Confirmation Class of 2009
Confirmation 2010 kicked off on January 8 with the lock-in. See photos.
Confirmation Overview
Confirmation at Immanuel Presbyterian Church is a meaningful and fun opportunity for our eighth-graders to think deeply about what they believe and begin the journey of coming to an adult faith of their own. We do this through a series of Sunday evening classes that cover a wide variety of topics related to faith and life. But we also have some great times of just having fun together as well as opportunities to live out our faith by serving others.
We at Immanuel believe that confirmation is just one of the earliest steps on the journey of faith and commitment. If you decide to confirm your faith and join the church, you are committing who you understand yourself to be at that point to continue to journey with God as you understand God at that point, knowing that your understandings will grow and change as your journey continues.
PURPOSE, ASSUMPTIONS, AND EXPECTATIONS
In our view the purpose of confirmation is to help the participants
1. to be exposed to our Christian and Presbyterian heritage and theology,
2. to dialogue with it and with others who are trying to live out what Christian faith means in their own lives, and not merely to parrot back “the right answer”
3. to intentionally think through what they believe at this stage in their lives, recognizing that this not the end of their faith journey, but only an early stage of it, and
4. to, hopefully, affirm in good conscience the promises that were made for them in baptism and enthusiastically continue the journey of following Christ – but the choice to do this will be theirs.
We operate under the following assumptions:
1. We are all busy people, and we may be busier than most here in Northern Virginia. We have homework, family time, recreation, and other commitments and activities that take up our time and attention.
2. With confirmation like anything else, what a person puts into the process will be a good gauge of what he or she will get out of it.
3. We all have choices. You have a choice about how seriously you will take this time.
We also share the following expectations:
1. That they will make a concerted effort to attend every session. (Obviously,
schedule conflicts may arise over the course of our schedule—in
that event, every effort should be made to get the gist of the material covered).
2. That they will participate fully in the sessions and the process.
3. That they will each have a faith mentor/sponsor assigned to them and will meet
with him or her at least once for a time of fellowship and discussion of faith.
4. That we will have fun, learn, and grow together in this process.
In addition to the scheduled classes and special events, each confirmand will be assigned an adult member of IPC who will serve as their “faith mentor.” Mentors will join us for many of the Sunday classes, and each confirmand will meet with their faith mentor for a meal (preferably in pairs) and go over a sheet of questions addressing what difference faith makes in the mentor’s life.
We will hand out sheets that can be collated in a confirmation manual, including some that may call for brief written responses. These are meant to help confirmands integrate and reflect upon their experiences, and will not be checked or “graded.”
We will ask confirmands to begin developing a habit of personal prayer. We will distribute prayer journals that will guide them through a brief time of daily prayer over the course of four weeks.
As we approach the end of the confirmation journey, the confirmands will construct their own statements of faith. This is meant to be an honest statement about what they (not their parents) believe at this time.
We are looking forward to the journey!