The stated purpose of MEEP is to provide training, development and discernment opportunities to lay people to help them identify the Lord's call for them in ministry.
Participants receive academic training, a ministry practicum, and individual spiritual direction.
By the end of the program, these lay leaders will be ready to live out their call to a new or expanded servant leadership in the world, or to a more directed ministry within the church. A few will pursue discerning a call to the diaconate, or possibly the priesthood, but the program is primarily geared toward lay ministry. Academics are taught on two Saturdays a month, in four-hour sessions, from September to June. It includes lectures by specialists, essays, presentations, and small group discussion. Topics such as holy scripture, the prayer book, Christian history, and liturgy are covered.