Home    Parish Staff    Programs/Ministries    Newsletters/Calendars   Join Us
 Volunteer Opportunities       and Father Lance Robbins'  Wisdom Diary  

EDUCATION FOR MINISTRY

EFM  Students and Graduates Stories

Education For Ministry is a four year course, held in Good Shepherd's  Library every Thursday, September through June. Our course materials are produced by the School of Theology of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.  Our program is not only a wonderful learning experience, it is also a wonderful fellowship gathering where we get to know even better our fellow students, from our own church and other churches.

Here is a short introduction about the program but you can find out more by contacting Father Lance Robbins in Webster NY at 585-872-2281 vm # 2, or visiting -

http://www.sewanee.edu/EFM/index.htm 

Introduction

The purpose of this course is to train you to be an effective minister. Christian ministry takes many forms. Some of us are called to be ordained. Most Christians are not ordained, but they are ministers none the less. Jesus told his followers to preach the good news to all nations. The gospel, which means the "good news" of Jesus' life and work is for the salvation of the whole world. We become members of God's church at baptism when we promise, among other things, to respond to the call to bring the good news to all people.

There is no one way to do this. Sermons preached from a pulpit or personal witnesses are not the only means of proclaiming the gospel. One of the simplest ways of describing the "good news" is that it is an act of love; one brings God's love to people that they may respond by loving God and one another. People do not find God's love only by talking about it or showing strong emotions. Love is an action word, it is something we do. Whenever you have anything to do with another person. What you do is an acti of ministry. You may bring God's love to that person, or you may be God's way of bringing Christ's love to that person. Either way, it is your ministry. The only question is whether your ministry is effective and contributes to the work of the gospel or contradicts it.

To be effective in your ministry you need to know of the love of God. It is not simply an emotion or happy feeling. It involves many things:

* The creation of all things; and especially the creation of human beings in God's own image.

* God's continuing to care for us even when we reject God

* God's choice of a particular group of people to be the means of leading all people to a "promised land"

* God's having sent his only Son to fulfill the promises made to this group of people

* God's guidance of those who follow Christ and God's presence with them through the Holy Spirit

All these things came to be known and experienced through many centuries. The story of God's relations with a chosen people must be known if we are to recognize what the love of God means in our own lives and in the things we do in relation to other people.

*****************************************************************