Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Fall 2013 Issue | Page 21

EfM Mentors Gather, Learn
Lindsay Ryland
They came to Roslyn from all over the Diocese, the
commonwealth and the country: Heathsville, Gloucester,
Ivy, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Oklahoma, Rhode Island
and Maryland.

The event was the annual training of mentors for
Education for Ministry held at the Roslyn Retreat Center
in Richmond, July 28-30. Education for Ministry (EfM) is a
distance learning offering for laity through the School of
Theology of the University of the South (Sewanee). This
training session was the largest EfM training event held in
the country this year with 63 mentors and seven trainers.

The trainers offered four sessions of basic/in-service
mentor training and three more advanced, or formation,
training sessions for those in attendance.

What made this year’s training more exciting than past
years’ is the introduction of a newly created curriculum,
one that continues to be based on the four-year model.
Students concentrate on the Hebrew Bible in Year One, the
New Testament in Year Two, Church History in Year Three,
and Theology, Ethics and Interfaith Encounters in Year
Four. Throughout the four years, EfM groups will