HAMPSTEAD — The Education for Ministry program is designed to answer the complex issues of lay ministry, based on the premise that every baptized person is called to ministry.
The ministry program of theological education was developed at the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanne, Tenn. Today there are more than 85 Episcopal dioceses that have contractual arrangements with EFM as well as other denominations. The program is open to people of any faith and is not restricted to Episcopalians.
Students sign up for one year at a time but it is a four-year program covering the basics of a theological education. The students learn about the Old and New Testaments, church history, liturgy, and theology. They generally meet once a week at a local church in a seminar format under the guidance of trained mentors.
Locally, the ministry education program is conducted at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Hampstead and meets Thursday evenings. This program offers a place where people can find , refine, articulate and live their faith. The first meeting at St. Christopher's was back in 1993 and the program continues to flourish. Each year's group is a diverse group of people, usually between the ages of 30 and 80 who are mentored by Ann Gerns and Sue Hale.
"Our diversity lends strength to our discussions and leads to great insights," Gerns said.
Natalie Gallo, a Hampstead resident and St. Christopher's parishioner, is about to graduate from the program. Gallo said she took this course because she wanted to reach a higher degree of spirituality, understand the Old Testament better and study Christian history in an unbiased fashion as well as be able to study this century's theologians.
"The most important of those reasons was my desire to reach a higher degree of spirituality," she said.
Asked what she would do with her new education after her June15 graduation from the program, Gallo said she was considering several options.
"After going through this program and especially the theology reflections, I see life very differently and everything that impacts me," she said. "I think because of that I want to become more involved with adult religious education. However, I am considering social services areas in particular 'A Safe Place' and I think I would like to be an advocate for those individuals who disenfranchised."
The ministry program doesn't prepare individuals for ordination but rather prepares participants to be lay ministers. The Web site, www.efm.com, describes it as follows: "Lay persons face the difficult and often subtle task of interpreting the richness of the church's faith in a complex and confusing world. As the emphasis on lay ministry has grown, EfM has come to play an important role by providing a program that develops an informed and knowledgeable laity."
The ministry program is designed to answer the complex issues confronting people who are involved in lay ministry. The seminar format is the heart of the program, directed and led by trained mentors. The program takes Christian tradition and the group's collective experience and brings their life experiences and Christian education together in the seminars.
Gerns said there is a training program for local people who desire to take the next step after graduating from the program and become mentors.
"Sue and I as mentors meet with the group for about three hours weekly throughout the nine-month course," she said. "We work on assignments, we spend time on theological reflection where we look at everyday items as a beginning point and then proceed through relating the item to scripture, to new insights from traditions and to implications for actions we might want to take in our lives. It is a very powerful and intense piece of the program. It integrates the spiritual part of you with the everyday part of you."
The seminars usually include people who are at all four year levels, providing help and comfort for the newcomers. Gerns said as the year progresses, the first year members begin to develop and define their own personal theology, looking at how they make moral and religious choices and start to get a sense of the direction in which their lay ministry calling might take them.
"This program empowers people to understand that what they're doing today – right now in their lives – is important and, in many instances, is their ministry," Gerns said. "It is doing for others and many are surprised to discover they are already involved in ministering."
Registration for next year is in August and anyone interested in participating in next year's seminar can contact Gerns and Hale through the St. Christopher's Web site: http://www.st-christophers-nh.org/education/adult/ongoing. Payment for the program and program materials is made at the start of each year and Gerns said tuition assistance may be available.
