The post lists hands-on experiences — including, notably, squishing fingers into shaving cream as a way to explore Gospel storytelling.

Pip: Tactile theology. Bold move.

Mara: The promise is that people leave with practical ideas, creative storytelling techniques, and confidence to try something new. RSVPs go to heather@storyboardingchurch.com or through the Facebook event.

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Pip: Courageous imagination as a discipleship strategy — that’s not a small claim.

Mara: It’s the kind of idea that tends to sound obvious in retrospect, once someone’s already done it in a room full of shaving cream.