Adult Education 

At St. Stephen’s, we value questions as we seek to unite head and heart in a growing journey of exploration and conversation about the Christian life. We offer a variety of adult learning groups, on Sunday morning and during the week.

Class members choose their own curriculum, and topics range from social issues to contemporary progressive theology to spiritual formation.

Classes for 2009-10 include three DVD-based curriculum focuses:

• “Reading the Bible Again for the First Time,” a 10-week class based on a book by Marcus Borg.
•  “Living the Questions,” a 21-week small-group exploration of progressive theological thought featuring the insights of more than 25 leading scholars and religious thinkers. 
• “Pathways to Prayer,” an experiential introduction to classical spiritual disciples in a progressive framework.

A focus on global understandings of mission and service in a pluralistic world is being developed. Long and short-term studies from the Disciple Bible Study Series are offered regularly, as well as courses produced by Living the Questions, such as “Saving Jesus,” “First Light: Jesus and the Kingdom of God,” “Eclipsing Empire: Paul, Rome, and the Kingdom of God” and “Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today.”

If you like to read, you might enjoy the monthly Fiction Club or one of the Summer Reading Groups. Special roundtable seminars are offered on timely topics like science, religion and environmental issues. A 2009 focus was “Civil Communication in an Uncivil Time.”

On Wednesday afternoons, a wonderful group of retired persons meet to share their “Sacred Journey.”

Other opportunities for you to connect with others with similar interests include our choir; Top of the Hill monthly luncheon for seniors; the Men’s Group; and Common Thread needlework group.