Education

Church School
Annie Pierpoint, Church School Coordinator
Find out more on the Sunday School page

Youth Programs
Kellor Smith, Children and Youth Ministries
Find out more on the Youth Programs page

Youth Music
Sara Evinger, Youth Music Minister
Find out more on the Music Programs page

Confirmitzvah and CnC (Confirm not Conform) Confirmation program for youth
Developed by Scott Denman, Kellor Smith and Molly Darling over the course of eight years, this confirmation program is as much a methodology as a curriculum. Offered every two years for youth ages 12 and up, its ultimate goal is to enable youth to claim their faith and then put that faith into action. While it is named “Confirmitzvah” at St. John’s in order to convey the blending of the rigors of the Jewish bar mitzvah with the Christian confirmation traditions, the national program has been named CnC.

Using this curriculum, students learn that faith is not fragile. The program encourages them to ask questions and challenge assumptions. They also explore many different faiths as well as examining the Anglican tradition. After thinking about and clarifying their beliefs, students can then act on them; they know that their faith can make a difference and that their voice matters.

This program incorporates not just the youth, but many other members of the congregation. First, students are paired with adult members, who act as mentors throughout. Then, the whole community celebrates at the Confirmitzvah Ceremony, when students individually and publicly state their beliefs and are confirmed by the Bishop.

CnC has been used successfully in 40 pilot congregations in the US and Australia. One reason it has been so successful is that it is so adaptable. One pilot parish had just 4 students and another had 51, but CnC worked equally well for both. Now a board and interim director, Reverend Laura Toepfer, are in place to move this vision out into hundreds of congregations over the next few years as well as to offer an adult program and a follow up youth program by 2009.

More information is available at www.confirmnotconform.org.

Adult Confirmation
Kellor Smith
When parents of Confirmitzvah youth did not feel adequately prepared to participate in their children’s discussions, St. John’s created a parallel confirmation program for adults. Open to all parishioners and scheduled at the same time as Confirm not Conform, the adult confirmands study similar topics.

Congregational Vocations Commission (CVC)
Suzy Tindall, Chair - stindallsloane@msn.com
CVC has two main purposes within the congregation. We meet every other month as a group, more frequently with individual teams.

  1. To shepherd those who wish to consider Holy Orders through the sometimes difficult diocesan maze. We do this by creating discernment teams of 4-5 CVC members.
  2. To create an avenue for parish or lay discernment . We do that by creating discernment teams for anyone who desires our help in discernment. For lay people this consists of at least 2 CVC members and the focus person can choose other members of the congregation for the other 2 members of the committee.

We also have begun to use the Circles of Trust model created by Parker Palmer in his book, A Hidden Wholeness, to facilitate lay discernment of groups with a common question. We currently have one group that is called the Work as Ministry group. Another group may be created in 2009.

All baptized Christians are called to be ministers. It is that vocation for which we pray at the end of the communion service: “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.”

Adult Faith Formation
Episcopal 101 - Conversations about the Episcopal Christian tradition, led by the clergy, Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM, except on the First Sunday of each month, ongoing.

Periodically the Vestry and/or Ministry Catalysts will use this time to update the parish on the building construction project, church financial and specific ministries like African Partners.

Weeknight evenings - Various classes are led by our members on topics such as the Beatitudes, While We Wait (Advent),

Evening Lenten series are different each year and include a soup and bread supper. Recent themes include social action issues, community outreach programs in the Bay area and lay pastoral care with the bereaved.

Sunday Morning and Weeknight Evenings/Adult Faith Formation
Sandra Ahn - sjahn_vienna@yahoo.com - Various members of the church facilitate and lead classes and discussions on various topics. Recent subjects included The Beatitudes, Finding Our Gifts, While We Wait (Advent). More classes are scheduled for the Winter and Spring of 2011.

EfM - Education for Ministry
Michelle Inama - minama@tnc.org

The EfM program was developed to help lay people gain an understanding of their faith through the study of the Bible, church history, and theology and by bringing that material into dialogue with the events of everyday life. EfM encourages lay people to discover and reflect on that call to ministry in the church and in the world.

This is a four-year program, and participants at all levels meet together weekly from September through May. Some people take all four years straight through and others take time off before completing the program. Participants pay an annual fee for materials and Education, spend anywhere from one to three hours of reading to prepare for each meeting. Although there is a common discussion, there are different readings for the four levels.

This year there is an EfM group meeting at St. Clement’s on Monday evenings. Although the study materials are prepared by the Episcopal seminary at the University of the South (Sewanee University), EfM is open to all who are interested, and the current group includes members from other congregations. To further a sense of community and fellowship, members take turns providing snacks for each session.