The Group
The group is the nucleus of the EfM programme. It consists of six to twelve students and a trained mentor who usually meet weekly for 36 sessions over the course of a year. These meetings are generally two-and-a half hours in length.

Seminar groups have a very relaxed atmosphere and often meet in the home of one of the group members.

Study
Students are responsible for setting their own learning goals. They spend around three hours in study and preparation each week. In the group meetings students have an opportunity to share their insights and discoveries as well as to discuss questions that the study materials raise for them.

Reflection
Through discussion and guided reflection, the meetings provide an opportunity for students to deepen understanding of the study materials.

EfM has a creative method of theological reflection that enables participants to make connections between life experiences, the attitudes and values we hold dearly, the cultural context in which we live, and most importantly the insights of 2000 years of Christian tradition.

Students begin to practise this method almost immediately. As biblical knowledge of the Bible and theology deepens by reading the texts, so theological reflection becomes more insightful.

Worship
The group is supported by a life of prayer and regular worship. Students take responsibility to lead the worship each week.

The Mentor
Each group has a trained mentor who contract to serve as a facilitator and administrator. Their role is not to teach but to enable the process of learning to take place in the life of the group.

Educational Model
EfM is a programme where adults may explore their faith and is particularly appropriate to people in their mid life.

The programme stands by one of the very basic principles of adult education, which states that adults learn what they want and need to learn at a time that is right for them. The primary responsibility for learning, therefore, belongs with the student. The amount of effort a person puts into EfM is directly proportional to what will be gained from it. In EfM there are no test papers and no exams although there is opportunity for personal written work.

Through study, prayer, and reflection, EfM groups move toward a new understanding of the fullness of God’s kingdom. This process can be illustrated by a two-rail fence.

One rail is the Christian tradition. The other is the life experience of the group’s members. The rails are linked by fence posts that represent the group meetings where life and study engage. The fence is grounded in the soil of regular worship that is vital to the life of the group.

Syllabus

The EfM programme is a four-year curriculum, though the commitment is to one year at a time. Each 'year' covers 36 sessions. New students usually begin with the first lesson of the first year. Frequently students in the same group are reading different years.

Participants in the EfM programme study the entire sweep of the Christian tradition from the earliest period to the present. Students learn the disciplines of biblical exegesis and interpretation, systematic theology, church history, ethics, liturgy and modern theology.

While the course materials provide substantial academic content, the focus of the programme is on life as ministry and appreciating our ministry in the world. EfM provides Christians with that basic skill of theological reflection that is the foundation of all Christian ministry.

Click here to view the Prospectus as a PDF >

Reading Materials
Annually, students read between twenty-nine to thirty four chapters of academic content, depending on their year of study, and five Common Lessons. These Common Lessons help the group get started, learn to reflect theologically, develop its spirituality and life of worship, and examine the potential for various kinds of ministries. Each year the students encounter a new cycle of Common Lessons so that they complete four different cycles during their time as EfM students.

Topics covered in the reading materials:

• The First Year - The Old Testament
• The Second Year –The New Testament
• Third Year - Church History
• The Fourth Year - Theological Choices

EfM is currently revising its textbooks. Year 1 and Year 2 are now using the following texts:

Year 1 - Either

• A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible [Abridged] [Paperback] £22
  Paperback: 320 pages
  Author: John J. Collins
  Publisher: Fortress Press, US; abridged edition (21 Sep 2007)
  Language: English
  ISBN-10: 0800662075
  ISBN-13: 978-0800662073
  Product Dimensions: 17.7 x 1.6 x 22.7 cm
  Available from Amazon UK  Also available on Kindle
  
  
• Introduction to the Hebrew Bible [Cd-Rom] £26
  CD-ROM
  Author: John J. Collins
  Publisher: Fortress Press, US; CDR edition (1 Feb 2010)
  Language: English
  ISBN-10: 0800696778
  ISBN-13: 978-0800696771
  Product Dimensions: 19 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
  Available from Amazon UK
  

Year 2

• Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey [Hardcover] £26 - £30 Hardcover: 544 pages
  Author: Mark Allan Powell
  Publisher: Baker Academic, Division of Baker Publishing Group (1 Nov 2009)
  Language: English
  ISBN-10: 080102868X
  ISBN-13: 978-0801028687
  Product Dimensions: 32.5 x 3.3 x 17.8 cm
  Available from Amazon UK  Also available on Kindle
  

Year 3 and Year 4 are currently using the materials imported from the University of the South, Sewanee. Sample Lessons for the current Academic Cycle which may be viewed by clicking this Sewanee Link http://www.sewanee.edu/EfM/index.htm and then sample lessons, or Click here to see some sample lessons