wfn.org | ELCA Publisher Announces "Waterlife Confirmation" Resources

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 2, 2001

ELCA PUBLISHER ANNOUNCES "WATERLIFE CONFIRMATION" RESOURCES
01-180-MM*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- This fall, Augsburg Fortress, the publishing
house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will
introduce "Waterlife Confirmation" resource materials, said the Rev.
Jeffrey S. Nelson, senior editor, ELCA Group, Augsburg Fortress,
Minneapolis.  The first of these resources will be available August
1, he said.
     The Waterlife materials were developed from a confirmation
workshop called "Waterlife: Baptismal Living as Confirmation."  The
ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) was a co-sponsor.
      During three Waterlife workshops held throughout the country
between March and May, Augsburg Fortress and DCM presented a new way
to approach confirmation ministries through Waterlife.  The purpose
of this curriculum is to emphasize lifelong faith formation.
     The workshop gave people an opportunity to "explore how the
work of the Spirit, begun at baptism, shapes and guides the church's
practice of confirmation ministry," according to Augsburg Fortress
promotion materials.
     "I have told so many people that Waterlife was the best
conference I have ever been to," said Tonya Rike, director of
Christian education, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, Pa.
     The four-day, 10-session workshop offered pastors, youth
ministers, confirmation teams, confirmation volunteers, education
committees and others a chance to plan confirmation ministry that
centers on "lifelong baptismal living and spiritual formation,"
according to Augsburg Fortress promotion materials.  They also gained
opportunities for public affirmations of baptism.
     "Throughout the Waterlife conference I was so struck by our
personal need for the daily affirmation of baptism, which doesn't
consistently happen during my personal devotions," said Jacqueline
Campbell, workshop participant from Zion's Lutheran Church,
Greensburg, Pa.
     A chance to discover how confirmands learn and think based on
current educational theory and trends in cultural programs and the
knowledge needed to instruct them about the concept of grace and the
meaning of baptism was also part of the workshop.  Participants
learned how to incorporate life's happenings with baptismal
reflections.
     "Waterlife really started me on a journey to work things
through for myself," said Rike.  "Now hopefully I can share my vision
with our congregation and our theology will form our practice instead
of the other way around," she said.
      The Waterlife Confirmation series offers several pieces.  The
Waterlife Confirmation Bible Resources offer both Old and New
Testament courses that will be published new each semester and are
organized into two semesters with five three-week Bible story units.
     The Waterlife Confirmation Bible Resources Leader Guide
provides the foundation for the resource.  The leader guide offers
suggestions on giving students an opportunity to learn about the
major themes of each testament through discussion with their parents
and mentors and a variety of other ways.
     The Waterlife Confirmation student resource is a teen magazine
called M. Louie.  "It is designed to keep the attention of younger
readers," said Nelson
     "I greatly appreciate hearing about all the work that has been
going into preparing a curriculum to work within this baptismal
understanding of confirmation," Rike said.
     Additional Waterlife Confirmation resources are available from
Augsburg Fortress, including three resource books: "Confirmation:
Engaging Lutheran Foundations and Practices," "Confirmation: A
Congregational Planner" and "Celebrating the Seasons of Baptismal
Living."
     "I have read the three planning resources and have been quite
impressed," Rike said.   The Waterlife Confirmation catechism resource
will be available from Augsburg Fortress in the Fall of 2002.
--
     More information on Waterlife Confirmation rresources can be
found at http://www.augsburgfortress.org/waterlife/index.asp on the
Web.

*Michelle T. Mills is a senior at Bradley University, Peoria, Ill.
This summer she is an intern with ELCA News & Information.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html