Education for Ministry (EfM)

Would you like to explore your faith in a structured, small group setting? Would you like to connect Scripture, Church history and theology to your daily life?

Education for Ministry (EfM) is a four-year curriculum for adult Christian formation. The program is designed to support your faith, help you connect it to your daily life, and show you ways to respond to the call to Christian service. As EfM students, we grow to discover and exercise our varied gifts for ministry in the places where we live and work.

Each EfM session at Good Sam involves listening, sharing our stories, and exploring on how Scripture reflects our own experiences. Over the course of four years, we read the Old and New Testament, explore three thousand years of Church history, reflect on theology and ethics, and discuss how these topics affect our lives on an everyday level.

Join, or ask a question

Email Pam Justus at pam.justus@gmail.com or call 503-734-5857. Or email Desiree Senechal at opioneer91@gmail.com or call 541-224-2998.

When and why was EfM started?

In the fall of 2019, Good Sam re-introduced the Education for Ministry program, offered through the Episcopal Church by the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. This university was founded in 1858 and is owned and governed by 28 dioceses of The Episcopal Church.

EfM itself was founded in 1975 as a distance-learning program for adult Christian formation. From time to time on our journey through life as Christians, we need waystations to challenge, refresh, clarify, and support us in our journey. The EfM seminar, which meets once a week from September through May, serves as that weekly waystation — through reading and reflecting on Scripture and other writings and, in a small-group setting, sharing insights, discoveries, and questionings raised by the readings — to help you focus on your journey with God.

As participants in an EfM seminar group, we share stories of our journey and learn from one another as we deepen our understanding of the riches of the Christian tradition. As baptized Christians, we are called to be active participants in the church’s ministry. EfM can help us discover and exercise our various gifts for ministry whether it’s from our home, work, or elsewhere.

If you are interested in learning more or have questions, please contact the organizers. New participants are very welcome to join!