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Tag: confirmation (Page 3 of 3)

Six Chief (Digital) Parts

August 27, 2008 /

At Cornerstone, we work through the Six Chief Parts of Luther’s Small Catechism as part of our Confirmation instruction.  Of course, we’re putting our own digital spin on things to help students connect with the material.  We’ve contracted with a graphic designer in Spokane, Washington to make backgrounds for our teaching time that enhance the message.  Check out the first drafts:

TC - TitleB - Title C - Title LS - Title

LP - TitleCA - Title 

As I said, this is the first run, but I was so excited to get them.  I’ll post the final versions when they’re done, but couldn’t wait to share what we’ve got so far. 

Eventually, we hope to publish our Confirmation Curriculum for other churches to use in their Confirmation ministries.  We’ve been blessed with enough staff that we can spend time developing quality materials and we want to be a blessing to others as well.  We’re well on our way to getting there as we’ve got over half the material done.  We’ll finish it off this year and then it’s down to just tweaking and editing to make sure it’s ready to go.

Conformation

April 26, 2008 /

I can’t tell you how many times I see students misspell “Confirmation” as “Conformation.”  This is highly amusing to me knowing the traditional confirmation ministry is much closer to conformation in design and mind set.  I suppose there is some Biblical evidence for the misspelled name:

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

In a way, the confirmation process is about the Spirit working to conform us to the image of the Son.  So maybe it’s not such a bad name after all…

Selling Through Story

March 27, 2008 /

One of the things our consultant told us about communicating is that we should sell ourselves through the art of telling our story.  Our story communicates who we are, what we believe and where we’re going in a powerful, personal way.  I loved the idea.  We have an awesome collective story to share as a church, and we each have a story to share in our own lives.

Our youth have awesome stories to share as well.  Tonight is one of my favorite nights of the year in Student Ministry.  Our 8th graders write a personal faith story based on Paul’s model in Acts 26.  The basic outline:

  1. Tell what your life was like before Christ or how you were cared for if you’ve always known Christ.
  2. Tell how you met Christ.  Maybe it’s your conversion story, or maybe it’s how you realized that Jesus was more than just a set of facts from the Bible.  It’s how you came to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
  3. Challenge others to know Jesus in a similar way.

At this stage, most of the stories need some refining.  I make comments (sometimes LOTS) on their drafts and then I get to sit with each student 1 on 1 and talk about it.  It’s a wonderful glimpse into their heart as we get to talk and share together.  The culmination will be sharing their stories at our annual Confirmand Banquet on the Thursday before Confirmation.

Sex, Divorce and Rock ‘n’ Roll

December 6, 2007 /

When I first started teaching Confirmation, my least favorite topic to teach was the Commandments.  I accepted that they are important, but I didn’t think they ranked up there with Communion, Baptism, the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed.  I’ve done a 180 on this in the last few years.  Now, they are my favorite.  The students interact with the Commandments in a real way as they are challenged to evaluate their current lifestyle in light of God’s Word.

And now we’re into the really good stuff.  Last week was murder, including hating someone.  Tonight we covered Adultery.  The points, with links to the Scripture passages we use to talk about them:

  1. Sex is a gift from God
  2. Sex outside marriage is sin
  3. Divorce is sin (We also stress that there is forgiveness for divorce)
  4. Impure thoughts are sin (we also cover how we dress, especially as it relates to girls’ dress habits)
  5. Homosexuality is sin (And no different from lying, stealing, cheating or killing in God’s eyes.  God loves the sinner, but hates the sin.)

The lustful thoughts and how we dress conversation is always interesting.  Phil Morris, one of our small group leaders, is a great resource here as he shares his thoughts with the kids.  He’s younger than me–and much cooler–so when he backs me up, the students really listen.  Jaime passed along a great website that specializes in fashionable clothing and swimsuits that are more modest than the standard offerings at the mall.  Check them out at DiviineModesTee.com and show your kids.

If you want to check out the full audio recording of the class, it’s available on our Podcast. Directions for subscribing in iTunes can be found on our website. There’s even a funny interruption around the 25 minute mark in the podcast. You can also download the current homework as well.

A Seeking Heart

November 16, 2007 /

I’ve written about how much I love our youth in the past.  I’ll probably write about it again in the future.  It’s a real joy to work with them.  I often hear from people about how they could never do my job.  A number of them fear for their lives around youth.  Some of them just don’t understand youth.  Others think youth do stupid things and don’t care about anything spiritual.  I guess it’s just an example of everyone having different gifts.

Well, I’m thankful (and I think many others are as well) that I enjoy working with youth.  One of the highlights of my ministry is teaching Confirmation.  Many people, including Lutheran Church Workers, hear that and think I’m crazy.  And my favorite part about Confirmation is teaching the Commandments.  For whatever reason, students connect to the Commandments in a way that really makes them think about how they are living their lives.  I had rehearsed about 15 minutes worth of teaching, which is usually about 20 minutes long when we add in student readers and jokes I don’t make during the rehearsal.  Last night at Cornerstone, we spent 45+ minutes on the teaching time because of all the questions that the students asked.  As a teacher, it’s a real joy to have so many youth seeking to know the truth of the Scriptures!

You can listen to the whole teaching time online.  Check out the Cornerstone Podcast for the audio from last night.  You can even subscribe using iTunes or your favorite RSS Reader, just like you would do for this blog.

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