Dear Parent or Guardian,
You are receiving this letter because you have a young person who has been identified as either having begun, or is ready to begin Confirmation. The Confirmation program is a process by which our young people affirm their baptism and enter into a more intentional relationship with Jesus. At St. John the age at which one begins their confirmation process has been in flux, usually during their early teenage years.
This process is twofold. The first part is educational. Through instruction with a pastor and/or other qualified adult instruction, your child will begin to explore more deeply what we at St. John Lutheran Church preach, teach, and confess. As a member of the wider Christian church in the Lutheran tradition, this includes instruction in both the Holy Bible and Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. This usually takes two years of class work.
The second part of confirmation is regular attendance in worship and involvement in the ministries of St. John Lutheran Church. As a part of this expectation your child will be asked to hand in 18 completed sermon notes a year. Sermon notes can also be done if visiting churches elsewhere. The sermon note form will be gone over in detail at the first confirmation meeting. There will be ample opportunity for our confirmation families to get involved in our congregational life between church dinners and other events as well. Also there will be regular opportunities for our youth from grades 7th-12th to gather for fun and fellowship. Please keep an eye out for more information. Your child will also be expected to attend either the Cincinnati or Indianapolis Youthquake with us at least once in their two years in the program. These events will be in January, expect more information forthcoming.
This year we will be partnering with Zion Lutheran Church in our Confirmation Ministry. We will meet the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. The other Sundays we will be having Youth Fellowship for Jr. and Sr. High Youth apart from confirmation, also in conjunction with Zion. St. John youth are encouraged to come out and bring their friends on the Fellowship evenings.
Confirmation meetings will begin on Sunday, October 27th. A parental presence at that meeting would be very much appreciated as there will be a lot of information at that meeting. To begin all your child will need is a Bible. I highly recommend the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) which is the one we use at Sunday worship, or the New International Version (NIV).
If you are planning on participating in confirmation please let me know as soon as you can. If your child needs a Bible please see me before purchasing one.
In Christ,
Pastor Matthew R. Voyer, STS
(812)537-2865 (office)
(812)577-2407 (cell)
