Maybe you’ve come to Church of the Resurrection from another church tradition, or you’ve never really been deeply involved in church before. Maybe you have a child who was baptized as an infant, but who has not yet been confirmed. Why would you get confirmed? What even is confirmation?
What is Confirmation?
Confirmation is what the name implies. Very simply, it is a ceremony where the bishop confirms that the person in front of him is indeed a Christian, and he prays for the Holy Spirit to strengthen and equip that person for the work of the Christian life.
In the case of a teenager who hasn’t been confirmed, this is their opportunity to own their faith for themselves, having been brought up in the faith by their parents, guardians, and church family.
In the case of adults who have been confirmed or made public declaration of faith in other churches, this is a tangible and formal way to be received by the bishop into full fellowship with him and thus into the Anglican Church. Since the bishop is our point of unity with the broader Anglican church, formal reception under the care of him and his diocese constitutes membership in the broader Anglican Church. This is in addition to the prayer for strengthening by the Holy Spirit.
Confirmation is not a sacrament of the gospel specifically ordained by Christ, and is not required for regular and full participation in the life of our church. However, Confirmation is a biblical and apostolic practice that we encourage all our people to go through. It is required for anyone who may be called to serve in ordained ministry or on our Leadership Council.
So what do I do next?
To be confirmed at Church of the Resurrection, the first step would be to let our clergy know! You can email Fr. David and express your desire to be confirmed. This requires a couple of things:
First, you must be baptized already to be confirmed. If you have not been baptized, you can be baptized and confirmed in the same service. Second, anyone coming to be confirmed needs to go through our Confirmation Course. Student and adult confirmands will participate together in a two-part process that will take place over two semesters in Fall of 2021 and Spring of 2022. Confirmations will be conducted at the end of the Spring semester in 2022.
If you are interested in being confirmed, please email David@churchoftheres.com