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Servants Preparation Program Overview

  • The Servants’ Preparation Program main purpose is to prepare future servants with strong Christian character; equipping them with profound knowledge of the Bible, deep spiritual foundation, and thorough understanding of church doctrine. This program is not only useful for people interested in serving, but it is also very helpful for everyone in becoming closer to God, understanding His Word and integrating in our church.
  • It is a 4-years program: Pre-SP, SP-Yr1, SP-Yr2 and SP-Yr3.

Each year is divided into 2-semesters as follow:

  1. 1st Semester: (September – January)
  2. 2nd Semester: (February – July)
  • Pre-SP could be considered as an extension of Sunday school with emphasis on the basics of our Coptic orthodox beliefs and an introduction to service.
  • Each student is required to spend a number of hours per year in co-op service in the church. The type of service will depend on the year and the services needed by the church at the time of co-op.

+  Who can attend?

The program is open for high school students (Grade 9-12) and university students.

+  When and Where?

  • Classes are held every Sunday from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM at St Mary and St Joseph Coptic Orthodox Church.
  • Class location may be changed on a yearly basis depending on the church needs for classes.
  • SP-Yr3 students will rotate between attending didactic lectures and assignment to Sunday school classes. More details will be available in the class.

+  Curriculum

  • Courses of this program are taken from the courses prepared by:
    1. Pre-servants Program of Southern USA Diocese
    2. A Spiritual Guide for Sunday School Service, St. Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, Raleigh, NC
    3. Servants Prep. Program of HG Anba Rafael & Fr. Dawoud Lamee (in Arabic)
  • Curriculum has been prepared to include the following topics:
    1.  Bible Study (BS)
    2.  Dogma (DGM)
    3.  Rituals (RIT)
    4.  History (HIS)
    5.  Spirituality (SPR)
    6.  Theology (THL)
    7.  Patrology (PAT)
  • Lectures given are posted on the church website, servants’ preparation webpage (in PDF format); the abbreviations of these courses have been used in documenting the presentations.
  • Each class is assigned Google classroom where lessons presentations are posted. Link is provided to the students in the classroom