The 2022-2023 Sunday School and Catechesis registration document is now available here.
For more information on Sunday School and Catechesis, click here.
View or download the new 2022/2023 Christian Education catalog.
The goal of the lay-led Adult Christian Education Program at St. Mark’s is to provide a variety of open-hearted, innovative, experiential, and creative educational opportunities that connect us through our stories and experiences to each other and to the people who came before us.
Our understanding is that as people of all ages and stages, we are involved at many levels in a search for meaning, relevance, and community. We look to parish members for their invaluable input, their willingness to volunteer, and their amazing support and encouragement throughout the year. Our thanks to all of you!
We have designed a program with the intention of including a variety of educational approaches. In addition, we provide experiential spiritual education for youth in middle and high school, using the Teen Text curricula recommended by our Diocese. For adults, we provide a rich range of classes that encourage belonging in our parish, from Baptism classes for parents, to Bible and Religious Studies, Experiential Courses (we explore the larger questions of existence, share our stories and look for connections between life issues and the Christian story), book-centered classes, Buddhist Meditation, Arts at St. Mark’s, and classes that encourage bonding. And we are delighted to continue our “Pop-Up” classes which allow for new ideas to emerge throughout the year beyond what is planned for in this annual catalog. Each class holds out the promise of openly engaging one another in our life experiences so that, as we worship together, take and teach classes together, and serve the greater community together, we grow and thrive as a spiritual community.
Our program hopes to spark your interest in spiritual growth and renewed belonging to the St. Mark’s community. Our hope is that each of you says “yes” to a class that meets you where you are on your journey.
Welcome to the 2022–23 Adult Christian Education Program!
The St. Mark’s lay-led Christian Education Program is preparing to launch the Adult Program for 2021-22, which will be a blend of face-to-face as well as virtual and even blended opportunities. As Christian Education co-directors, we believe our goal should be to provide as many rich and interesting adult education opportunities for the parish as possible as an important way to keep our community knitted together while we are operating remotely and virtually.
If you would like to teach a class and haven’t yet submitted your idea, please send a short blurb to Greg Niblett, Karen Falk, Michele Rivard and Keith Krueger at ChristianEducation@stmarks.net describing your course and including your preferred dates and time for the class as well as the leader/leaders who will guide your course. Once approved, we will do our best to accommodate your preferred dates and times.
Throughout the year, we will continue to provide pop-up classes—classes that are formulated after the publication of the Christian Ed catalog. If you want to design and teach a pop-up class, please submit your ideas to Greg Niblett, Karen Falk, Michele Rivard, and Keith Krueger at ChristianEducation@stmarks.net. Once approved for content and timing, these classes will be announced to the parish.
We look forward to a year in which we have a growing sense of belonging as a church and as individuals within a thriving community. We hope our Christian Education classes will allow each of you to stay connected with old friends and discover new friends in our class communities while continuing to grow spiritually.
Greg Niblett, Karen Falk, Michele Rivard, and Keith Krueger
Christian Education Co-Directors
Our Christian Education History
Our Christian Education history at St. Mark’s began in the 1960s when Rector Bill Baxter wanted to bring experiential learning to our church. With Christian Education lay leaders, he provided rich and relevant educational programs for adults, teens, and older children based on the work of Charles Penniman, a mid-20th-century Episcopal theologian who wanted Christianity to assist people in their daily lives. Instead of focusing on Bible stories alone, Penniman took the teachings of scripture and developed a program called Functional Education that would provide people with ways to address the problems of life. Click here for a detailed exploration of Penniman’s ideas, with annotations from the tenth Rector of St. Mark’s, The Rev. James R. Adams.