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["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Friday, May 6, 2005

Bible study, Christian education series grow across Episcopal Church

Education for Ministry, Alpha, Via Media programs post new gains

By Pat McCaughan

ENS 050605-2

[Episcopal News Service] -- While the Rev. Johnna Camp allows that
Education
for Ministry (EFM) has far exceeded initial expectations -- boasting
some
60,000 participants compared to a 1975 goal of about 600 -- the interim
program director's eye is on the next generation.

"It feels like we're at a cutting edge time; we have to make decisions
about
what the program will look like for the next generation," says Camp, who
began serving as interim director two years ago.

She hopes that a mere fraction of the 60,000 bishops, priests, deacons
and
laity who've participated in some way in the popular Christian education
program will be on hand for a 30th anniversary celebration June 3-5 in
Sewanee, Tennessee.

"We're inviting anybody who wants to come, anyone who's benefited from
the
program -- as students, mentors, trainers, coordinators -- to come and
celebrate the gift EFM has been to the church for 30 years, and to help
us
look ahead and see where God might be calling us for the future."

Part of that future involves increased focus on ecumenism and
technology,
says Camp, who is ordained in the Disciples of Christ Church. It also
includes possibilities for partnering with other faith exploration
programs
like the more recent Via Media, or Alpha seekers programs.

EFM began when Professor Charles Winters, a University of the South
School
of Theology faculty member, created curriculum to help equip people to
connect their Christian faith with their daily lives. Since then,
materials
for the four-year program, which includes a year each of studies in the
Old
and New Testaments, Church History and Theology, plus theological
reflection, have undergone a continual process of revision "to stay
relevant
within the life of the church and the culture," Camp said.

"The idea was that all Christians are ministers by virtue of our baptism
and
the program was designed to equip people to integrate theory and
theology
with life experience which, we hope, leads to ministry in the world,"
she
said.

It worked in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the Rev. Ann Fontaine mentors
the
first EFM Online class, scheduled to graduate this May.

"One of our graduates started a hospice program in Fremont City, which
we
didn't have before," said Fontaine whose involvement with EFM began in
the
1970s and who also serves as a supply priest in the Diocese of Wyoming.
She
plans to mentor three online groups this year, in Idaho, Montana,
Nebraska
and Wyoming.

"It gives laity a good grounding in their theology. It makes it their
theology rather than just something they receive," she said. "They begin
to
operate out of that stance. Another member in one of my online groups is
the
mayor of a town here. He says he does theological reflection as part of
his
political decision-making process. EFM makes for more reflective people
in
the world, in all kinds of settings."

Fontaine believes that partnering EFM with the Via Media or Alpha
programs
would be helpful because they are intended for different audiences.

"I don't think EFM is designed for people who haven't had a little bit
of
experience in Christianity before," Fontaine said.

Alpha Course builds relationships

Alpha Course leader Johnetta George is a parishioner at St. Thaddeus'
Episcopal Church, a large and historic congregation in Aiken, South
Carolina.

She recently described the evangelism and relationship-building benefits
of
Alpha -- a program established in 1976 at England's Holy Trinity Parish,
Brompton -- in an article published earlier this year by "Crosswalk,"
the
newspaper of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.

"Having attended all six of the Alpha courses hosted at St. Thaddeus, I
have
witnessed firsthand the impact this program has had on our church,"
George
wrote. "After each course, we have welcomed new families into our
congregation and seen many of these newcomers move into leadership roles
in
our parish.

"And serving on the Alpha Course team has been anything but boring. It
seems
God deepens the faith of all those involved, regardless of how many
times
one has been involved in the past."

George notes that the Alpha Course, "described by many as 'Christianity
101'... presents the basic principles of Christianity in a relaxed and
informal setting." Each evening session opens with a simple dinner and a
time of welcome and music, followed by group study using courses
presented
on DVD and LCD projector.

Topics include: "Who Is Jesus?", "Why Did Jesus Die?", "How Can I Be
Sure of
My Faith?", and "Does God Still Heal Today?"

"At Alpha, new relationships are formed and old relationships are
strengthened," George writes, noting that a mid-course "Holy Spirit
Weekend"
retreat helps participants in building community.

The Alpha website, www.alphausa.org, reports that more than 5,000 are
currently running in the United States, and about 1 million people in
the
U.S. and Canada have participated to date.

Participants include Anglican, Baptist, Methodist Pentecostal,
Presbyterian,
Roman Catholic, and Salvation Army congregations, among others.

Alpha says its curriculum is designed for "those wanting to investigate
Christianity, new Christians, those who feel that they have never really
got
going as a Christian, newcomers to the church, and those who want to
brush-up on the basics."

'Via Media' curriculum

Like Alpha, an inquirers program, Via Media represents a place to start,
says the Rev. Kay Sylvester, program director for Every Voice Network,
the
national ministry which aims to grow the Episcopal Church and which
developed the evangelism series.

She said the eight-week adult Christian education program is being
expanded
to include a "morals and values" curriculum expected to be released
soon.

"We'll use the existing Via Media (or middle way) videos but focus the
conversation on a different discussion," she said.

Since its release in February, 2004, Via Media has been used for
confirmation classes, seekers and inquirers classes, Lenten programs and
for
Sunday adult forums. It recently went international, spreading to the
Dioceses of Montreal and Niagara in Canada, Sylvester said.

The Rev. Hal Hayek, rector of St. Anne's, Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
said a Via Media training session he hosted recently drew about 60
people
from his own diocese and several neighboring states. He has used Via
Media
for adult education and even hopes to offer it at a local coffeehouse.

"We're the buckle on the Bible belt, and we need a different approach,"
Hayek said. "We're trying to reach people who aren't churched and we
have to
go to them instead of waiting for them to come to us. It's a good model
for
getting the news out. It touches the basic points of what to say and how
to
say it in a non-threatening format."

Via Media involves conversation, a meal and contemplation of such basic
questions as why bad things happen to good people, says the Rev. Rosa
Lee
Harden, vicar of Holy Innocents, San Francisco, and former executive
director of Every Voice Network and a creator of Via Media. She said Via
Media was an attempt to use technology as a means of evangelism and to
connect with other progressive Christians around issues of faith.

"The idea was to use the internet to connect folks," Harden recalled. A
former journalist, she said the opportunity arose with General
Convention
2003 and controversy surrounding the consecration of Bishop Gene
Robinson as
the first openly gay bishop.

"I started trying to figure out how, as a parish priest in a
predominantly
gay parish, to help parishioners understand that this theology against
Bishop Robinson's consecration was not the only way of understanding it.
I
wanted to have a way to teach theology that reflected our conversations
through centuries -- that have formed who we are, using Jewish midrash,
the
councils at Chalcedon and at Nicea where we sat together and talked and
came
to understand who God is in conversation."

Reaching out to other denominations

Camp, meanwhile, is reaching out to other denominations, through an
online
newsletter and by adapting the program for use among Quakers, Lutherans
and
Methodists who are now engaging EFM.

"We work out of a four-source model where people take their own life
experiences alongside the traditions of the church, the messages of
secular
culture, their own personal belief statements and work to integrate
them,"
she said. "The folks who have been involved in EFM and who have been
formed
in theological thinking and reflection are able to look at any issue
within
the life of the church in a way that brings in more than one source and
a
theologically informed laity is one of the best gifts we could give to
any
denomination."

For more information about Alpha, visit: http://www.alphausa.org
For more information about EFM, visit:
http://www.sewanee.edu/EFM/EFMhome.html
For more information about Via Media, visit: www.everyvoice.net/viamedia

-- The Rev. Patricia McCaughan is senior correspondent for the Episcopal
News Service. She is also associate rector of St. Mary's Church in
Laguna
Beach, California.

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