By Dr. John C. Van Nuys

 

One of the most serious - and joyful - privileges and responsibilities as a pastor is to prepare young people to confirm their faith:  To help them understand who they are and how they are to relate to God, Christ, church, and world.  It is a wonderful task to prepare kids for confirmation - but, let's be honest; it can also be one of the most tedious:  After all, what kid wants to sit by themselves or with just one or two fellow confirmands in their dumb, old pastor's musty office to talk, talk, talk?  Doing confirmation that way is boring for kids -- and for pastors, too.

That is why the presbytery hosts an annual confirmation retreat at Geneva Center where a large group of kids can come together in a beautiful setting to learn, fellowship, explore, create, and discover what confirmation is all about.

The 2016 Confirmation Retreat (Friday evening January 8 through Sunday noon January 10) is not just to entertain kids.  Nor is it to lecture them to death. 

Created to balance learning with fun, the 40 hour retreat includes 5 hours of teaching, 4 worship services, 6 meals, 3 snacks, 2 crafts, 4 periods of free time, 1 movie night, 2 experiential "how to pray" learning times, 3 question and answer sessions where the confirmands set the agenda, and 4 journaling times where each confirmand creates their own statement of faith by shaping what others have shared about their faith into what they claim as their belief. See Schedule

               
Using the denomination's confirmation curriculum The Big Picture, Questions 1 (the first one is the title of this article) through 47 of Belonging to God: A First Catechism will be covered and the following areas of faith will be presented and discussed:  Scripture, Personhood in relation to God, Creation, the Fall/Sin, Covenant/Law, Christ/Redemption, the Holy Spirit, and the Church/Sacraments.

Some larger congregations use the confirmation retreat as the kickoff event for or complementary component to their larger, longer confirmation process.  Some smaller congregations use the retreat as their entire process; as an "all-in-one" event.  Either way, it is a win-win for large and small churches; for pastors - and, most of all, for kids. 

               
I encourage you to include your confirmands in the January 8-10, 2016 retreat.  We have had many requests from tweens and teens who have attended past confirmation retreats asking if they could attend again.  That has to be the work of the Holy Spirit!  And that has to tell you that this experience is definitely kid-friendly.

If you have questions, please call or email the presbytery office or contact me (765-376-5942, jcvchurch@att.net).  Scholarship help is available.  Click Here to register online.