Ministries
Adults
Weekly Growth
Sunday School
Time
Sundays, 9:15 AM
In the Garden Room
Dean Alston Johnson will be leading an adult Sunday school class where they will study select books throughout the year.
In the Cathedral Library
Sundays @9:30 am Father Thomas will be leading a young adult Sunday school class on select books throughout the year.
Theological Education Program
EFM
Education for Ministry is a unique 4-year program in theological education based on small group study and practice. EFM helps the faithful encounter the breadth and depth of the Christian tradition and bring it into conversation with their experiences of the world as they study worship and engage in theological reflection together. The program invites participants into small, mentored groups that provide the framework for understanding life and shaping actions as Christian faith is deepened. EFM seminary groups develop a theologically informed, reflective and articulate laity.
The seminar group is the nucleus of the Education for Ministry program. A group consists of six to twelve participants and a trained mentor who meet weekly over the course of a nine-month academic year. These meetings are usually from 2.5-3 hours in length. Mentor certification to form and facilitate an EfM group requires 18 contact hours of basic/inservice or formation training annually (minimally every 18 months) and approval by the trainer.
Participants are given weekly assignments to study with the help of resource guides. Students are responsible for setting their own learning goals. They spend between two and four hours in study and preparation each week.
In the seminars members have an opportunity to share their insights and discoveries as well as to discuss questions which the study materials raise for them. Through discussion and guided reflection, the seminars furnish an opportunity to deepen understanding of the reading materials.
More important is the development of skills in theological reflection. The goal is to learn to think theologically. By examining their own beliefs and their relationship to our culture and the tradition of our Christian faith, participants can learn what it means to be effective ministers in the world. In coming to terms with the notion that everything we do has potential for manifesting the love of Christ, we discover that our ministry is at hand wherever we turn.
The seminar is supported by a life of prayer and regular worship. EfM groups are encouraged to develop a pattern of worship appropriate to their situations. Liturgical materials are furnished with the course materials.
Over the years, many people have participated in EfM at St. Mark’s Cathedral. More than 80 dioceses of The Episcopal Church, as well as other denominations, participate in EfM.
One to One Care
Stephen Ministry
Our Stephen Ministers are all members of St.Mark’s who have received special training to provide one to one Christian care. They walk alongside one who has had a loss or is going through any of life’s transitions or difficulties. Such difficulties include grief and loss of all kinds, including deaths, divorce, illness, “empty nest,” disability, retirement, and any other of a myriad of life’s transitions that can be painful.
Stephen Ministers listen, care, encourage, and provide emotional and spiritual support on a one to one basis that is confidential, free and empathic. They do not try to fix a situation nor give advice; rather their attentive listening and acceptance provide comfort and healing. Stephen Ministers simply seek to be fully present and prayerful that God will bring healing.
Those who receive care from our Stephen Ministers do not need to be affiliated with St. Mark’s; this ministry is available to those from other churches and those without a church home.
*Nursery is provided during Wednesday Evening Study Groups and Choir*
Bible Study
Women
Time
Weekly on Wednesday’s at 10:30 am from September to May
Location
Room 101 of the Ministry Center
Our discussion is around the lectionary readings for the upcoming Sunday. We hear the Word, and learn about the historical, political and cultural context during which the scripture was written.
We talk about how the readings impact our lives and we take what we learn out into the world as members of the body of Christ.
Bible Study
Men
Time
Each Wednesday at noon
Location
Room 101 of the Ministry Center
Bring a sack lunch and join the clergy of the cathedral in a study of scripture, commentaries and devotional literature. The group will be reading and discussing The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who helped found the Confessing Church. His theology stressed personal and collective piety and revived the idea of imitation of Christ arguing that Christians should not retreat from the world but act within it. The book compels readers to face himself and God in any situation and asks “What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the government worker? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today?” Dietrich’s practice of his faith lead to his execution on April 9, 1945 in Flossenburg concentration camp by the Nazis.
Nourish Your Soul
Dinner For 8
The “Dinners for 8” groups will be starting up again in the Fall. There will be 4 dinners a year hosted by members of each group. If you would like to join us in a “Dinner for 8” group, please contact Judy.
Weekly Gatherings
Wednesday Night Book Club
In the Church Library – Wednsdays at 6:00 pm*. William Weaver leads this study using selected books.
Connect with New People
Friends of Faith Women’s Study
In the Parlor -Wednesdays at 6:00 pm*. Jorie O’Brien leads this study from the books the group decides to study.