USE YOUR TALENTS AND GIFTS FOR ADULT EDUCATION

In the recent past, Adult Education and Formation has focused on the various Sunday education hour series and the Wednesday evening Lenten series. We are now hoping to expand our scope of activities by finding individuals in our church community who would be willing to lead or help in some of the following possible activities:

• 1. Arrange for presentations by outside speakers on topics of interest to the parish. Such lectures could, for example, provide an opportunity to hear the points of view of other denominations and faiths and could be an opportunity for ecumenical pulpit sharing.

• 2.  Compile and make accessible a comprehensive set of resources for self-study.

• 3.  Compile. maintain, and communicate listings of community-based resources for adult education and formation (for example, the programs at the St. Paul Benedictine Center and Luther Seminary's Lay School of Theology)

• 4.  The 9-10 am Sunday morning "education hour" is fraught with many activities and commitments, making it impossible for many to attend the Sunday morning adult education sessions -- and creating a need and opportunity for coordinating and leading education series at other times.

• 5.  Suggest, develop and/or lead new Sunday morning series.

• 6.  Explore new formats for adult education meetings, for example, a conversational or debate format based on a series of propositions or questions, and book club formats.

• 7.  Coordinate adult retreats at St John's or retreat centers such as the House of Prayer.

• 8. The potential of the World Wide Web to reach those at St. John’s and the larger church is only growing. In the last month, the Adult Ed web site (www.StJohnAdultEd.Org) has averaged 630 visitors a day (4000 hits). There is an opportunity to develop existing presentations or new presentations into interactive multimedia presentations for the web, using Power Point or, more ambitiously, new video based presentations tools now available to empower anyone with a recent vintage PC (for example, Visual Communicator; see www.seriousmagic.com).

The Adult Education and Formation Committee will meet in the Parlor on Sunday, April 27, at 11:15 am (after the 10:30 service) to discuss these and other ideas. Anyone interested is welcomed and encouraged to attend. Please contact David Monyak if you have any questions.