Confirmation has begun and we are off to a great start with 45 students signed up and 43 in attendance this past Sunday.
Sunday's lesson was centered around talking about what Confirmation means and what we will do in Confirmation. Confirmation actually means "with firmness". Confirmation is actually about confirming what has already happened in Baptism. In Baptism, parents accept the grace that God offers to their child on behalf of their child and promises to raise that child in a Christian community where the child will know God's love. In Confirmation, students decide whether they are ready to make that faith journey their own, work toward a life of Christian discipleship and to confirm their belief in Jesus.
Throughout these 9 months we will have faith lessons, mission opportunities, social activities, field trips to other faith communities and retreats that will help in learning what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Every Sunday we will practice our faith through music, prayer, Bible lessons, giving and small group time. It is important that students remember that being present in class is not just about meeting a requirement but about being available to those in their faith community.
Students will also have a prayer partner throughtout the Confirmation year. Prayer Partners are persons in our church who have volunteered to pray for a confirmation student for the entire year. Students may or may not find out who their prayer partner is. The prayer partners decide whether they want to reveal to the student who they are. At the end of the year, our Confirmation class will have a "Thank you" Tea/Brunch for the prayer partners to thank them for their prayers and service to our confirmation students.
One very important thing that we will be doing throughtout these next 9 months is studying scripture. I am very convicted about teaching the students more about God's Word and about them knowing scripture well enough to tell others what is in the Bible. So we will be memorizing scripture. Below I have listed the first verse that we will be memorizing. Please help your student with this task. I have also included another assignment that the students should do this weekend. We will be starting our first lesson in the book of Genesis this Sunday so I want the students to come to class with some information on the book of Genesis.
Verse for memorizing: John 15:5- "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
Assignment: Come with answers to the following questions-
1. What is Genesis about? The theme?
2. Who wrote Genesis?
