Education for Ministry (EfM) invites participants into small, mentored groups that provide the framework for understanding life and shaping actions as Christian faith is deepened. EfM seminar groups meet locally and online, offering a four-year curriculum that develops a theologically informed, reflective, and articulate laity.
Since its founding in 1975, this tried and true program called Education for Ministry is one year at a time for a total of four years of study, where more than 120,000 participants have discovered and nurtured their call to Christian service where they live, work, and play. EfM is truly a life-changing experience.
EfM helps the faithful to discover the Christian tradition, bringing it into conversation from experiences of the world. EfM seminar groups meet onsite, online, or a combination all in person, developing theologically informed, reflective, and articulate seekers of God through certified Mentors. This is way more than Bible Study.
Many people have been taught one must be ordained to be a minister, but our vows at baptism say something different: all baptized Christians are ministers. God calls us to be active participants in ministry. As the Church, we are called to continue the ministry of Jesus. We are called to be the hands, heart, and incarnate body of Christ, where we are, through worship, reflection, service to others, and by the proclamation of God’s Word to all people.
The EfM program is designed to help Christians find and prepare for their ministry. It is that vocation for which we pray at the end of the communion service: “And now, 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.”
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.”
For more information contact our EfM Diocesan Coordinator, Sherry Simon, at stsimon2749@yahoo.com
Click HERE for a list of parishes who support EfM within the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona