Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Christian Formation when it is done right costs money. The money makes the commitment to education stronger; where your treasure is there will your heart (and head) be also.

Tonight we finished our fall quarter classes at the Center at St. Andrew’s: Space for Healing, Community and Lifelong Learning. The offerings included Greed, Sex and Dirt: The Liberating Power of the Gospel taught by Dr. Frank Shirbroun who taught the New Testament for more than 17 years at the Episcopal Theological School in Claremont, Calif., Taize: Liturgy, Song and Life led by our associate priest, Terry Steig, who directs our Sunday evening Taize service and the Anglican Sources course I teach in preparation for confirmation.

The Center hosts four quarters of five-week courses during the year on Wed. nights. The evening begins with Centering Prayer at 5:45 pm followed by a meal at 6:15 then class from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

For most courses we charge $50 with ample scholarship support available. This charge was rather controversial (“isn’t this covered by our pledge payment?”) but over time it has made the program much more effective. It ups the ante for participation so people take the courses seriously. It helps underwrite our half-time Center Program Director’s salary and it provides for the kind of meal that is a real community builder.

In addition to our class line up we host special events and major speakers. We have had the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson and Phyllis Tickle and will soon have Ann Redding, the recently defrocked priest who is now a practicing Muslim. Each of these had a ticket price higher than a first-run movie. All had (or will have) good sized crowds – 850 for Bishop Robinson, 250 for Ms. Tickle.

To get the word out takes a promotion strategy and good relationships with a number of local media outlets. We have developed and are refining templates to be sure that we do this in a well organized manner.

I’ll be sharing more about the Center and its mission and methods in later blogs. But I wanted to share up front that it takes time and money to do it right.