St. John's

Confirmation Page

Confirmation is a ritual of the church. It is similar to baptism, but is usually done later in life (generally, but not always, when one is a teenager.) Like in the baptism service, the bishop will ask the confirmands several questions relating to their faith in Jesus and their willingness to follow God. After these questions have been answered, the bishop lays his hands on the heads of the confirmands and seals them to Christ.

If you want to see the questions that are asked at confirmation, look in the Book of Alternate Services p.154-155 and 158-159.

At St. John's, we usually start the confirmation process in September. We hold a meeting for young people who are interested in being confirmed and their parents, where we talk about what confirmation is and what work you have to do before you will be confirmed. The most important thing is that you must want to be confirmed, or at least to explore the idea of being confirmed. No one is required to be confirmed if they come to this meeting.

After that meeting, we team up the young people who are interested in being confirmed with adult mentors from the parish. These pairs agree to meet about twice a month from November until the confirmation date, to talk about what it means to be a Christian today. What difference does my faith make in my life? We also have a series of classes where we talk about topics like Jesus, the Baptismal Covenant, different types of Christianity, what the Eucharist means, etc. Confirmands are also asked to attend a variety of services, so they can learn about the variety of worship styles that exist in the Anglican church.

Generally, we talk together about some of the important things involved in being a Christian. If you click on the following links, you'll see some of what we have said about Jesus over the last two years:

E-mail Dana Hibbard if you would like more information about the confirmation program.