Sunday, March 11, 2007

HELP.

I confess to all of you that I did not become a Christian until I was an adult. As a result I did not have to attend Confirmation Class. I am now teaching Confirmation and I am puzzled by this rite of passage. First of all let me say that I have really enjoyed this time given to me to get to know these students. They are amazing people and I look forward to years of watching them grow.

Secondly, help me understand this process.

Is it normal for the students to go through this process because their parents are making them? Is it normal that they do not really care about being a part of the congregation? Is it normal that they think this is a waste of their time?

Also, how do you reconcile knowing that they do not want to be a part of this congregation and will most likely not come back after they are confirmed? How do you recommend to the Session and congregation that these students get confirmed and accepted as active members knowing that they have no real intention of following through with that? How do you not feel guilty for lying?

Please pray for me. I know that I have to let God work through this process but I am struggling.

Thanks.
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5 comments:

Cindy Marino said...

Hi Cheyanna,
We were asking the same questions a few years ago, (when my boys were in confirmation!) and as a result, we combined confirmation with Jr. High Youth Group. They would do the usual unusual games,music, etc in a large group and break into small groups for the more serious learning portion. As a result, more of them stayed around to be part of Sr. High Youth group. We found that parents would "make" their kids go to confirmation, but not Youth Group ... so we capitalized on that and put them together. Our Sr. High attendance has greatly increased as a result. Just an idea ...

4:03 PM
Cindy Marino said...

One more thought. Jr. High kids love to ask the BIG questions. If you can get them one on one, that helps. My prayers are with you.

8:24 AM
Cheyanna said...

Thanks Cindy. I really appreciate the suggestions. Thanks also to Barb who caught me last week and told me what she couldn't tell me on the blog because Google won't let her on.

Are any of you heading to the homeland for Spring Renewal?

8:06 PM
Anonymous said...

Hey all,

To answer your last question and not the one about confirmation ('cause I'm in the same boat, but we don't have a class until probably next year) - we are coming back to Dubuque for Spring Renewal. Hope to see you all there!

10:25 AM
Unknown said...

Cheyanna,

Confirmation is Sunday; I spent almost 9 months every sunday morning during Sunday School; with 4, 8th and 9th graders. We read the bible, we talked about church history, we played hangman (which is a great way to instill vocabulary!)

But like you, I'm not sure how much they got and what affect it will all have. Are they just going through the motions? They certainly seemed disinterested much of the time!

I think the following:

1.) It's not up to me to make them be faithful christians/disciples! That's God's work and maybe it happens through this process or maybe it happens later on when they come back to church with their own kids.

2.) What better investment can there be off my time? What other time will the have such intensive interaction with someone who is their Pastor, and maybe even find out that he/she is a real human being like them! They may not find that important now, but hopefully when they need it most they won't be afraid to approach another pastor later on in life.

Those are just a few of my (belated) thoughts about such an imperfect process.

5:13 PM

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