MIDDLE SCHOOL MINISTRY
Confirmation
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Welcome
Welcome to Confirmation Ministry at Fox Point Lutheran Church! We are overjoyed that you will be a part of this wonderful, transformational experience with us.
The purpose of Confirmation Ministry is to provide an intentional opportunity for our 7th and 8th graders to grow in faith and spirit. It is a time both for faith formation and spiritual exploration for you, by your young person, and for your family.
Resources
Find your Confirmation Schedule and all necessary forms nested here, including registration and the Permission Slip. Forms can be filled out either by submitting online or by downloading as PDFs and sent to the office.
Calendar
Kickoff Event '21
December
Dec. 8 - Parent Orientation; 7pm
(All 7 & 8 grade parents invited)
Dec. 15 - Student’s Welcome; 7pm
(Orientation for all students)
Workshops
Held on Wednesdays
7pm – 8:30pm
January
January 12
January 19
January 26
February
February 2
February 9
February 16
February 23
March
March 2 - No workshop
(Ash Wednesday)
March 9 - No workshop
March 16 - No workshop
March 23 - No workshop
(due to schl. spring breaks)
March 30 - Back in session
April
April 6
April 13 - No workshop; Holy Week
April 20
April 27
May
May 4
May 11
May 18 - 8th gr. rehearsal: The Rite of Confirmation (No 7th graders need to attend)
Sunday, May 22 – The Rite of Confirmation Ceremony for 8th graders
Apostle Islands Trip
This is an optional weeklong camping retreat up north at Big Bay State Park with whitewater rafting and wonderful outdoor fellowship. You will receive more information in spring 2022.
Monday, July 11 through Friday, July 15
All Forms (online option)
For Parents
Please fill out both forms; Registration & Permission
For Confirmation Students
(We recommend six (6) each year)
Over the course of the 2 year program, each confirmand is to complete 12 Worship notes.
Over the course of the 2 year program, each confirmand is to complete:
6 Outreach Service Opportunities
4 In-house Service Opportunities
All Forms (Downloadable)
For Parents
Please fill out both forms; Registration & Permission
For Confirmation Students
Please fill out the following forms
Over the course of the 2 year program, each confirmand is to complete 12 Worship notes.
(We recommend SIX (6) each year)
Over the course of the 2 year program, each confirmand is to complete:
SIX Outreach Service Opportunities
FOUR In-house Service Opportunities
Confirmation Handbook
Introducing Confirmation
We have three hopes for those who join the program:
1) Grow in their love of God.
2) Become familiar with the essential teaching of the Christian faith.
3) Form authentic, affirming friendships with one another and with Christian mentors.
Confirmation comes from the ancient biblical practice of confirming faith in those who are baptized. In the book of Acts (9:14-23 and 19:1-9), we hear about church leaders laying hands on the newly baptized and praying for them to receive the Holy Spirit, which would bring strength and wisdom for the living out of the Christian’s calling to love God and love others. In those days, baptism was primarily for adults and the confirmation process either preceded or immediately followed the baptism.
Today, many Christians are baptized as infants. As Lutherans, we believe that we do not “choose” God but that God chose us as His beloved children and welcomes us into His family through our baptism. Therefore, our confirmation of faith takes place when we come of age, in a sense, and can personally make promises for ourselves and to God, through our own thoughts, deeds, and words. The Confirmation process culminates in a “promise-making” ritual we call, “The Affirmation of Baptism.”
We do our best to inspire, educate, and equip our confirmands with all they need to live a life of faith, but ultimately they will be the ones to make that affirmation of their baptism. We hope you enjoy our journey together!
Program Overview
What is our vision for Confirmation at FPLC?
The vision is the same as the vision of the church. We are passionate about inspiring and equipping “Real Faith, for Real Life.” There are four areas we believe are essential for the cultivation of an authentic, life-giving faith. Our Confirmation Program introduces these areas to our youth and starts them on a process of growing their faith, not just through 7th and 8th grade, but continuing through their whole lives.
The four areas we believe to be an essential part of our faith are:
Worshipping
Serving
Growing
Connecting
Worshiping
Worship is an integral part of every Christian’s life. It is where we go to praise our God. It is where we go to be rejuvenated in our faith and filled with hope for our week. In worship we meet our friends and we pray for those in need. In worship we learn how to be better people and how to follow Jesus in the way we live our lives. We can confess our brokenness, and in Holy Communion receive a forgiveness that changes our lives. The only way to grow in our love for worship and to understand its power is to attend worship on a regular basis. In addition to Sunday morning services, we traditionally have worship services on Wednesday evenings during the season of Lent, after which the confirmands participate in our Lenten Mentor Program.
These reasons are why we expect regular worship attendance from our confirmation families throughout the year. We require six Worship Notes per year from each confirmand. These notes show us that they are attending, understanding, and participating in worship. We also incorporate our confirmands into worship through acolyting - where they help with the service. In doing so they contribute to our congregation’s life together, and they join an ancient Christian tradition of lighting candles in worship as a sign of God’s presence.
Serving
Through our Confirmation Service Opportunities (SOP’s) we practice and explore what it means to “serve the least of these” and we introduce the power that service has for daily life. This is an essential component in being an authentic, spiritual person as well as a fully alive human. As a part of serving, there will be events such as filling Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, outreach opportunities like serving at our sister inner-city churches, providing meals for the homeless, and getting engaged in other causes throughout our community and worldwide. For the sake of balance of experience and impact we delineate between serving inside the church (helping with Sunday school, e.g.) and serving out in the community (helping with a meal for the homeless, e.g..)
We require each year
Two - FPLC Service Opportunities (inside the church’s life)
Three - Outreach Service Opportunities (out in the community) each year of the Confirmation program
(This means that over the course of our two year program, the requirements will total: four FPLC SOPS and six Outreach SOPS.)
Participating in these opportunities engages our young people in the community and beyond and gives them an understanding that helping those in need has many meanings.
Growing
By “growing” in faith we are referring in particular to developing and nurturing the mind of faith. We promote understanding of the history, teachings, and practices of the Christian faith. We work to impart a basic familiarity with the sacred Christian writings (collected in what is generally called, “the Bible), and also to cultivate the skills needed to understand and apply the wisdom of those writings in everyday life.
Wednesday Nights
Many of our Wednesday night workshops focus on teaching how our faith is vibrant and powerful in a real and complex world. Over the course of two years we will work to teach the basic building blocks of the Christian faith. We also explore what a practiced faith looks like, through inviting church members to share their faith life story in powerful ways. We will also give the confirmands a working knowledge of how to use the Bible in daily life and in situations they will face as well as examine what it looks and feels like to be equipped and empowered to live out faith in daily life. Regular attendance to our Confirmation workshops is a required part of our Confirmation program, and you can read more about this under our “Expectations and Policies.”
Retreats
Retreats are a vital part of our program. It is said that ‘faith is caught, even more than it is taught,” and this is true. We grow in our faith as much through relationship and experience as we do through listening or reading. Our retreats are experiential, relational, and a lot of fun. On retreats we have the time to get away, connect to each other and to our faith. We count on these retreats to impart the essentials of what it means to think and live as a Christian; therefore, they are a required part of our Confirmation program.
Connecting
Confirmation is fun!
We create an environment where our confirmands can connect, make friends at church, be open and honest, and develop a relationship with each other, their guides and mentors and their pastors. We hope during their two years they will make meaningful relationships in faith and understand the power and blessing of a church family.
We are very aware of and committed to establishing strong, healthy, supportive relationships. We structure our workshops, retreats, group serving-opportunities, and acolyting environment in order to build those relationships. As they confirm their faith, we hope they will carry with them these strong relationships with new friends, enhance their relationships with friends from school, stay connected with their leaders and mentors, and take away an appreciation of their church family.
Expectations
Attendance & Timeliness
Confirmands are expected to attend all Workshops, Sessions, and Retreats. This includes all Wednesday night workshops, Lenton Mentoring sessions, the Winter 7th Grade Retreat, and the Spring 8th Grade Retreat.
We understand that our kids have many excellent commitments, and will occasionally need to miss a Confirmation event. If a confirmand is unable to attend any required event, please be sure to email Pastor Bruce at pastorbruce@foxpointchurch.org with as much advanced notice as possible (it helps with our planning). Depending upon what is missed, there may be make-up work that needs to be done.
It is important that confirmands arrive on time for Confirmation events. We have worked hard to be good stewards of our use of time (your time, your child’s time, and our time).
Make-up Work
Make-up work will be assigned for some of the sessions missed by a confirmand. We are careful to make sure the work is moderate and valuable. We do not do busy work. Make-up work may involve a small portion of reading and some reflective questions to answer. On occasion, we will ask that a confirmand review and work through the material with a parent/guardian to ensure understanding. All work needs to be turned in to Pastor Bruce directly at Confirmation events, or to the church office.
Make-up work is not always assigned for missed Confirmation events, simply because of the experiential and relational nature of some of the work we do in faith formation. If you have questions about particular events or work, please contact Pastor Bruce.
Cell phone/Electronics Policy
The use of cell phones and other electronics (iPods, iPads, etc.) will not be permitted during Confirmation. Youth may bring these in order to get a hold of rides and other emergency needs, but these will not be used during Confirmation Workshops unless specifically stated. Confirmation Ministry Staff reserve the right to take away any electronic devices that are disrupting Confirmation workshops or small group time and return them at the end of the session.
Requirements
Confirmands will complete the following requirements in their two years in the FPLC Confirmation Program.
Worship Notes
Each confirmand is to complete twelve (12) Worship Notes in their two years of Confirmation. We recommend six (6) each year.
The principle is simple. When you come to worship on a Sunday, pick up a Worship Note Form. We provide these forms at the welcome desk or you can print them off before church, right here from our Confirmation webpage. Complete the form during the worship service, and turn it in at the welcome desk, during a confirmation workshop, mail to the church office or email it to the office. You can also complete the form online. If a confirmand wishes to complete a worship note at a service outside of FPLC, we welcome it; simply take a form with you.
Service Opportunties (SOP’s)
Each confirmand is to complete six (6) outreach service opportunities and four (4) FPLC service opportunities--again, we recommend splitting these up evenly throughout your 2 years of Confirmation.
Forms can be found towards the top of this webpage in the section called Resources. They can be downloaded as a pdf or filled out online. We also have forms available at the Welcome Desk.
Where and When do students turn in forms
Please turn in a form after each service opportunity to either the Welcome Desk, to Pastor Bruce during a workshop, or email (or mail) it to the church office. If you fill out an SOP or Worship form online, simply click submit when you have completed the form - it wil then auto-email the form to the church office.
Signing up for an SOP
When looking to sign up for an SOP, please make sure you contact the appropriate person (it is often someone other than FPLC Confirmation Ministry Staff).
Service opportunities sometimes fill up quickly, so please sign up in a timely manner. We encourage you to find ways to creatively serve, so if you have an opportunity to volunteer that is not listed as one of our suggestions or recommendations, please contact Pastor Bruce to ensure that the opportunity will work in fulfilling your requirement. (It most likely will!)
Acolyting
Confirmands will connect with their church family during Sunday morning service by acolyting with Pastor Bill and Pastor Bruce. In a typical year, each confirmand is assigned to acolyte on approximately 2 to 3 Sundays.
Schedule
We distribute the acolyte schedule to families well in advance so that schedule conflicts can be handled by swapping spots with other confirmands. The duties are simple, but a wonderful way to serve and connect. Performing these acolyte duties does not count as an FPLC SOP unless it is a major holiday. In that case, you will be told to count it as an SOP.
Training
The basic instructions for acolyting will be provided to you in written form. Acolyte training will be offered multiple times throughout the year. And, each Sunday morning there is a worship assistant who works with the pastors to coach the acolytes through their work that day.
Conduct
As authentic, inspired followers of the way of life Jesus showed us, we strive to make a supportive, relaxed, and fun environment for all confirmands to learn and connect. Much of this atmosphere relies on our youth and their behavior.
We expect all confirmands to treat each other with respect and kindness, and thoughtfully listen when their peers are sharing. Because treating others this way is necessary for the learning during the confirmation journey, and because this way of treating others is what Jesus taught us to do in life generally, we will exemplify and expect it at our confirmation events.
Cost
Our confirmation program is a wonderful experience of community, servanthood, spirituality, and learning.
A One time Registration Fee
While nearly all of the cost for the program resources and staffing is taken care of by the congregation’s regular giving, we do ask each new Confirmation family for a one time registration fee of $50 to offset some of our costs over those two years.
Additional Cost (Retreats)
The only other additonal cost to you over the course of the program relates to each of two offsite, more immersive, retreat experiences. There is a separate registration process and fee -- which covers the retreat center, transportation, meals, supplies, and activities (high ropes course, e.g.).
Retreats
7th graders – 1 retreat
8th graders – 1 retreat
Questions?
We have the answers.
Do you have questions about our confirmation program in general or specifics regarding dates, requirements, forms, . . . anything confirmation-related, drop Pastor Bruce a line through using the button below or call the church office to talk to him at 414-352-8990.