b'Renewed Commitmentto FamiliesWritten by Ann GrayKate Given, Children and Young Families MinisterKate Given was raised in the Methodist church in Virginia Beach. Her education was centered on English history and literature. In college, she fell in love with the Episcopal liturgy and its deeply English roots. Later, she and her husband Theo began attending Christ & St. Lukes church in Norfolk. Kates academic interest focused on the literature of the theatre, so when she decided to head toward the teaching of dramatic literature in a college, she chose VCUs MFA program in dramaturgy, and moved to Richmond. They visited GHTC when they arrived, but were admittedly too madly busy adjusting to the demands of his work as well as her studies and teaching responsibilities to get to church regularly. And then, Kate says, I saw the childrens minister position available at GHTC. I remembered the warm welcome. On the day of my second interview with Duane, Theo and I attended the service . the hymns that day were old Methodist hymns I closely associated with my grandparents, [so] when Duane Nettles offered me the role of childrens minister, it felt like maybe God was working something out.Duanes decision to hire her to take on the formation of the little children rested on her clear joy in the presence of children, her understanding of their developmental stages, and the joyful warmth that spills out of her. She has formation in mind, he says, and understands that we are preparig little Christians, little Episcopalians, who are the future of the churchmaybe God was working something out.Kate is thoughtful about how her training in theatrical literatureandthepracticalvalueofdramaturgycan inform this work with young children. She says that she has been thinking lately about the word sacred, which meanssetapart.Thetheatreisalsosetapartfrom Kate leading Godly Play ordinaryexperience,andinthatwayperhapsisalso sacred. The history of both the theatre and the church isgroundedinritual.Bothassignmeaningtocolor, structure, costume, and language to communicate role, story, and message. 5'