“We all know that the Church is taking different forms than it once did, and part of that in many places is that lay leaders are increasingly called into ministry roles that are new to them,” shared AST President, The Rev. Dr. Heather McCance. “The School of Discipleship was created to help equip lay ministers with a base of theological information to ground their ministries.”

AST’s Atlantic School of Discipleship (ASD) is a program that was launched two years ago. According to The Rev. Dr. Ross Bartlett, there were specific challenges and needs in today’s church that led to the creation of ASD. “The founding parties of AST (Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United Church) were asking for resources to help strengthen the laity in congregations, with the longer-term aim of enhancing lay leadership,” explained Dr. Bartlett. “The leadership interests of the denominations were quite different and so, ultimately, it was more straightforward to offer a program that strengthened basic Christian knowledge, providing a stronger foundation for subsequent leadership training.”

The program was rooted in AST’s world-class faculty. According to Dr. Bartlett, AST’s faculty have engaged in this “over-and-above” effort because of their commitment to the growth of the whole people of God. The content is non-denominational. There was a focus on developing a curriculum that is both theologically rich and accessible to a wide variety of Christian traditions.

“AST’s faculty is quite special in that they work ecumenically and non-denominationally all the time, while never surrendering their own unique identity,” shared Dr. Bartlett. “Topics like community caring, Christian friendship, the Christian journey in the 21st century, sharing our faith story and so on, are common to most, if not all, traditions.” The program relied on a virtual, monthly module format.

After two years, AST has decided to wrap up Atlantic School of Discipleship for the time being. As such, the program will not be returning for the 2026-27 season. Dr. McCance added AST has been delighted to be able to welcome about 45 students to this program since it began two years ago.

“But it seems from enrollment trends that this format isn’t meeting peoples’ needs the way we'd hoped. AST remains committed to working alongside the Churches as a partner in ministry formation and theological education for lay people.”