The Education Program

The congregations of St. Stephen's and St. George’s share a common understanding of the Christian faith that informs but does not determine what ought to be done in living the Christian life.  Our education programs takes into account diverse understandings of issues within and without the church.  Ambiguity and difference are not only tolerated but accepted, as long as issues and questions are probed and insights are gained.

The content of our education programs for youth and adults is not a matter of setting down right belief.  Rather, the aim of our teaching is to present the understandings of the inherited tradition and the questions, challenges, and understandings that arise in the contemporary church and world.  In other words, our teaching attempts to present the questions, challenges, and understandings of the present without demanding a narrow orthodoxy.

Whatever the issue, teaching seeks not conformity but understanding of what the witnesses have claimed in the past and what makes sense now.  In most areas there is some consensus on fundamental convictions.  As grounded in Christian identity, we claim that Christ has transformed us, changed us in relationship to creation itself, given us new life.  But transformation and new life do not mean uniformity of belief.

How people are reconciled with God and what this means for our understanding of the world and for what we should do ‑‑ such questioning stands at the heart of a serious engagement with the faith that has been given us.  This is the heart of Education for Christian Living.