By - Julie Clark
Welcome to the
Education for Ministry within Christ Episcopal Church, Rolla.
EFM is the opportunity to do
intensive study with others that are committed to study in a situation that is
open and comfortable.
We start talking about the
assigned Chapter for the week and the conversation can go in any direction.
The class is very open, in
other words we feel we can talk about anything that comes to mind on the
subject we’re discussing – whether it is of a personal nature or dealing with
the study material for Old or New Testament or Church History.
Although each section of the
weekly seminar falls into a definite time schedule, there are never rigid
boundaries kept.
We have had some very serious
sessions but we also laugh a lot.
Understanding and doing
Theological Reflections is an important part of the EFM program.
It becomes the most
stimulating part of our session as it applies to our real life -- real
situations we have dealt with whether it was last week or ten years ago or even
longer.
Theological Reflections is
not academic -- you cannot study for it. It is seeing a life situation from
your Christian point of view and what we use from our Christian tradition and
background to deal with the situation.
The entire course is
designed for four years; some people take only the first two years. It is NOT a
4-year commitment, however, an enrollment is for 1 year at a time. You can take
as many or as few years as you wish. However, they must be taken consecutively.
You cannot pick and choose.
When you sign up for EFM you
will receive a large binder with material for the year and a large binder with
material supporting the entire program. Other reference material needed: a
Bible, a dictionary with pronunciations of names, places, and words, a
reference with maps and charts, a commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(some of these are available in our Church Library).
EFM begins in September and
continues on a weekly basis until May.
The course material is sufficient unto itself and the student is left to study as much or as little as their weekly schedule will allow. Even if a student has had a busy week I urge them to attend as they will always get something out of the class session that is worthwhile…devotions, Theological Reflections, special presentations, videos, speakers, projects, etc.
We don’t keep attendance; there are no tests.
The course material does not tell you how to think nor is it slanted to any particular religious background. It presents fact, context and information. You take it from there. We are very fortunate that we meet on a Wonderful Wednesday which means that you can partake of a catered meal before class. Although the course itself is very well organized and is very thorough, the atmosphere in class is very relaxed. Keeping all this in mind, taking Education for Ministry does require a sense of commitment. But the commitment is well worth the effort.
Please call me for more information…or to enroll for September… or just continue reading.
Julie Clark
364-5380
Every baptized person is called to ministry. The Education for Ministry (EFM) program provides people with the education to carry out that ministry. During the Service of Confirmation we ask God to "Renew in these your servants the covenant you made with them at Baptism. Send them forth in the power of the Spirit to perform the service you set before them." EFM offers an opportunity to discover how to respond to the call to Christian service.
The Education for Ministry program began with a vision of enrolling a few hundred students. Within a few years it developed into a program reaching several thousand students with groups around the globe. In addition to EFM groups throughout the USA, EFM can be found in Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Hong Kong.
Over 60,000 students
have participated in the program, and in the United States more than 20,000
students have completed the full four years. The 2002/2003 USA enrollment
reached nearly 9,500. More than eighty-five dioceses of the Episcopal Church as
well as other denominations have contractual arrangements with EFM.
Lay persons face the difficult and often subtle task
of interpreting the richness of the church's faith in a complex and confusing
world. They need the kind of theological education which supports their faith
and which also trains them to express that faith in day-to-day events.
As the emphasis on lay
ministry has grown, EFM has come to be an important part of that growth by
providing a program that develops an informed and knowledgeable laity.
While the EFM program
does not evaluate or recommend individuals for ordination, some dioceses use
EFM as part of the preparation for ordination under rules which permit
ordination to special ministries without a seminary diploma. We do not
recommend EFM for this purpose unless it is used as part of a comprehensive
program of preparation for ordination.
Many
people think that one must be ordained in order to be "a minister."
The fact is that all baptized Christians are called to be active participants
in the church's total ministry. This Total Ministry is nothing less than the
exercise of the church's vocation to continue the ministry of Jesus. He
reconciled the world to God. We are called to incarnate that reconciliation in
our own time and in our own place through worship, service to others, and by
proclamation of his Word to all people.
The EFM program is
preparation for the ministry to which we are called. It is that vocation for
which we pray at the end of the Eucharist: "And now, Father, send us out
to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful
witnesses of Christ our Lord."
The preparation for
ordination vows usually takes place at a residential seminary. There candidates
develop their knowledge of Holy Scripture and theology and grow in the skills
of preaching, leading worship, and administering the church's sacraments, as
well as in their ability to be spiritual directors. The EFM program does not
teach these skills.
The
seminar group is the nucleus of the Education for Ministry program. A group
consists of six to eleven students and a trained mentor meeting weekly over the
course of a nine-month academic year. These meetings are usually from two-and-a
half to three hours in length.
Through study, prayer, and reflection, EFM groups move toward a new
understanding of the fullness of God's kingdom. This process can be illustrated
by a two-rail fence. One rail is the Christian tradition. The other is the collective
experience of the group's members. The rails are linked by fence posts which
represent the seminar sessions where life and study meet. The fence is grounded
in the soil of regular worship which is vital to the life of the group.
Students are given weekly lesson assignments to study with the help of resource guides. Students are responsible for setting their own learning goals. They spend between two and four hours in study and preparation each week. In the seminars students have an opportunity to share their insights and discoveries as well as to discuss questions which the study materials raise for them.
Through
discussion and guided reflection, the seminars furnish an opportunity for
students to deepen their understanding of the reading materials. More important
is the development of skills in theological reflection. The goal is that
students learn to think theologically. By examining their own beliefs and their
relationship to our culture and the tradition of our Christian faith, students
can learn what it means to be effective ministers in the world.
In coming to terms
with the notion that everything we do has the potential for manifesting the
love of Christ, we discover that our ministry is at hand wherever we turn.
The seminar is supported by a life of prayer and regular worship. EFM groups are encouraged to develop a pattern of worship appropriate to their situations. Liturgical materials are furnished with the course materials.
Seminar
groups work under the leadership of mentors who contract to serve as guides and
administrators. They are not teachers in the traditional sense who are expected
to impart information about the Christian tradition. The teacher's role is
built into the program materials.
As administrator of an
EFM group, the mentor is the person through whom the group communicates with
the Extension Center. A mentor must work as an enabler rather than as an
informer of people. Mentors may be lay or ordained persons. Criteria by which mentors
are selected include: having experience in serious religious study, having a
familiarity with methods of biblical scholarship, possessing a mature faith,
being able to live with the ambiguity within the interpretations of the
biblical tradition, possessing skills which help a group to develop its own
life, and demonstrating a willingness to perform administrative duties.
The
Education for Ministry program is a four-year curriculum. Each "year"
is a nine-month cycle of study. Students enroll for one cycle at a time. Groups
may enroll in any month from September through May. We do not enroll students
or new groups in June, July, or August.
Each EFM group must be
financially viable; therefore, groups must have a minimum of six students. To
maintain an effective learning environment and to provide participation or
everyone, EFM groups may not have more than eleven students.
At the time of
enrollment students pay the full year's tuition. In case of a move during the
academic cycle, a student may transfer to another group.
Participants in groups
under institutional sponsorship pay a 2003/2004 tuition of $340. Fees pay for
the EFM materials and the honorarium for the mentor. In addition, students need
a Bible and may wish to obtain additional reading materials suggested in the
bibliographies.
Continuing Education Units (CEU) are granted to participants in EFM at the rate of 18 CEU for each year of study. There are no examinations or papers. EFM is not a course which offers college credits towards a degree.
Participants in the EFM program study the entire sweep of the Christian tradition, from the earliest period to the present. Students learn the disciplines of biblical exegesis and interpretation, systematic theology, church history, ethics, liturgics and ascetical theology. These are the disciplines which form the core of a seminary education. The traditional content is not studied in a vacuum, however. Students belong to small "communities of learning" in which the events of each person's life may be examined in the light of the materials being studied. While the academic material is substantial, the focus of the program is on life as ministry and understanding that ministry. EFM does provide adult Christians with that basic skill which is the foundation of all Christian ministry -- theological reflection. In doing this, it sharpens the skills of personal and cultural assessment and enhances students' ability to be effective in a variety of ministries.
There
are thirty-six group meetings during the course of an academic cycle. New
students always begin with the first lesson of the first year. Frequently
students in the same group may be studying at different levels.
Students read
thirty-three chapters of academic content and five common lessons which help
the group get started, learn to reflect theologically, develop its spirituality
and life of worship, and examine the potential for various kinds of ministries.
Each year the students encounter a new cycle of common lessons so that they complete
four different cycles during their time in an EFM group.