Confirmation Program

Faith is Something More Caught than Taught

PURPOSE

Our Confirmation program is designed to help students know, love, and serve Jesus throughout their lives. Faith is something that is more “caught than taught”, so our program is designed around student participation in a variety of interactive Christian experiences and discussion follow-ups throughout the year. It culminates in a public profession of their faith on their Confirmation Sunday, where they’re received as a professing member of Resurrection Church.

PROGRAM

The confirmation program is open to any student grades 7-12. To be confirmed a student must participate in five or more of the Christian Experiences activities (below). These experiences are specifically part of the confirmation program and include a time for discussion at some point following the event. A student may attend as many events as desired, but there must be at least one event from five different experiences.

In addition, students also attend a Confirmation Preparation Retreat to reflect further on what they learned through the confirmation experiences, plus explore what it means to be confirmed and live as a part of Christ’s family. (The date for first retreat will be scheduled as students near completion of their experience requirements.)

Finally, and prior to scheduling a confirmation date, each student prepares a faith statement to be used at their Confirmation Sunday, where they’re received as a professing member of Resurrection Church. Since each student determines in which Experiences they will participate, there will not be a single date on which everyone completes their journey. Several different Confirmation Sundays will be held throughout the year and each student can choose the one which works best for their family. Once your student has signed up for the program you will be alerted to the upcoming event.

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES (students choose five or more):

Retreat Experience: Winter Chill retreat (tentatively scheduled for President’s Day weekend at Camp Koronis in Paynesville)

Camp Experience: Camp Refuge (early August; formerly known as Summer Sizzler)

Wilderness Experience: Youth Boundary Waters Canoe trip (summer 2023)

Service Experience: Feed My Starving Children, mission trips, filling flood buckets, etc. Experience It: Adopt-A-Highway clean up, 11:30a, Sunday, Oct. 30

Worship Experience: Opportunities to worship in a variety of Christian settings beyond Resurrection, to experience the diversity of Christian worship.

Death And Resurrection Experience: Experiencing a funeral home &/or cemetery followed by discussion of the Christian understanding of death and resurrection.

Bible Experience: Short-term Bible study with a creative look at what’s in the bible, its dependability, and discovering your own personal life verse. (4-week study: 11a-noon, Sundays, NOV 13, 20; DEC 4, 11)

Generosity Experience: How and why do Christian’s practice generosity? May include making something to give away, collecting money and bringing it to Hastings Family Services, shopping to fill Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes, etc.

Prayer Experience: Learning various ways to pray: Prayer journals, “praying in color,” memorizing the Lord’s Prayer, etc.

Devotion Experience: Installing the YouVersion bible app on your phone/tablet and completing at least one devotional reading plan. “We (YouVersion) wholeheartedly believe a daily rhythm of seeking intimacy with God has the power to transform lives. That’s why YouVersion creates biblically centered, culturally relevant experiences that encourage and challenge people to seek God throughout each day.”

PARENT/GUARDIAN HELP

Since worship is the foundation of the Christian life, the best way you can support your student during this time is to ensure that they regularly attend worship either on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:00 am, or on Wednesdays during rezYouth. Your help would also be appreciated when chaperones, drivers or other assistance is needed for the various events.

FINAL NOTE

Whether your student already has a deep faith in Christ, or they are just starting to explore what that means, this program will be a valuable time for them. However, just because someone has finished the program doesn’t mean they are ready to make a public profession of faith in Christ. Please respect your student’s integrity by not forcing them to be confirmed if they are not ready. (Note: Pastor Mark skipped his own confirmation after completing the program and didn’t profess his faith until several months later.)