Youth Confirmation
Youth Confirmation preparation, 2023-24
Information sessions for parents and youth to learn about the program and expectations:
- Wednesday, August 30, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; gather at the baptismal font in the main church
- Sunday, September 10, 1-2 p.m.; gather at the baptismal font in the main church
REGISTER HERE
What is Confirmation?
Confirmation is the Christian rite of passage in which a baptized person makes a public affirmation of their faith in Christ and commitment to follow Christ’s way of life. For young people, Confirmation also is a step across a primary threshold between childhood and early adulthood. The young person claims responsibility for the vows made to God on their behalf at Baptism by their parents and godparents (The Book of Common Prayer, 302-305). From this point forward, the confirmand exercises their agency to grow in faith and observance, otherwise known as discipleship. Confirmands thus affirm both their true identity in Christ and accept the implications of embodying the Christian way of sacrificial love, compassion, forgiveness, service, and trust in God.
What are the aims of Confirmation preparation?
Our program provides youth, who typically participate during the ninth or tenth grade year, with a path and space for spiritual growth and maturation, an experience of Christian community among both peers and adults, times and spaces for authentic and brave engagement with the content of our faith, as well as learning practices for living joyfully and faithfully.
What commitments do confirmands make to prepare themselves?
The following key commitments will deeply prepare you to make a decision about whether you are ready to participate in the rite of Confirmation.
- Participation in youth group and youth events: attend and participate in our bi-weekly youth group meetings and in special events like the Christmas pageant and service days (obviously, if you’re away, that’s ok). Being Christian is about having bonds with people you know and how know you. Youth Group meets on 1st and 3rd Sundays, 6:30 – 8:00, in the Small Fellowship Hall. Each evening begins with supper and then moves to activities, games, small group time, and prayers.
- Participate weekly in an Episcopal Holy Eucharist. Sacramental life and weekly worship in community are foundational elements of Episcopal life because how we pray shapes how we believe, so we expect you to participate in worship weekly, be that at St. Stephen’s or another parish or institution.
- Serve in a ministry of the church: The church is not a building, it’s a community of ministry, of people who give of what they have—time, energy, money, skills, etc.—to serve and worship in the name of God’s life and love. We want confirmands to experience church from the inside by active engagement in a ministry. This may be fulfilled in many ways: acolyting Sunday morning or serving in the evenings at the Celtic liturgy, helping make or serve the Sunday supper, serving at the farmers market on Saturday mornings, or another commitment of your choosing that is approved by the staff and clergy preparing you for Confirmation. This also entails involvement in special events (#1) such as the Advent Fair, Youth Pageant, Maundy Thursday Agape Meal, and Good Friday Stations of the Cross.
- Mentorship: establish a mentoring relationship with a mature Christian in your life with whom you may bravely wonder and reflect about the great questions of faith and Christian experience. We expect you to meet with your mentor at least once each month. With parental guidance, confirmands are expected to identify a mentor, an adult of mature Christian faith, who may be a member of the family or a trusted family friend (excluding siblings). If needed, we can help match you with a mentor in the congregation. It is helpful though certainly not required if mentors read the Confirmation book.
- Confirmation sessions and concluding retreat: these sessions (4th Sunday evenings except as noted below) and the retreat focus are a time to dig deeply into the core principles and patterns of being Christian. Each session is about the assigned chapter from My Faith, My Life by Jenifer Gamber. The concluding retreat ties it all together. Purchase your book at: https://www.churchpublishing.org/myfaithmylife
We acknowledge that this program asks a substantial commitment from teens in the midst of important and demanding academic, extracurricular, and athletic commitments. We equally affirm our conviction that this way of preparation provides teens with everything they need to grow in faith and maturity so that they are prepared to claim their adult status in the church and responsibility for their own spiritual life.
How may parents support confirmands?
The very best way to support your young person on this journey is by walking with them on your own journey. One way is to read the adult Confirmation book by the same author, Your Faith, Your Life, and share your thoughts. Another possibility is to participate in any of the adult inquirers classes (offered in fall, winter, and spring), or to attend just those sessions that are of most interest. Either way, honest sharing with your teen about your own faith life is the most powerful way to grow as Christians. It may well be awkward at times, but taking on your own commitment to grow alongside your child will be a gift of immeasurable value, especially when you invite vulnerable conversation and wondering that focuses on direct experience and personal encounters rather than information and rote answers. Purchase your book at:
https://www.churchpublishing.org/yourfaithyourlife
Some teens’ schedules do not permit them to participate in the Confirmation sessions, so it always is possible instead to participate in one of the adult inquirers classes that meet at a different time, usually on Sunday mornings in the winter. For that matter, it is possible to do a self-study with a parent’s guidance. The confirmand upholds the other core participation commitments but engages with the material in a different way.
Schedule
Confirmation Sessions, 6:30-8 p.m. // Small Fellowship Hall
Arrive having read the appointed chapter of My Faith, My Life
September 24 – Session 1, Chapter 1, Baptism and Confirmation: Beginnings
October 22 – Session 2, Chapter 8: Navigating the Church: From Local to Worldwide Church
November 12 –Session 3, Chapter 2, Bible: Stories about Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
January 28 – Session 4, Chapter 3, Knowing our History
February 25 – Session 5, Chapter 4, Faith: What Do We Believe?
March 24 – Session 6, Chapter 5, Worship: Responding to God’s Blessings
April 27-28 – Weekend Retreat, location TBD (in town, Roslyn, St. Stephen’s, etc.)
Chapter 6: The Sacraments: Signs of Grace
Chapter 7: Spirituality: Created for Prayer
Chapter 9: The Mission of God: What’s Your Ministry?
May (specific date TBA) – Bishop’s Visitation
Staff Contact
The Rev. John Jenkins, associate rector // email
804.288.2867