What is Confirmation?

The Book of Common Prayer defines Confirmation as “the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop.”

Why be Confirmed?

Because Confirmation is the acceptance of one’s own faith, it is practically the moment when the church recognizes the Confirmed individual as a member of the local church’s body. This is covenantal relationship whereby the member promises to be active in worship on Sundays and to be generous with time, talent, and treasure within the church’s body. Likewise, the leadership of the church enters into covenant with the member by promising to equip, train, and serve the member.

Who can be Confirmed?

Anyone who is Baptized in the name of the Trinity and is able to make a mature commitment of faith. In order to make a mature commitment of faith, we believe one must be an active participant in Sunday worship while also completing our Confirmation program. We at St Michaels take this very seriously because we believe in order to expect much of members, we must expect much of Confirmands. Therefore we require both for adults and youth to take the ALPHA class followed by a deeper look into who we are at St. Michaels.

What does Youth Confirmation look like?

We seek to be as aligned with the adults as much as realistically possible. Therefore, we take ALPHA in the FALL with the adults, and in lieu of “I Like Mike,” we spend the SPRING on Sunday mornings (9:20am-10:20am in the youth lounge) processing and expounding upon what we learned in the Fall. The reason we do this is because developmentally, teenagers and younger need more time to wrestle with and comprehend concepts than adults do.

Important Components

-STUDENTS alone MUST INITIATE an appointment with me, Hamilton, or Al (CANNOT BE A PARENT!) to start the process. This is their commitment, not anyone else’s.

-Begins with Alpha in the Fall – Tues Night 6-8pm. These dates are Aug 30 – Nov 1, 2011. No more than 2 nights may be missed by a Confirmand. If there is a conflict, this must be taken up with the youth minister privately, and make up classes may be discussed.

-Classes run in the Spring Sunday mornings from 9:20-10:20am SHARP! Dates are Jan 8, 15, 22, 29, Feb 5, 12, 26, Mar 4, 11, 18, & 25. These will be taught by the youth minister with the assistance of clergy. A Confirmand may not miss more than 2 of these extremely important sessions. If there is a conflict, this must be taken up with the youth minister privately and make-up classes may be discussed.

-Confirmation will be offered to 8^th grade and up.

-Brief Homework is given during the Spring classes to flesh out what we have learned. This is expected to be completed as a family, with parents facilitating. All the material and answers to the questions will be given to parents.

-Each family must meet once during the Spring with the Youth Minster to check in on how things are going.

-Confirmands are required to write a brief testimony for the bulletin on Confirmation Sunday.

-Confirmands are required to facilitate and mentor the next year’s Confirmation class.

-Confirmands are required to attend the Jesus Weekend retreat Feb 17-19 at Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island. See pictures from last year.

Confirmation is a year of active involvement in the church designed to set up members for an active life in the church!