The Education for Ministry (EfM) “Changing Lives” is a unique learning programme linking Faith and Life. It is primarily for lay people and provides a level of theological education equivalent to training for ordained ministry. The intention is that all lay people should have access to the same quality of education that has normally been the preserve of the clergy.

Every baptized person is called to ministry. The EfM programme provides people with the education to carry out that ministry. EfM offers an opportunity to explore with others the richness of our Christian heritage in order to discover our own way of living and working to God's praise and glory. Lay people face the difficult and often subtle task of interpreting the richness of the church’s faith in a complex and confusing world. They need the kind of theological education which supports their faith and which also trains them to express this in day-to-day living. In addition, as emphasis on lay ministry grows, EfM can be an important part of that growth by providing a programme that develops an informed and knowledgeable laity.

Many people think that a person must be ordained in order to be a ”minister”. The fact is that all baptized Christians are called to be active participants in the church’s total ministry. This total ministry is nothing less than the exercise of the church’s vocation to continue the ministry of Jesus. He reconciled the world to God. We are called to incarnate that reconciliation in our own time and in our own place through worship, service to others, and by proclamation of his Word to all people.

The Education for Ministry programme began in the USA with a vision of enrolling a few hundred students. Within a few years it developed into a programme reaching several thousand students with groups around the globe. EfM was first introduced into the UK in 1988. There are now EfM groups in many different parts of the UK.