Confirmation

DATES TO REMEMBER!!

Download the Winter-Spring 2008 Confirmation Class Schedule here.

Sunday, March 2nd: A panel of youth leaders and youth from other denominations will join our class to answer questions about their religious practices, and to tell us a bit more about how our protestant brothers and sisters worship!

Sunday, March 16th: Confirmation class attends worship together, meet in room 302 before the service, or meet in the balcony on the library side.

Wednesday, March 19th: Passover Seder led by Ben Herman, a rabbinical student at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Join us in the assembly room from 6:00pm to 7:30pm to learn
more about the Passover meal and how it is celebrated in the Jewish tradition!

Sunday, March 30th: Worship Field Trip We will be going to Lincoln Gardens Baptist Church. Meet at the church at 8:00 am for worship. We will attend the 9:00am service and return by noon. Confirmands: please let us know if you plan to attend by emailing Reese Hansen. Mentors: This is a great chance to worship with your confirmation partner - we would love for you to join us. If you are planning on coming, please email Reese, and if you are willing and able to drive, let her know how many seatbelts you can contribute! Reese Hansen's email is: reese.hansen@nassauchurch.org
Please RSVP by March 25th.

Saturday, April 19th: Crisis Ministry Footprints Walk.
Registration starts at 8:30am, the walk begins at 9:00am!

about confirmation at Nassau Presbyterian Church

The confirmation program at Nassau Presbyterian seeks to engage 9th graders and other high school youth in a journey of faith in which they make a profession of faith and become members of the church.  At Nassau church we seek to help our youth integrate Worship, Outreach, Learning and Fellowship in hope that they may see and experience God’s grace in their daily lives.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.  God destined us for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1: 4-5

Confirmation is choosing to become who you already are.
Richard R. Osmer

 

Confirmation classes provide youth with an understanding of Presbyterian beliefs and a Reformed understanding of Scripture. Confirmation is also an opportunity to explore core beliefs, commitments, and practices that constitute authentic Christianity. The confirmation program also serves as a foundation that will benefit young people as they consider faith’s relevance to life issues.

Goals:  Our goal for Confirmation is by God’s grace to help grow a living faith in young people.  We hope to grow this kind of faith by:

  • Equipping youth with a basic understanding of the Bible, the Presbyterian(PCUSA) heritage, and Christian theology
  • Equipping young people to connect to their church community and the world
  • Developing peer and intergenerational relationships that encourage sharing in faith formation
  • Helping youth to discover how God has blessed them to serve in their community and in the world

Worship

Worship is at the heart of the Christian life.  Worship is the Christian community gathered in prayer and praise where we are nourished through the Word proclaimed and participation in the sacraments of baptism and communion.  Youth in the confirmation class are expected to attend worship at Nassau Presbyterian church weekly.  Some weeks we will attend worship as a class and sit together in the balcony.

Liturgy is defined as the work of the people.  In hope of engaging youth in worship, members of the confirmation class will have several opportunities to lead in worship this year.  Youth will also engage in worship by journaling through worship notes.

Worship Notes

Developing the habits of hearing God’s voice in word and song, applying it to your own life and participating in worship are skills that you will serve you well all your life.  Each confirmation student will be asked to journal on ten worship services during the year.  You will have questions to guide each journal entry.

Learning

SUNDAY MORNING CLASSES

Confirmation class will meet on Sunday mornings. Regular attendance is expected. 

In additional to regular class times, the confirmation class will take several worship field trips on Sunday mornings to experience various worship services in various faith traditions.

Service Projects

Living a life of faith is living a life of service.  We are called to serve God and serve our neighbor.  Several service projects are planned during the year.  We also hope that confirmation students and their mentors will engage in a service project.

Fellowship

God also calls us to live as a body of Christ and to have fun!  Our hope is that each time we gather an element of fellowship will be present.

Another great way to connect to members of the confirmation class is to attend senior high fellowship on Sunday nights from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Attendance at SHF is not required, but the more involved and connected you are the more you will get out of your experience.

Mentors

The relationship of the mentor and the confirmation student has the potential to be one of the most supportive and important parts of your confirmation journey.  Confirmation students choose their own mentors.  We encourage mentors to be active members of Nassau Presbyterian Church.  If you need help selecting a mentor or requesting a mentor who is not a Nassau church member, please talk to one of the confirmation advisors.

The goal of the mentor/confirmation student relationship is for the confirmation student to have one person that will support and help them to grow through the year of their confirmation journey and vow to continue that support for years to come.  Supporting a confirmation student comes in many forms, praying for the student, having conversations of faith, discussing the confirmation student’s statement of faith, and asking the hard questions of faith.

To live out this support and challenge of faith we are asking confirmation partners

(confirmation student and mentor) to engage in four practices of faith this year together.  Practices are things Christians “do!”  Christian practices are those cooperative activities through which we grow, develop and experience God.

Practice Example
Worship Attending worship together
Prayer Praying together
Hospitality Sharing a meal together
Service Serving a meal at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen
   

Why practices?  The Christian life is something we DO and not just something we can talk about.  The Christian life is also something we DO together.  The practices can be something as common as attending worship together one Sunday morning, or having a confirmation student and their family to eat dinner with their mentor’s family, or serving together one Saturday morning at Crisis Ministry.   We hope that as a partnership the four practices that will draw you closer to God and to the community of faith.

Ideas for Service Projects with mentors:

  • Visit a elderly member of Nassau Presbyterian Church
  • Participate in a ministry of Crisis Ministry in Trenton
  • Serve a meal at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen
  • Donate clothes to the Trenton Rescue Mission store
  • Help another group that does ministry for the poor and homeless
  • Help with Special Olympics
  • CROP walk, Race for the Cure, Alzheimer’s walk, Autism walk
  • Christmas caroling
  • Write a letter to a government official about an important issue
  • Food drives
  • Visit someone at a nursing home or at a hospital
  • Make a meal for a homebound person
  • Mow, rake, or shovel snow for someone for free
  • Befriend a new person at Nassau church and sit with them at worship
  • Help with a children’s event at Nassau church

Confirmation Retreats

The best way to connect to your peers and for the confirmation class to get to know each other is to go on a retreat. 

Statement of Faith

Each confirmation student is required to write a statement of faith at the end of their confirmation journey.  The statements are presented to the elders of the church at a session meeting in May.  The focus of our Spring Confirmation retreat is writing the statements of faith.  We will provide a variety of resources to help you write your personal statement of faith.  Some students have chosen to express their statements by using art.  We welcome creativity in this process.

Confirmation Sunday

The confirmation class meets with the session of the Nassau Presbyterian church.  At that session meeting the confirmation class is accepted as members of Nassau Presbyterian Church. 

The class will publicly profess their faith and be confirmed during a Sunday service.  This is a very special time in the life of Nassau Presbyterian Church.

To celebrate the events of the day the class hosts a dinner.