This Sunday night we hold our annual Confirmation worship service at 5:00 pm in the sanctuary. Following the service we will have a banquet for the Confirmation students and their families. This service of worship and Confirmation is always a blessing. On behalf of the students, families, volunteers and staff who have helped walk with these 14 wonderful sixth graders, we do hope you are able to come to this worship service.
During the morning services we will invite the Confirmation students, and all of us, to put their trust in Christ and to publicly profess their faith in him. We will also invite them to consider whether God may have a calling on their lives for full-time Christian service as their career. So many of these youth were baptized as babies here, received their second-grade bibles and were nurtured in their faith by you as a congregation. You have played a key role in helping these young adults come to follow Jesus Christ.
If you will have a sixth through eighth-grade student in the fall, we would love to have them join us in the Confirmation Journey this fall 2009. Confirmation is the time when a personal decision is made to confirm the vows of our baptism. Here at Fountain City United Methodist, this happens as groups of students in middle school join together for a year long journey of exploring who Christ is, what it means to know Him through a life-long relationship, and how we follow Him as United Methodists. The Confirmation then takes place in a ceremony of students publicly declaring their commitment to Christ and desire to become full adult members of our church family. Our first prayer is that each student involved will commit to a real and personal faith. Our second prayer is that they will begin to cherish the rich heritage we have as United Methodists. This includes the building of relationships with other youth and adults who will support them in their faith.
As we begin to think about the fall, we are looking for adults to become a secret prayer partner with our Confirmands. It is a commitment to pray regularly for a confirmation student we assign to you and to write a note of encouragement as the student grows in faith. We would love to have you join us in this ministry. Contact the Youth Director, Andrew Cooper through the church or via email at acooper@fountaincityumc.org for more information.
Confirmation is not simply a “rite of passage,” nor just a class to complete. It is a step in a life-long journey of pursuing the heights, depths and widths of God’s love and making a vow to live in relationship with Him for the rest of our life! Perhaps all of us can embrace this Sunday as an opportunity to renew our commitment to be a follower of Christ in a public way.
See you Sunday, and invite a friend!
- Don
