LEGO is a fun way of getting church groups to open up and talk about their faith, a communications expert who runs workshops based on Lego Serious Play says.
The expert, Matt Doherty, a member of the leadership team at the Community Church, Southmead, trained in the technique, which he uses to help businesses improve their skills. “It’s an inclusive and effective way to stimulate discussion and problem-solving,” he says of the strategy, which has been taken up by some of the world’s biggest brands, including Google and Coca-Cola.
Groups come expecting to sit down and build a model together from the array of bricks in front of them, but, in first being asked to share a favourite memory from their church experience over the past year, for example, they find themselves acquiring the communication tools that will make them comfortable in talking about the bigger questions.
“A question might be: what’s something you have seen God doing through the ministry you’re involved in,” Mr Doherty suggests. “They’ve got a minute then to try and build something using the skills I’ve already taught them, and that’s when the really good conversation starts to happen.
“Those are communication skills I didn’t think the Vicar had”
“A group yesterday were talking about what makes your church different. One church modelled their leadership listening to God, in the story of Moses and the burning bush. Another said their church was good at holding things in tension, which they demonstrated with the bricks; another didn’t build anything except a tall tower in the middle of the pile, representing a stronghold in the middle of surrounding chaos. We had 20 different answers. It never ceases to surprise me what they come up with.”
Building a model, and then talking about it, is much easier than trying to articulate the answer to a question that puts them on the spot, he suggests. He has been keen on building Lego ever since he was a boy, and enjoys it in his adult and professional life in a way he could never have imagined, he says, describing Lego Serious Play as “a perfect combination of some of my life’s passions: creativity, communication, and strategy.
“Talking about faith can be difficult, and considering big questions like the meaning of life isn’t easy, but using Lego to externalise your ideas makes those thoughts more tangible and accessible.
“When I started out, it was never the goal to support churches planning their social impact for the year, or helping large groups of young people figure out their connection to prayer, but it’s seriously good at those things, and I intend to press into it more.” After all, “Who doesn’t love Lego?”
