Sharon Ely Pearson

SHARON ELY PEARSON has over 40 years experience in Christian formation at the parish, diocesan, provincial and church-wide level. She is a certified Godly Play teacher and an experienced EfM mentor. Sharon has expertise helping congregations choose curriculum for children, youth, and adults and is a sought after leader for conferences, workshops, and retreats on a variety of topics, including sacramental preparation, faith development, adult formation, and administrative issues. She has been active in a variety of national Episcopal boards, task forces and design teams involved in Christian education and formation events as well as strategic planning for many educational programs. She joined Church Publishing Incorporated in 2007 as their Christian Formation Specialist and Acquiring Editor after ten years as Children’s Ministries and Christian Education Coordinator for the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. With a B.S in Special Education, she has a certificate in Christian Education from Hartford Seminary and a Master’s degree in Christian Education from Virginia Seminary. Her thesis, “A Theology of Confirmation for the 21st Century” was the spark for new diocesan guidelines implemented in 2005 in Connecticut and modeled by many others since then. Involved in many local initiatives, she is active at her home church of St. Matthew's in Wilton, CT where she co-leads youth confirmation preparation and convenes their Social Justice & Racial Healing group. She is also a moderator with the Norwalk Registrar Voters office, assisting in elections held in the city where she resides (Norwalk, CT) with husband John, a Jabba-size cat name Shadow, and Chobe, a tennis-ball-fetching rescue black Lab. An avid reader and world traveler, she writes at "Rows of Sharon" http://www.rowsofsharon.com and created "Building Faith: An Online Community for Christian Formation" http://www.buildfaith.org, now administered by Virginia Theological Seminary. Follow her on Twitter @rowsofsharonp and Instagram @rowsofsharon