Laing

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December, 2000 - Vol. XXIX No. 3
All About Confirmation

"Formation and The Journey to Adulthood"
by The Rev. Christopher Laing

Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Trinity, constitutes full entry or initiation into the life and the "Body" of the Church of Jesus Christ. We are resurrected by our baptism to new life, saved from mortal sin and death while called to live full lives of service to others, in the hope of everlasting life in the presence of the One God known in Trinity of Persons. This reality is expressed in different ways by different cultures within the Christian tradition. In fact, as global awareness and interfaith encounter with other religions grows, easy identification of a unified Christendom in the former geopolitical sense has diminished. Yet initiation – and how to live in light of it – remains the great adventure and challenge as we fully engage the meaning of adult life in Christ.

Journey to Adulthood (J2A) is the title given to a means of Christian formation for our time and place. It consists of various courses meant for junior high and older youth, with tested materials and methods, which lead to supporting effective growth in the Christian life. Participants are expected to emerge ready to live as whole persons and faithful adults. These young adults learn to call on the Church in order to engage their individual vocations. They also learn to look for support in living through the challenging time when all elements of life shake the concepts that have carried them from childhood. And the common disappearance of youth from church in their mid to late teens doesn’t happen.

J2A material comprises a six-year process divided into three stages. "Rite 13" affirms young people as they grow into adult gender awareness, beginning anytime in a two-year period surrounding the attainment of age 13. "Journey to Adulthood" is the two-year segment that follows, leading to the Confirmation rite for some and a Pilgrimage for all participants. It is a time to practice adult skills in listening, assertion, negotiation, research, partnership, and leadership. Life in Christ takes an understandable shape as young people accept more responsibility within the church and in their own lives as Christians. When the Pilgrimage experience is complete, members move into the "Young Adults in Church" period taking even more responsibility for stewardship and participation in all elements of church life.

As a university chaplain with a lengthy parish ministry background, I am heartened by the goals and outcomes of this model. All too often in new programs a good beginning takes the place of following through to completion, with efforts amounting to no more than a nice try. Journey to Adulthood is one of the very few processes that seems to keep its eye on the prize. It seems to offer an excellent possibility of educating young people who truly "serve the world in Christ’s name" because of its recognition that initiation calls for serious support as well as challenge by sisters and brothers in the faith.

To close, a brief comment about Confirmation in light of these steps toward faithful adulthood. You may not be aware, especially if you do not have children, how difficult the discussion of Confirmation has become. Some parents and clergy see it as the completion of baptism, some as the ‘last chance’ to give our youth direction to keep them in the church (up to now not very successfully with the large majority of young people), and some as a simple puberty rite. J2A sees confirmation as a moveable sacrament of conscious commitment to life in the church. It is offered at the end of the middle two years of the six-year program just before an ambitious Pilgrimage experience. It is not required, though most participants are confirmed. It is still seen as just one step – not the completion – on the journey toward understanding and living an adult life in Christ.

Chris is the chaplain to both Episcopal and Lutheran campus ministries at Portland State University. You can contact him at lecm4psu@k-com.net.