by Dr. Nancy Going
What's the goal of confirmation? Perhaps your church has made many "tweaks" to the process: new curriculum, dropped the tests for faith statements, changed from classroom to small groups, stopped requiring robes and had the students make stoles instead, or even moved the target ages. But are you asking the bigger question: What are we doing to help young people have maturing Christian faith?
by Pastor Nancy Lee Gauche
Check out
Tom Langemo's blog on the Art of Possibility
!
Here’s some background in the form of a blog informing us what drives Coach Tom Langemo around “The Art of Possibility”. You had a taste of this “art” at the First Third event on confirmation. My challenge for all of us around the “art of possibility” is to remind us that faith is not ultimately secured by human effort. Tom paints a picture of this process
…
by Dr. Hans Wiersma
"Monkey Business"! That's what Martin Luther called the rite of confirmation as he knew it in his day. Luther's teaching helped inspire a renewed understanding of faith formation among young people. That was 500 years ago. What about today?
Watch this video of the final panel discussion of Monkey Business: A First Third Dialogue on the Confirmation Process.
As we explore confirmation, we need to move the dialogue into action.
Your ministry is a game worth playing in this life, and we want to help you set yourself up to win. There’s a great deal at stake! The goal-setting process below is to help you take what you’ve learned and design a way to bring it to life in your ministry: create a “winnable game”.
Just 3 more days until....
We are so excited to host 125 pastors, confirmation directors, volunteers and CHANGE AGENTS to think deeply about confirmation.
We'll be posting videos with the presenters, group coaches and panelists. Stay tuned for resources on how YOU can dig into confirmation in your context.
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of Distributed Learning Children, Youth and Family Luther Seminary
My second real youth ministry job was in Germany. My husband and I had just moved there so he could serve as a pastor in a German congregation. After we got settled in, I really wanted to do youth ministry in some way again….so I got a position as a
Katechetin
. Yep. I was hired just to do confirmation classes. Which I did in hour-long class after class for 7 hours
…
Listen to Dr. Andrew Root and Bethany Stolle as they discuss chapter 14 of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry, by Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean.
They dig into the topics of confirmation, catechism and doubt.
The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry Chapter 14
A Faithful Future: A Conversation about the missional church and the first third of life
The Seventh Annual Consultation on the Missional Church, held Nov. 4-5, 2011
-
Preview Video
: Dr. Terri Elton discusses the Missional Church and the First Third of Life
"Cultivating a Consequential Faith in a Consumer-Driven World: From Object to Subject to Agent" by Dr. Terri Elton
…
by Dr. Terri Elton, Associate Professor Children, Youth and Family Ministry and Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary
Ministry with those in the First Third of Life and thinking about church missionally
…two big, complex ideas which have captured the attention of many church leaders these days. Two days in November gathered such leaders, initiated a particular conversation and revealed possibilities of what an extended dialogue might entail.
What surfaced? …