Education for Ministry

Every Christian receives the call to Christian ministry at baptism.  Education for Ministry — EfM — is Christian Formation program founded and administered through the School of Theology of the University of the South at Sewanee. Through study, prayer, worship, reflection, and conversation, EfM seminar groups journey together through scripture, Christian tradition, church history, theology.

A seminar group consists of one or two mentors and up to 12 participants. The group meets weekly up to 36 times during the course of a year. Years One and Two study the Hebrew Scriptures, the Gospels, and the New Testament. Year Three reads Church history. Year Four reads systematic theology. EfM is more than just study.  EfM provides a foundation in theological education and a forum through which participants engage deeply and develop knowledge and understanding of the ministry we all share, as they discern how to live into individual ministry(ies) of their own.

Participants can expect to spend two to two and a half hours weekly in seminar and two to four hours of individual homework per week between seminars. Completion of the program takes four years, but participants commit to only one year at a time.

For a list of EFM groups in the Diocese of New York please click on the link to the right of your screen. To access the EfM website, please go to EfM’s home page.