The School of Theology announces the publication of Education for Ministry, 50 Years of Engaging, Responding, and Reflecting. The new book is available online now and in bookstores. Friends and supporters of EfM may purchase the book for 20% off by using promo code EFM20 directly from churchpublishing.org until May 31, 2025.

This carefully curated collection of essays by the many contributors, participants, and leaders from the program’s inception to present day share how the writers’ lives have been touched and formed by this groundbreaking program. Authors include James F. Turrell, Karen Meridith, Edward de Bary, Katie Nakamura Rengers, Richard Brewer, Termaine Hicks, Anne Moats Williams, and many more.

“For half a century, EfM has provided a tremendous opportunity for Episcopalians to gather in community for learning, formation, and theological reflection. As the world around us changes, I am grateful we can continue counting on EfM to form us so powerfully in the faith that sustains and guides us,” writes the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, about the landmark theological education program for lay church leaders.

Grounded in the Christian story based on the Bible, church history, and the sweep of theological thought, EfM provides a foundation upon which to reflect theologically on today’s culture. As the Right Rev. Phoebe Roaf writes in her essay, “EfM has helped me become comfortable discussing my faith with people from various backgrounds and identifying how God was present in the events of everyday life.”

The Rev. Kevin Goodman, executive director of Education for Ministry, summarizes, “As we move into the next fifty years, now more than ever, we are called to meet and understand people where they are and build community in Jesus’s name.”

About Education for Ministry

The Education for Ministry Program (EfM) offers courses for small-group engagement and transformation developed by the School of Theology, at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. An estimated 120,000 individuals have participated in the program since its founding in 1975.

EfM believes our relationship to God matters and is a means of living in a complex world with faith, hope, and love. We believe in creating space for curiosity, community, and looking at life through the lens of relationship to God.