Adult Formation Fall 2023
Sunday Mornings: 10:15am-11:00am
September 10, 2023 -October 22, 2023
(click the Course Title for details)
- Women of The Saint John’s Bible
Instructor: Mother Rebecca
Location: In Roper Hall & Livestream on YouTube
- Discernment as a Spiritual Discipline
Instructors: Father Ted & Pastor Nancy
Location: Parlor
- Ethics & The Good Life
Instructor: Dr. Courtney O’Dell-Chaib & Father Casey
Location: Vestry Room
- Cracking the Relationship Code
Instructor: The Rev. Jared Williams
Location: Impact Kids Room (South Building, 2nd Floor)
- Sacred Ground
Instructor: Lisa Magee & Barbara Geiter
NOTE: This class meets every other week
Location: S202 (South Building, 2nd Floor)
Weekday Schedule
Offerings
Tuesday Evenings: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
September 2023 – February 2024
- The Way
Location: Youth Center
Thursday Evenings: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
September 14, 2023 – May 2024
(No classes on holidays and special events)
- Disciple Bible Study IV
Location: via Zoom
Offering Descriptions
Women of The Saint John’s Bible
Sundays | September 10 – October22 | 10:15am – 11:00am | Location: Roper Hall & Livestream on YouTube

Join Mother Rebecca this fall for a class focusing on women in Scripture. Frequently, the stories of biblical women are omitted from our Sunday lectionary readings. By contrast, the faces of these women are frequently and intentionally illuminated in The Saint John’s Bible. In this five-part series, we’ll reflect on several of these illuminations as we hear how these courageous women responded to God’s call in their lives.
Discernment as a Spiritual Discipline
Sundays | September 10 – October 22| 10:15am – 11:00am | Location: The Parlor


Pastor Nancy and Fr. Ted will lead this class which will explore what it means to discern God’s will for your life and teach methods for more faithful living.
Ethics & The Good Life
Sundays | September 10 – October 22 | 10:15am – 11:00am | Location: Vestry Room

What does it mean to be a good human? What kinds of lives do good humans lead? Who decides what counts as “the good life”? Together in “Ethics & The Good Life” we will think about what it means to be a good human in 2023. Living within tremendous complexity and rapidly progressing biotechnologies, are some of our categories like “the human,” “life,” or “the good” perhaps more messy than they seem?
Dr. Courtney O’Dell-Chaib teaches Religion and Ethics at Parish Episcopal School. She has a doctorate in Religion from Syracuse University, an M.A. in Women’s Studies from Texas Woman’s University, and an M.T.S. in Theological Studies from Brite Divinity School. She is the author of Desiring Devastated Landscapes: Love After Ecological Collapse, (Syracuse University Press, 2019), “The Shape of This Wonder: Consecrated Science and New Cosmology Affects” (Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 2019) “Biophilia’s Queer Remnants” (Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 2017) and Mother’s With Multiple Sclerosis: Voice, Identity, and Empowerment (VDM Verlag, 2008). Currently, she is developing programming for secondary students that addresses environmental trauma and anxiety.
Cracking the Relationship Code
Sundays | September 10 – October 22 | 10:15am – 11:00am | Location: Impact Kids Room, South Building 2nd Floor
Using over five decades of research into relationships by Dr. John Gottman, we will explore methods to improve communication, attunement, connection, and conflict resolution in marriages and other kinds of relationships. This class is offered with the Figs with Kids group in mind.
Sacred Ground
Sundays | September 10 - October 22 (every other week) |
10:15am - 12:00noon |
Location: Classroom S202
Sacred Ground is a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity. The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. The class meets every other week.
The Way
Facilitator: Father Ted
September 2023 | The Youth Center

Are you new to Christianity and interested in learning more? Are you new to the Episcopal Church and have questions? Maybe you have been Episcopalian for years and long to go deeper in your faith? If so, we have good news for you. The Way is returning as an in-person opportunity to grow and get your questions answered. If you are new to Transfiguration, The Way will prepare you for membership (whether through baptism, confirmation, or reaffirmation).
The class will normally meet Tuesday evenings in the Youth Center. While class will start at 7:00pm, the building will be open starting at 6:30pm so you can bring your dinner and eat there before class begins.
Disciple Bible Study IV
Facilitators: Pastor Nancy DeStefano & Al Blackwell
Meets Thursdays | September 14 to May 2024 | 6:30pm – 8:00pm | Zoom

Deepen your awareness of God’s word in a truly transformative Bible study experience. Prior participation in the Disciple Bible Study series is not required for this class. Participants with all levels of biblical knowledge will study independently and gather weekly in an online setting that features group discussions, breakout sessions, and video presentations by leading scholars. The Disciple IV: Under the Tree of Live study manual may be purchased on your own or through the church by contacting Pastor Nancy . Scholarships for study materials are available.