Confirmation Ministry
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Confirmation Ministry – Living a Life of Discipleship
A time will come in your child’s life when he or she will be ready to take more of the responsibility for his or her own spiritual growth within God’s family. At Messiah, Confirmation Ministry most often takes place in seventh and eighth grades. It is a period of more deliberate instruction leading up to affirmation of baptism, when we publicly say “yes” to the covenant God has made with us in our baptism and promise to continue to live in the covenant of baptism for the rest of our lives.
Confirmation ministry is a two-year commitment. Classes begin in September of each year. It is work, no doubt. But confirmation is also fun. We enjoy being with the kids. They have the opportunity to engage each other and the Word of God. Especially if they become active in our youth group, they grow spiritually and emotionally during this time.
Catechetical ministry has as its goal discipleship. While part of confirmation is to learn more about Christ, the ultimate goal is for the students to know Christ – and that it be their heart’s desire to follow Christ. Christianity is more than learning about one’s faith. It is a way of life altogether. The total person is engaged in the process. Education for this life must therefore be experiential, personal, and engaging. Catechetical ministry will give your child the tools he/she needs to be a faithful disciple.
Each child is paired with a mentor who will work with the child on specific lessons and model discipleship. Much of the work is also to be done at home with parental support. Parents play an integral part in confirmation ministry and meet regularly with the pastor for support.
Practicing faith in the home and taking part in the ministries and missions of the congregation are the keys to becoming disciples of Christ. Faith needs fertile ground to grow and “is far more likely to take root in the rich relational soil of familes, congregations, and mentor relationships where young people can see what faithful lives look like, and encounter the people who love them enacting a larger story of divine care and hope.”1
1Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 11.
RESOURCES (2017-18 Program Year):
Click on the following links for downloadable forms and information.
Class Schedule 2022-2023 year
Classes begin Sunday, September 11 at 8:30 to 9:20 a.m. and continue every Sunday through Pentecost Sunday, May 28, 2023 when we anticipate that students will be confirmed.
Lessons
Based on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.
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