What is the EfM (Education for Ministry) Program?
EfM is digging deeper into our faith. EfM consists of seminars under the administration and guidance of trained mentors. It is a four-year program of study includes the Old Testament, the New Testament, Church History, and Theology. Participation in the EfM program prepares each participant for our own personal ministry to which we are called and for which we pray at the end of the Eucharist. The focus of EfM is on the laity. It is not ordination into the clergy.
Here at St. Peters we have two concurrent EfM groups. Each member of our two groups is about to begin Year 3 (Church History and theology prior to the 20th century)
EfM works in our lives by providing a comprehensive, experiential education in the foundation and message of our Christian faith. Through study, prayer, and the process of theological reflection, the group members companion one another as each moves toward a new understanding of the fullness of God's kingdom. By learning to think theologically and examining our own beliefs and their relationship to our culture and Christian faith, we learn what it means to be effective ministers in the world. We discover that our ministry is at hand wherever we turn:
Everything we do has the potential for manifesting the love of Christ...
Education for Ministry (EfM) is an international Episcopalian program of lay theological education established in 1975. It is administered at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. While the course materials provide substantial academic content, the focus of the program is on life as ministry and each participant’s understanding of their own personal ministry.
EfM seminar groups are organized with 6 to 12 students and a trained mentor who meet for weekly sessions during any nine-month academic cycle. In addition to the theological and academic commitments of these groups, there is a closeness and bonding among the group members. In EfM we each of us, mentors and participants alike, receive that most precious of gifts: we become deeply known to one another. For more information, please see the EfM website: www.sewanee.edu/efm or contact Emily Williams at 894-3447.