REGISTER FOR 8TH GRADE CONFIRMATION HERE
What is Confirmation?
Confirmation is an opportunity for students entering 8th grade or higher to take ownership of their faith. Throughout the remainder of the school year students will discuss and discover what it means for them personally to live intentionally within God’s Story. The course will include required memorization and attendance, and will culminate in anointing or baptism and the presentation of a Bible at a ceremony in the spring.
Meeting schedule:
Due to the ongoing pandemic, our group gatherings this year will be entirely virtual (with the hope we can safely move to in-person later in the semester). Zoom links will be communicated through email each week. On the dates below, students will join the middle school youth group gathering on Tuesday at 6:30PM and then split off in their own breakout group for each session. Here is our session schedule:
- 1/31 – Orientation (Sunday 11AM, with parents)
- 2/9 – God’s Story
- 2/23 – My Story
- 3/9 – God’s Work
- 3/23 – Spiritual Gifts
- 4/6 – My Life
- 4/20 – Final Countdown
- 4/25 – Confirmation Sunday (During the worship gathering)
Confirmation Notebook:
Each confirmand will receive a confirmation notebook which will be central to their engagement in this process over the ensuing months. They will take notes during each session, and between meetings students will complete an experience-based “Going Deeper” worksheet. Each worksheet is designed to take the previous gathering’s conversation deeper and begin to connect the dots to the next meeting. Additionally there is a Spiritual Girts inventory along with a memorization schedule and pages for sermon notes.
Mentors:
At Jacob’s Well, we believe strongly in discipleship. The more positive adult influences in a student’s life, the better. Each student needs to find a mentor to help disciple them through this content. It should not be a parent or a leader, but someone from the outside who they can invite into the experience with them. The requirement for mentors is to meet with each student at lest once between gatherings and be an ongoing communication partner in the coming months.
Memorization:
There will be required memorization throughout Confirmation. Students will be expected to commit to memory eight verses, the books of the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer, Apostle’s Creed and a Personal Confirmation Verse of their own choosing. The goal here is not to simply create busy work for ourselves, but to write God’s Word on our hearts and allow it to narrate our lives. Through memorization, these verses become part of who we are and what we are about.
Service Notes:
Students will take notes during FIVE different worship gatherings. This means students will need to be participating in the various opportunities for worship our church will provide over the coming months – the Sunday livestream or one of the midweek prayers streamed to Facebook or Instagram by our pastoral team. The goal here is to train our confirmands in ongoing participation in the church, that is, the people of God. Students may do this in their own private journals, or may use the sheets provided in the back of their notebooks.
Personal Confirmation Verse:
Every confirmand will have the opportunity to select his/her own “Personal Confirmation Verse.” This verse is to be selected on their own. The verse can be whatever they want it to be – they will share these verses with the congregation and why it’s meaningful to them on Confirmation Sunday in the spring.
Ceremony & Anointing:
Confirmation will culminate with an anointing ceremony on the last Sunday in April. Confirmation students will declare their faith and be recognized for their efforts in front of the Jacob’s Well community. It’s a marked moment of spiritual maturity in their lives, as well as a chance for our church to remind them they are one of us and belong within this community as a part of God’s Story. They will receive a personalized confirmation Bible, be anointed with oil and be given the opportunity to be baptized if they haven’t already. This day is exciting and meaningful, but it’s less of a finish line and more like a launching pad into their adult spiritual lives. Stay tuned for details concerning this day as it gets closer.