Education for Ministry is celebrating 50 years of providing local theological formation with new offerings and a celebratory birthday event later this year. Photo: Education for Ministry
[Episcopal News Service] In advance of its 50th anniversary celebration in June, Education for Ministry has announced new, shorter options meant to engage more people in theological formation in their parish, as well as a new online portal for some of the four-year-course’s curriculum.
According to a news release, about 120,000 people have taken the course, initially called Theological Education by Extension, since it debuted in 1975.
“We rarely hear of people who go through EfM who didn’t feel transformed,” the Rev. Kevin Goodman, its executive director, told Episcopal News Service.
The goal of Education for Ministry, according to its website, is to provide formation for any ministry to which a course participant might feel called – whether lay or ordained – through small-group study and practicing theological reflection.
Goodman said that when the program launched in 1975, the study materials were created by faculty at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. In the early 2000s the program switched to using books written by scholars in their respective fields of Biblical studies, church history, and Christian ethics and spirituality – some of the same textbooks that seminaries and theology schools are using, he noted.
Starting in September, an online study guide will accompany the course texts through a dedicated section, or path, on Pathwright, an online platform designed for interactive group learning. The guide previously had been available only in print.
“The beauty of this is that we can say, ‘Go read this in your text, but also check out this podcast or this video,’ and they can link to it directly from the path,” Goodman said. “We can continually update it.”
To differentiate the existing program from new offerings, beginning in September the traditional course will be called EfM: Classic. A new, one-year course that offers students a look at the same topics the longer form provides will be called EfM: Wide Angle. Both courses are led by group mentors who have had special training.
Also beginning in September, EfM: Reflections, a series of study groups each lasting about six weeks, will help people reflect theologically on a variety of contemporary topics.
During years of serving as an interim rector for congregations, Goodman learned that “formation needs to come in different [ways] in order to meet the needs of where people are.” These new options will provide additional “entry points” for that, he said.
Also, as part of its 50th anniversary, Education for Ministry has compiled a book of essays from participants about what the program has meant to them, titled “Education for Ministry – 50 Years of Engaging, Responding, and Reflecting.” It also is hosting an anniversary celebration June 5 – 8 at the University of the South, with a keynote address by the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, who served former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry as canon for evangelism, reconciliation and creation care; a concert by singer-songwriter Lilli Lewis; and Education for Ministry-related seminars.
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.