Sunday Mornings

9:30 – 10:30 AM

For all ages

The classes will begin on September 14, 2008

The purpose of Adult Christian Education at St Francis is to assist people to become disciples in Christ through a learning, loving environment.

The task of adult religious formation is to create settings and processes that initiate people to journey together, exploring, experiencing, and acting in and toward faith. Religious education is about hearing and sharing stories, about talking together, listening, and making connections; about promise, obedience, pathos, and mystery; about sharing hope for the future and seeking peace. We invite teachers and learners to journey together knowing, loving, and serving the living God. It is a journey towards wholeness.

Sunday morning classes for adults are provided as well as morning Bible studies, evening Bible studies, an EFM program, and an EFM Graduate program.

Also frequent educational workshops on Spiritual Gifts, Ministries, and Lenten Programs are offered at St. Francis.

It is through these formation experiences that St. Francis demonstrates its commitment to the Anglican “stool” of Scripture, Reason and Tradition of education.

This Fall, there will be two offerings on Sunday mornings. The first will be a class “Opening the Prayer Book led by Charles Wilbanks. This class will focus on the history and liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer, and will help us understand why the prayer book is such an important aspect of Anglican identity and life.

The second class will be on the timely topic of Faith and Politics. Here we will focus on what is our responsibility as both Christians and citizens in the electoral process. We will discover that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat but Jesus, His Son, was definitely political.

Also this Fall, there will be a community morning Bible study on Tuesday mornings at 9; 30 centering on a powerful DVD series entitled Wrestling with Angels. And finally, on Tuesday evenings at 7 there will be a neighborhood Bible study in the home of Carl Saalbach and Sandy Whiting on the Gospel of Mark

For those who are serious about their faith and wish to explore it in a deeper and meaningful way, there is a program called FEM: Education for Ministry, sponsored by the University of the South, Sewanee.

EFM provides a comprehensive experiential education in the foundations of our Christian faith so that we can minister to others.

The program consists of several parts: Devotional time, sharing time, lessons, and theological reflection. We begin with a period of sharing and spiritual reflection in the guise of a short devotional study and prayer. Then we have “onboard” time which is a time that everyone shares what has been going on their lives the preceding week. Then it is time for the lessons in the Old Testament (1^st year) New testament, (2^nd year), Church History (3^rd year) and theological formation and history (4^th year). The program operates on a model of “the one room school house”.

Theological reflection is at the heart of EFM. It is the opportunity to regularly reflect on spiritual themes, and open new vistas to our understanding of the Divine. It is through theological reflection that we are able to make sense of the things that happen to us in our day-to-day lives.

What those who participated in EFM found was that this was a wonderful way of developing a sense of community with one another. Friendships have been forged through the EFM experience.

We meet Monday evenings, starting September 8^th at 7 and end about 8:30 or 9.