One of the more misunderstood areas in the life of the church is the process of confirmation. Here at First UMC, seventh graders participate in a September through May weekly time of learning about the key components of the Christian faith to help them in their journey toward full church membership.
Confirmation is one of the important ways for young people to respond to God's grace in their lives. For many of them, confirmation is their response to their baptism which in some cases happened when they were infants. In this understanding, baptism is God's initiative of grace in their life and their confirmation is their public declaration that they are receiving this grace by faith and now ready to express such faith through membership in a local church.
They don't need to be re-baptized since baptism is primarily God's promise made to us to always be faithful in loving and guiding us in a life of grace. However, we are called upon to renew our baptism on a daily basis and confirmation is a significant way that we claim who we are in Christ Jesus.
One of my favorite Christian bloggers, Scot McKnight raises an important question about confirmation. Since he appeals to a variety of Christian faith traditions, the responses to his article are interesting.
Our 7th grade confirmation class will be received into membership on Sunday, May 13.
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