Plankinton UMC puppet ministry (photo from Shirlee Weich)

Over the past six weeks, congregations across the Dakotas have been participating in the Bishop’s Thanksgiving offering. Bishop Lanette invited individuals and churches to participate in a shared, connectional effort by donating to Feeding South Dakota and the Great Plains Food Bank of North Dakota. She also encouraged “tangible expressions of God’s love—ways of tending all of God’s creation together" through meeting direct needs of people in their communities. 

Plankinton United Methodist Church found a creative way to share this call to action and invitation to generosity – through their puppet ministry.

“In November, we focused on lessons about thankfulness,” shared Shirlee Weich, a member of PUMC who leads the puppet ministry.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the group presented a puppet play called “Thankful for Dinner,” featuring two of their puppeteers. Lux Gillen and Myah Johnson, who have been part of the puppet program since 3rd grade, chose to stay on as “lead puppeteers”, helping the younger kids but also presenting more challenging puppet plays.

This particular play required them to change characters midway through to depict two different scents. The first scene depicted two children complaining about their Thanksgiving at home and the food they didn’t like. The second scene showed two children at a homeless shelter expressing joy and gratitude for the Thanksgiving meal, as well as the difficulty of going without food at times because of costs.

“I usually give the congregation a little explanation of how the play ties into a Bible message,” explained Weich. “In this case, I told them how it tied into an additional offering we would be taking later in the service for the Bishop’s Thanksgiving offering.”

PUMC puppeteers share a message on thankfulness. (photo by Shirlee Weich)

The puppet program at PUMC was started by Margaret Salmonson in the early 1990s when her husband, Dick, was serving as the pastor in Plankinton. After Margaret and Pastor Dick retired to Mitchell in 1996, the puppet program was inactive for a while. The program was resurrected by a member of the church, Elaine Titze, who had recently retired from teaching. She decided the puppets had been quiet for too long and started them up again. With the help of a member of the youth group, Maycee Johnson, as well as the pastor, the ministry was relaunched one day a week for children in grades 3-5

Sadly, Elaine passed away unexpectedly last year. Despite the devastating loss, the decision was made to continue the program.

“I decided to take over the program since I was now retired from teaching and felt an urging from God to keep it going,” said Weich.

The school bus drops off the children at the church after school on Thursdays. They begin with snack time, facilitated by another faithful volunteer, Bonnie Johnson. After they are refueled, the kids move into program time.

“I added a little movement time before we start our lesson,” explained Weich. “We use a short video or game to work out some of those wiggles!”

One resource Weich discovered is called “Douglas Talks.” The online video program, started by a man who has been involved in children’s and puppet ministries for years, includes lessons featuring his puppet, Douglas.

“After watching the video, I reinforce his message with a short discussion sharing the Bible verse again, making it a mini lesson typical of a Sunday School lesson,” said Weich. The children get to choose the puppet that fits the character they have, along with the clothes, etc. They also make signs to display on the puppet theater. “Learning to hold up the puppet for up to 5 minutes as well as open the mouth when talking is not easy!” she added.

The kids break into groups to practice or prepare a script to be presented during Sunday worship.  

“The presentation is done as part of the children’s message,” explained Weich. “However, the lesson has an impact on all ages.”

If you have stories about ways you and your church are spreading the message and love of Jesus in your community through the Thanksgiving offering challenge or in other ways, we would love to hear and share them!