UMCSC pastor shares on podcast about prioritizing play

One South Carolina United Methodist pastor wants the world to prioritize play as a way to practice soul care.

The Rev. Tyler Strange, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Conway, was recently featured on Get Your Spirit in Shape, a well known United Methodist Communications podcast, to talk about how soul care means living from the inside out.

Strange shared how, by rediscovering joy, we can unlock a playful spirit in what has become a “delight deficient culture.”

Strange recently published his first book, “What I Want My Kids and Me To Know: Being Better Humans One Napkin at a Time” (Advocate Press), and he shared about how that playful, joyful spirit is important in our process of becoming a better human—the kind of human God intends us to be.

As Strange shared in his interview with Crystal Caviness, “Theologically, the fruit of the spirit lives when we play.”

He added, “We need to play. I think discipleship includes play, and churches should be a part of that. In our community, we get so worried about looking right, being right, that we just forget to be. And so I think that for me is where all this is rooted in … who God’s made us to be is to be people who seek joy through play. And there is nothing wrong with that.”

Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts, or visit https://www.umc.org/podcasts to read the transcript or learn more.

You can find his book on Amazon or at https://advocatesc.org/store/books/napkin.