Formation
St. Bartholomew’s seeks to be a vital and mature community of faith. We believe God is working in each of our lives, inviting us into relationship with the Divine and one another.
Lifelong Christian education and spiritual formation
We offer lifelong Christian education and spiritual formation by developing learning experiences that respond to the questions, challenges, and needs that each person brings from their particular faith stage and circumstance in life. On Sunday mornings and throughout the week, we offer classes for adults, young adults, youth, children and special all-age learning opportunities.
To learn more about our Weekday or Sunday Adult programs, and information about volunteer opportunities, contact our parish administrator: admin@stbartsatlanta.org.
Children
St. Bartholomew’s encourages the spiritual growth and development of each individual child through worship, education, service, and fellowship.
Children are an important part of the St. Bartholomew’s community as learners and teachers. The Godly Play philosophy guides our time with children in Sunday_School and informs our approach to ministry with children and families throughout our communal life. Register your children here.
Our Curriculum – Godly Play®
(Sundays, 9:30am to 10:15am; 10:15am -10: 45am)
Godly Play helps our children explore their faith through Bible stories, our liturgical practices, and engage in the creative process. Godly Play honors children’s innate sense of the presence of God. Our adult guides and prepared sacred space invite children to experience God though wonder and play. Children have the opportunity to make meaning in life as they learn religious language as followers of Christ.
Our multi-age classes meet Sundays, 9:30am to 10:15am; 10:15am – 10:45am Classes have expanded in time so the children have their own place to be during Small Group Conversations in the parish from 10:15a.m – 10:45 a.m. Classes are available for children 18 months to grade 6. Parents are invited to schedule time with staff during the week to tour our Godly Play rooms. On Sunday mornings these sacred spaces are set-aside for the children to do their work with God. Children 3-6 years of age are offered the expanded time to reflect and respond to the week’s lesson; Children in 1st through 6th grade can continue to reflect and respond, participate in the acolyte, or participate in Treble Choir on assigned Sundays. For more information about Godly Play please visit www.godlyplayfoundation.org.
Faith at Home
Lectionary based readings and reflections – Click here for September 2 Readings
Our faith is not just something we check in with on Sundays, our faith is how we live lives of meaning and purpose everyday, if we will learn to notice and respond to how God is moving. But this awareness, like anything worthwhile, takes practice. Which is why a weekly discipleship practice of Reading, Reflecting, and Responding to scripture in the context of community is so important. The following devotions have been written with this practice in mind. Use them with friends or family to help you deepen your experience of faith experience from Monday-Saturday.
Primary Community
(3 years through Kindergarten, Classroom near Church Office)
Primary children have a strong awareness of self, and they are unrestrained by logical thought. Children are exposed to the core stories of our faith, our patterns of worship, and rituals that bring us together in community. They learn how to care for their space and how to serve one another.
Elementary Community
In the Elementary Community, the children continue to explore the core stories of our faith and expand upon what they know. They continue caring for their space and each other as they build a greater sense of Christian community and make connections to their everyday lives.
Advanced Elementary Community
These children’s interests lie in relating how different stories and information fit together. Learners in this community look for ways to connect the Bible stories they know and explore the lives of saints and other Christians.
Children as Ministers
Children in Worship
Children’s Ministry Team
There are multiple ways to become involved with Children’s Ministries at St. Bartholomew’s. All of these positions require completion of the Safeguarding God’s Children Course. Contact the director for children and youth, or Chip Reynolds, vestry person for children’s formation, for more information or to find your place on our team.
Additional Activities
St. Bartholomew’s is a community who prays. We pray together. We pray alone. We pray for one another through the ministry of the Prayer Chain, and through our parish prayer list which can be found on the weekly announcement sheet. Submit your prayer requests by calling the clergy or the church office, or by emailing your name and details to admin@stbartsatlanta.org. If you have a pastoral emergency, please call the church office at 404-634-3336 and press 5 to be connected to the clergy on call number.
Youth
7th-12th Grades Sunday Morning Formation
(Sunday morning at 9:30am -10:15am in Wardens’ Hall, August – May)
Our Youth Sunday Morning Formation gatherings help young people continue to build deep friendships, through Scripture and the use of Christian language connect the themes of scripture to their lives, learn about the ministries of the parish, get involved in outreach, and discover approaches to spirituality and prayer. Youth engage in active listening, understanding their Episcopal identity, and leadership. Participants explore issues like poverty and violence, learn spiritual practices like prayer beads and meditation, and engage in conversations about important relationships and vocatio
Rite-13 Liturgy
An important part of entering into the youth program at St. Bartholomew’s youth community is a celebration and liturgical acknowledgement of the life transition of entering the teen years. Around the thirteenth birthday of each new teen we have community celebration of the new teens which includes festive dinner, rehearsal for reading in the Sunday morning worship service, and special prayers that are said for the teens, their parents, family and friends. The Rite-13 celebration is in addition to participation in Sunday Morning Formation and other youth activities. Contact Christen Erskine, The Director of Formation, Children and Youth, to learn more about this practice and process.
Youth Confirmation Preparation
Senior High Youth that have completed their pilgrimage are invited to discern confirmation in the Episcopal Church in community. Confirmation preparation connects youth with mentors and the meeting time is negotiated by the group for full participation by all those interested. Participants explore living out the Baptismal Covenant through the Episcopal tradition and helps the youth identify their individual gifts and empower their ministries. For more information contact the Director of Formation for Children and Youth.
Young adult specific formation at St. Bartholomew’s sprang from the need for those in their 20s and 30s to find a community of friends with similar interests and at similar junctures in life. No longer youth, many young adults come to St. Bartholomew’s looking for a Christian community providing a safe space to explore the “chances and changes of this life” with others doing the same. St. Bartholomew’s is dedicated to providing a safe and nurturing place for young adults to come explore their lives in the context of one’s faith. We believe that Jesus Christ is present to us and alive within us as we discover who we are in this world, and who we are called to be. Come join us! You are always welcome here.
St. Bartholomew’s is a place where you can feel free to pursue God in a nourishing, loving and diverse community.
Our Gatherings
We will continue to search for the best slice of pizza when we go across the street to Mellow Mushroom after the 11:00 am Eucharist. Watch here for dates. As with all of our events, ‘All are Welcome’ – if you self-identify as a Young Adult, that is good enough for us! Newcomers are always welcome, so please bring a friend!
Questions? Email the church office at admin@stbartsatlanta.org!
St. Bartholomew’s is a place where you can feel free to pursue God in a nourishing, loving and diverse community. Here you can explore how your life of faith, often during a time of transition and uncertainty, is present with the mystery of the Holy Spirit. We have conversations that deepen our understanding of God; at the same time feel safe to question or even doubt our understanding. Most of all, we lift each other up as we grow together. As much as we long for God, it is God who infinitely more longs for us.
Adult
For us, learning comes formally through classes, preaching and worship but also informally by participating in Christian community and ministry.
We believe that all people seek meaning for their lives. This quest for meaning usually raises three questions for the one on the journey: Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live? These core questions return at different age stages of life and at times of crisis, loss and change. We seek to meet you at whatever stage or time in your life you find us.
We understand the role of Christian Education is not so much to provide answers to the questions raised by life, but to offer a supportive and informed setting for the questions to be lived and explored. The container for the journey is the Christian faith as received by the Episcopal (Anglican) tradition. The Bible and your own gift of reason are highly valued as sources of wisdom. The overall goal of our program is to help you become who you were created to be, and to be a faithful Christ Bearer in a world aching for hope, wholeness and peace.
Sunday Morning Classes:
9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m September – May | Parish Hall Meeting Room
Adults gather to further their spiritual growth by taking part in our Adult Education classes.
Monday Classes:
WnW—Word in Words Book Group
2nd Monday each month, 7:30pm, Library
All readers are welcome to this group which chooses books that are fiction and available in paperback. We welcome you to join us on a regular basis, or whenever you see a title that interests you!
Women’s Spirituality Book Group
3rd Mondays of the month, 7:00 to 8:30pm, September to May, Brooks Room
Our books are chosen by consensus of the group.
Education For Minsitry (EfM):
6:30pm, Amerson House, Facilitated by Marcia King
EfM is a four-year seminar in Christianity for adults covering the entire sweep of the Christian tradition from the earliest period to the present. Participants, who commit for one year at a time, meet every week over the academic year. EfM teaches the seminarian how to think theologically, deepen understanding of scripture and of church history, challenge assumptions, and expand the universe of faith. For more information, please visit www.efm.sewanee.edu.
Tuesday Classes:
Contemplative Centering Prayer
Tuesdays, 6:15pm to 7:15pm, Amerson House,
Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer where the purpose is to rest in God and receive God as God is. Basic instruction with discussion will be given each session, followed by 20 minutes of silent prayer. Time will be made to explore prayer and the contemplative life in general. For more information, please contact the church office at 404-634 3336.
Wednesday Classes:
Wednesday Morning
Wednesdays, 10:30am, Taylor Room
Everyone is welcome to come explore the upcoming lectionary readings. Facilitation duties are shared among participants.
Wednesday Night
6:30pm to 7:30pm, Meeting Room
Join us mid-week for study and conversation on a particular topic pertaining to the church.
Online Learning:
Check our YouTube channel for videos of past classes to view at your convenience.
Click to download the winter and spring 2020 Adult Education schedule.
Safeguarding God’s People and Children
St. Bartholomew’s is committed to providing a healthy, safe, and nurturing environment where, by God’s grace, the full work of the Church can be carried out. Sexual misconduct on the part of any clergy person, employee, or volunteer violates the mission of the Church, is prohibited, and will not be tolerated. Safeguarding God’s People teaches how exploitation and harassment occur, the awareness we need to prevent such occurrences, and – should exploitation or harassment occur — how to respond.
All vestry and adults working with children and youth are required to complete Safeguarding God’s People and Children Training.
Safeguarding God’s People Training is required for all clergy, church employees, vestry members, lay pastoral care ministers, spiritual directors, Eucharistic visitors, hospital visitors authorized by the church, leaders and facilitators of all adult programs and small group ministries, seminarians, interns and lay chaplains.
Safeguarding God’s Children Training is required for all clergy; all persons who teach, supervise or assist with supervising children or youth in ministries, programs or activities more often than occasionally. All paid or volunteer Church Personnel whose work regularly takes them throughout the facility or grounds; all persons who provide transportation to children or youth without other adults in the vehicle more than occasionally; all vestry members and members of similar decision making groups.
Follow this link for training and class times.
Contact admin@stbartsatlanta.org for additional information.
My name is Reverend Deacon Florence Cooper Mitchell. I was ordained in 2022 as deacon in the Dioceses of Atlanta. Prior to becoming a deacon I taught science in the following Georgia counties and city school districts: Dooly, Crisp, Dougherty and Atlanta Public Schools. During my tenure as an educator I taught: chemistry, biology, physical science, mathematics, forensic science and environmental sciences. I was born in Brooks County Georgia and reared on my maternal grandparents’ farm in Quitman, Georgia. Upon graduation from Brooks County High School, I enrolled in Fort Valley State College where I earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry. I continued my education by earning a Master of Science in Biology from Albany State University.
Karen Dickey was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina and has called Atlanta home for the last 28 years. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from North Carolina A&T State University and her master’s degree in accounting from Keller Graduate School of Business. Karen has been involved in church accounting for the last 10 years. She considers church accounting “her ministry” where her skill, working with God’s people, and passion for social justice intersects. Her hope is to use her gifts to enhance St. Bartholomew’s community centered mission.
Maquita is a published storyteller with a deeply rooted dedication to truth-seeking and narrative change work in overlooked communities. Maquita has seven years of experience in marketing and content communications for the financial, higher education, and government sectors. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in Journalism. She was the editor-in-chief of two teen magazines, the author of three books, and now ghostwrites and documents some of life’s precious moments through video, podcast, and an online journal.
My name is Rev. Shirley Porter. I am a Priest Associate at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church at the invite of the Rector, Rev. Dr. Angela Shepherd, and I look forward to meeting with you!
Hello, I’m Kristi Painter is St. Bartholomew’s Parish Administrator. Kristi has a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology and a degree in Industrial Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology. She recently moved back to Atlanta after spending several years in Philadelphia working as a United Methodist young adult missionary with a homeless services organization. Her calling is assisting congregations in living out their faith through both service and advocacy.
Hello, I’m 
The Rev. Alex Sherrill
The Rev. Canon Dr. Angela F. Shepherd 
Debbie Kerr 
The Rev. Peter Wallace 
The Rev. Dr. Stefanie Taylor
Audry Gagnon
Stephen Frketic 
Kenneth Hilson
Deacon Katharine Hilliard-Yntema
The Rev. Bill Deneke,