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Rebuilding Confirmation: Because We Need More Than Another Graduation
All too often, the sacrament of Confirmation feels like a graduation from religious obligation, according to Christopher Wesley, former director of student ministry at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland. In Rebuilding Confirmation, Wesley shares how to reimagine Confirmation preparation in new or existing programs so that teens will become active members of the Church.
At Church of the Nativity, Christopher Wesley created a Confirmation program that uses parish-selected mentors and small faith-formation groups to provide teens with an intensely transformative encounter with Christ and the Church. Instead of teens seeing the sacrament as the end of faith formation and weekly Mass attendance, they are becoming engaged in the life of the Church.
Wesley’s story, vision, and rock-solid advice will strengthen your existing program or help you create a strong framework upon which to build a new one. He will show you how to create a ministry of witness and support to accompany youth as they prepare for Confirmation.
Rebuilding Confirmation is perfect for use with existing middle or high school Confirmation programs, including popular curriculum-based programs such as Chosen, Decision Point, and Called to Mercy.
At Church of the Nativity, Christopher Wesley created a Confirmation program that uses parish-selected mentors and small faith-formation groups to provide teens with an intensely transformative encounter with Christ and the Church. Instead of teens seeing the sacrament as the end of faith formation and weekly Mass attendance, they are becoming engaged in the life of the Church.
Wesley’s story, vision, and rock-solid advice will strengthen your existing program or help you create a strong framework upon which to build a new one. He will show you how to create a ministry of witness and support to accompany youth as they prepare for Confirmation.
Rebuilding Confirmation is perfect for use with existing middle or high school Confirmation programs, including popular curriculum-based programs such as Chosen, Decision Point, and Called to Mercy.
You will learn:
How to create a Confirmation program that is anchored by small groups and parish-selected mentors; Practical solutions to systemic problems such as having an unclear purpose and treating preparation for the sacrament as just more schooling; How to recruit and train adult volunteers; How to work with parents and win their support; How to screen and select Confirmation candidates who are truly ready to commit; and How to advocate for your program and youth within the wider parish community.Wesley offers fixes for the structures and habits that fail youth in many Catholic parishes, shares his own successes and failures, and provides great ideas and practical tools to help the newly confirmed set a course for their future in the Church.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2020
Recommended especially for pastors and teachers who are frustrated by ineffective confirmation programs, "Rebuilding Confirmation" is a brief and well-organized guide, filled with realistic suggestions and not burdened with profuse, sentimental story-telling (as too many ministry books are). Wesley pleads his case that classroom-based confirmation with mandatory attendance and service hours expected from the students is simply not working. It actually hasn't been working for around fifty years. What is needed, so he argues, is not a new curriculum, but a new model. He proposes a relational model based around mentor-mentee relationship, and involving prayer, Scripture study, and service. "Confirmation prep shouldn't be a class that candidates need to pass; it should be an apprenticeship in how to live life in and outside of the Church" (43).
Wesley's first suggestion is that confirmation at church must never be mandatory and expected. Rather than, "You must do this," the pastor and teachers can say, "You get to do this." In other words, before any part of a confirmation program is changed, first the very reason for the program must be clarified. Confirmation is not graduation and it must never happen because of parental expectation; an instructor has must try to get a student to understand why confirmation is important before he or she does anything else. Wesley actually includes in an appendix the confirmation application form that he uses at his church. It includes two 500-word essays by both student and parent on what they hope to get out of the Sacrament and why a relationship with Christ is important to them. This sets the stage for Wesley's approach, which is a relational one, based on mentoring, with small groups and community-building connecting young to old and all to Christ.
Wesley also is at pains to stress why requirements must be shed from confirmation programs, especially when it comes to "service hours." He writes, "I understand why programs require a certain amount of hours. The hope is that if teenagers give serving a try, they'll find they like it. Unfortunately, it communicates that you need to get this done and in exchange I'll give you what you want. Instead of it becoming a discipleship tool, it becomes a consumerist exchange" (60). He suggests that serving and mission-work is done again through the agency and invitation of older members in the congregation inviting the younger students. When Wesley explains the centrality of evangelism to the confirmation process, he outlines an "invest and invite" model. Proclaiming the Gospel is as simple as investing in people, cultivating old and new relationships. Then, the goal is to invite as many people as possible to events, programs, and services at one's congregation. As Wesley points out, the worst that can happen is a person responds, "No," to a confirmation student!
Overall, Wesley's book is an excellent starting place for those who wish to either revamp or resuscitate a church confirmation program. It gave me much to think about. I think the most helpful element of this book is the author's insistence on mentoring and small groups, with confirmation more connected to service and evangelism than to doctrine and Bible study. The study of doctrine and Lectio Divina become the springboard in this model for the life of faith, rather than the focus of the confirmation process itself.
Wesley's first suggestion is that confirmation at church must never be mandatory and expected. Rather than, "You must do this," the pastor and teachers can say, "You get to do this." In other words, before any part of a confirmation program is changed, first the very reason for the program must be clarified. Confirmation is not graduation and it must never happen because of parental expectation; an instructor has must try to get a student to understand why confirmation is important before he or she does anything else. Wesley actually includes in an appendix the confirmation application form that he uses at his church. It includes two 500-word essays by both student and parent on what they hope to get out of the Sacrament and why a relationship with Christ is important to them. This sets the stage for Wesley's approach, which is a relational one, based on mentoring, with small groups and community-building connecting young to old and all to Christ.
Wesley also is at pains to stress why requirements must be shed from confirmation programs, especially when it comes to "service hours." He writes, "I understand why programs require a certain amount of hours. The hope is that if teenagers give serving a try, they'll find they like it. Unfortunately, it communicates that you need to get this done and in exchange I'll give you what you want. Instead of it becoming a discipleship tool, it becomes a consumerist exchange" (60). He suggests that serving and mission-work is done again through the agency and invitation of older members in the congregation inviting the younger students. When Wesley explains the centrality of evangelism to the confirmation process, he outlines an "invest and invite" model. Proclaiming the Gospel is as simple as investing in people, cultivating old and new relationships. Then, the goal is to invite as many people as possible to events, programs, and services at one's congregation. As Wesley points out, the worst that can happen is a person responds, "No," to a confirmation student!
Overall, Wesley's book is an excellent starting place for those who wish to either revamp or resuscitate a church confirmation program. It gave me much to think about. I think the most helpful element of this book is the author's insistence on mentoring and small groups, with confirmation more connected to service and evangelism than to doctrine and Bible study. The study of doctrine and Lectio Divina become the springboard in this model for the life of faith, rather than the focus of the confirmation process itself.
January 10, 2020
I’m skeptical that following the guidance of this book will actually make saints. I would love to visit the parish discussed to see for myself. The entire program seems to turn on the idea that the candidates “get to” be confirmed – as opposed to “have to” be confirmed. This seems unwise to me, as such a paradigm is not apparent to me in the preaching of Jesus. In the Gospels, He frequently seems to speak of salvation with a much greater urgency than simply “you get to do this”. The “get to” mentality seems to inspire a lot of people to be involved based on the reported data/measurements, but mere involvement does not necessarily indicate sanctity.
Making an application process and a strengths-finder integral to confirmation prep sounds very much like a business model. But the sacraments are not projects and the Church is not a company. Such a mindset would seem to lead to the kind of involvement mentioned previously.
The preparation program discussed focuses a lot on tools to use instead of treasures to share, and I think this may be to its detriment.
Also, the chapter titled “Own the Situation” would probably be better labeled as “Admit the Reality of the Situation”. Part of what is explained here is valuable, but by attributing the problem to a system, the problem is never actually owned by anyone. This is somewhat redeemed by the stated idea that someone must take responsibility for fixing the problem. But this can only happen if it is a problem to be solved by people instead of systems. No one needs to blame anyone; each should admit his own fault and work toward the solution, a conclusion partially attested to in this chapter.
All of this being said, the efforts to integrate people of different ages within the parish community are commendable. That certainly is an aspect of a true Eucharistic community. Additionally, the zeal and effort for a renewed understanding of Confirmation is wonderful to see. Such commitment to a deepened understanding of this sacrament is definitely needed in the Church in this day.
Making an application process and a strengths-finder integral to confirmation prep sounds very much like a business model. But the sacraments are not projects and the Church is not a company. Such a mindset would seem to lead to the kind of involvement mentioned previously.
The preparation program discussed focuses a lot on tools to use instead of treasures to share, and I think this may be to its detriment.
Also, the chapter titled “Own the Situation” would probably be better labeled as “Admit the Reality of the Situation”. Part of what is explained here is valuable, but by attributing the problem to a system, the problem is never actually owned by anyone. This is somewhat redeemed by the stated idea that someone must take responsibility for fixing the problem. But this can only happen if it is a problem to be solved by people instead of systems. No one needs to blame anyone; each should admit his own fault and work toward the solution, a conclusion partially attested to in this chapter.
All of this being said, the efforts to integrate people of different ages within the parish community are commendable. That certainly is an aspect of a true Eucharistic community. Additionally, the zeal and effort for a renewed understanding of Confirmation is wonderful to see. Such commitment to a deepened understanding of this sacrament is definitely needed in the Church in this day.
March 28, 2017
Great read for any Parish Confirmation Program
This book is filled with ideas that every parish should consider. While they all may not be a good fit, some of them are very useful!
This book is filled with ideas that every parish should consider. While they all may not be a good fit, some of them are very useful!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews