EfM: Classic & EfM: Wide Angle

Education for Ministry (EfM) lives at the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is a unique, small-group formation program based on study and practice in theological reflection. Since its founding in 1975, this international program has helped more than 120,000 participants discover and nurture their call to Christian service where they live, work, and play. EfM helps the faithful discover the Christian tradition, bringing it into conversation with their experiences of the world. EfM seminar groups develop theologically informed, reflective, and articulate seekers of God.

The EfM curriculum is presented in a cycle of four year-long Paths. They are:

• Path 26-27: Following Jesus

• Path 27-28: Listening to the Spirit

• Path 28-29: Engaging the World

• Path 29-30: The Journey with God

The theme for each Path in the cycle provides a lens for focusing the work throughout the year. Weekly assignments guide participants’ responses to the engagement material. Small-group seminars utilize EfM’s Core Practices to provide focus and discipline to EfM seminar life.

Each year, Spiritual Sojourners accompany the EfM community through the Path, providing a continuous year-long theological reflection by identifying, exploring, connecting, and applying the Path’s theme.

Textbooks support a multi-media study approach, providing participants with their weekly engagement assignment. Participants go through EfM: Classic beginning with Year 1, studying linearly through to Year 4. The focus of study for each year is:

• Year 1-The Old Testament

• Year 2-The New Testament

• Year 3-Church History

• Year 4-Ethics and Spirituality

EfM: Wide Angle, a one-year study introducing the participant to all aspects of EfM’s formation approach, may be taken prior to committing to EfM: Classic, after graduating from EfM: Classic, or somewhere in-between study within EfM: Classic. It is a way to start, come back, or to refocus study throughout the participant’s EfM formation journey.

The Path, which is your seminar’s guide to group work, is included with your course enrollment fee. The Path supports EfM participants in preparing for their weekly seminar sessions. While it may not be possible to do everything assigned each week, giving priority to regularly completing as much of the work in the Path as possible will enhance your formation for ministry through study and theological reflection.

Beyond the Path, you must purchase textbooks required for participation in the EfM curriculum, which include:

1. Community Gathering text

2. Your particular year participant textbooks (Years 1, 2, 3, 4, or Wide Angle)

3. Bible with Apocrypha for Years 1 and 2 in EfM: Classic

2026-2027 Community Gathering

• A Full-Hearted Life: Following Jesus in This Secular Age | Jake Owensby

Year 1

• Introducing the Old Testament | Rolf A. Jacobson & Michael J. Chan

• Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter | Lindsay Freeman

Year 2

• Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey | Mark Allan Powell

• Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus | Matthias Henze

Year 3

• A Short World History of Christianity | Robert Bruce Mullin

• The Episcopal Story: Birth and Rebirth | Thomas Ferguson

• The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song | Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Year 4

• A Primer in Christian Ethics | Luke Bretherton

• The Spiritual Way: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Practice | Philip Sheldrake

Wide Angle

• Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again | Rachel Held Evans

• Being Disciples: The Essentials of the Christian Life | Rowan Williams

• Ladder to the Light | Steven Charleston

• The Monastic Heart: 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life | Joan Chittister

• Church Meets World | Winnie Varghese

Suggested Study Bible Translations

• The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version

• The Westminster Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version

• Harper Collins Study Bible: Fully Revised and Updated

• The CEB (Common English Bible) Study Bible

Registration for EfM: Classic and EfM: Wide Angle opens mid-July 2026. Search out a mentor, on-site or online, and let EfM accompany you on your spiritual journey with God and with others!

EfM: Classic EfM: Wide Angle:

For groups whose mentors reside in an EfM Partner Diocese:

• $372.75 (tuition: $345, copyright clearance: $10, administrative fee: 5%)

• For groups whose mentors reside in a diocese without a diocesan contract:

• $425.25 (tuition: $395, copyright clearance: $10, administration fee: 5%)

EfM: Reflections

For groups whose facilitators reside in an EfM Partner Diocese:

• 47.25 (tuition: $40, copyright clearance: $ 5, 5% processing fee)

For groups whose facilitators reside in a diocese without a diocesan contract:

• $89.25 (tuition: $80, copyright clearance: $ 5, 5% processing fee)

EfM: Catechumenate (piloting now, available 27-28)

Congregations that are in an EfM Partner Diocese:

• $100 (+5% processing fee)— congregations up to 100 people

• $200 (+5% processing fee)—congregations between 100 & 300 people

• $300 (+5% processing fee)—congregations larger than 300

Congregations that are in a diocese without a diocesan contract with EfM:

• $200 (+5% processing fee)—congregations up to 100 people

• $400 (+5% processing fee)—congregations between 100 & 300 people

• $600 (+5% processing fee)—congregations larger than 300