Testimonials

Suffragan Bishop of New York

“When Melina Smith introduced StoryMakers, which she and her team at Calvary-St. George’s developed, I was immediately taken by it and thought this needed to be introduced to the whole diocese and beyond. This curriculum encourages creative and experiential learning for children who learn to make the Bible stories come alive through creative media such as arts, music, and plays. And, in turn, children make their own spiritual stories come alive in the Bible stories they learn. They become the story makers. It is a holistic and creative approach to spiritual formation of children, the care and nurture of whose souls Jesus himself recognized as an important mission. What is even more attractive is that this curriculum has been developed, in Melina’s own words, ‘with small churches in mind who do not have trained professional Sunday school teachers and who may just have one or two volunteers to run a multi-age Sunday school.’ I encourage our churches, small or big, to try this out.”

Children’s Ministry Coordinator for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA

“The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh partnered with StoryMakers NYC in response to many of our small parishes struggling to provide in-person and online children’s ministry programming for families. We have received nothing but positive feedback about the curriculum, which is low to no prep and easily translates to home study. I am happy we could partner with StoryMakers to facilitate formation for so many.”

Children, Youth & Family Minister for Fellowship Lutheran Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma

“StoryMakers is adaptable in many different settings, whether you have a one-room-schoolhouse kind of vibe or you have rooms and rooms of classes! The open-and-shut aspect allows leaders to seamlessly use the guides while educating the children. It takes very little prep while still having a huge impact. There are loads of curricula to choose from, but StoryMakers is unique in the way they hold the ancient stories in ways that are imaginative and modern while still being reverent and timeless. Children take ownership of their zines and the creative and innovative tools inside. They’re able to create and share what stories mean to them, then after the season is over, they can take home those zines. This isn’t a worksheet curriculum, and this isn’t something that’s going to be extra trash in all the minivans in the church parking lot. These are treasures children can go back to again and again, engaging the stories over and over.”

St. John’s Park Slope in Brooklyn, NY

“St. John's is excited to be relaunching our children's ministries after a long hiatus. We needed a curriculum that would bring a great experience both to our children and volunteers. As many of you know, working with volunteers is one of the hardest parts of the job, especially if those volunteers are expected to do a lot of outside work to prepare for Sunday morning. Thankfully, StoryMakers makes this part easy! Stories are packaged in such a way that allows the volunteers to have everything they need on the day of service so that the only thing they have to do is show up and lead the kids with love and excitement. Throughout it, all the creators of StoryMakers have been with us at every step to help us implement this new curriculum and our families could not be more excited!”

Executive Director at A House on Beekman, Bronx, NY

"StoryMakers has been a wonderful gift for the students and staff at A House on Beekman. We have been working towards making lessons across all subjects more engaging and exploratory, and StoryMakers has helped leaders plan Bible lessons through this lens. The students love acting out the stories using the scripts, and leaders have infused STEAM principles into the lessons.…When talking about God’s master plan for designing the world, the leaders emphasized this concept by having students break into groups and make a plan for holding children to the wall using nothing but one roll of duct tape. Elements from science, reasoning, social skills, and more infused into the realization that God’s master plan was extremely involved, ultimately showing how much he loves his creation, which includes each one of us!”