EfM – A Study Seminar

Education for Ministry (EfM) began meeting at St. John’s last fall, welcoming eleven participants to a program of study, reflection, and fellowship. Consider joining us this fall to explore the books of the Bible in this life-changing study series. Each week our community, composed of members of four local New Hampshire and Maine parishes, gathers to examine biblical teachings, both Old and New Testament, as well as to reflect upon our historical and theological traditions.

This study program, developed by the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, is a curriculum spread over four years. Enrollment is for one year at a time, so don’t feel that you have to commit to all four years at once! Year one focuses on the Old Testament, year two on the New Testament, and years three and four examine Church history, traditions, and religious thought over the centuries up to and including the present.

We meet 36 times a year—roughly once a week from early fall to late spring. Each session consists of several parts, including: a report on reading, a reflection on a recent event or a biblical passage, a break for refreshments and sharing, and informal worship. Most of us were strangers to each other as we started, but we are strangers no more. We all seek the path of understanding our faith, and each week we journey for a while together.

This year two St. John’s members participated: Carl Eric Johnson as one of the group’s mentors, and Sandra Pagel, one of three participants in year four. If you wish further information on, or think you might like to consider joining, this unique study program when it resumes in the fall, please stop by the Philbrick Room after the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, June 8th, or call Carl at (603) 842-2968, or Sandra at (603) 379-2377.

(Posted May 29, 2008 by lela)