wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] From membership to discipleship

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8638 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05073
February 4, 2005

>From membership to discipleship

Focus of confirmation shifting in post-denominational world, noted Christian
educator says 

by Jerry L. Van Marter

VANCOUVER - If 100 participants in the Association of Presbyterian Church
Educators (APCE) annual conference here are to be believed, Presbyterian
churches are going about confirmation all wrong and they know it.

	Fully 90 percent of those in a Feb. 3 APCE workshop entitled
"Transforming the Confirmation Journey" said they think churches believe that
the purpose of confirmation is "becoming a full member of the church."

	But when asked to choose from a list of 11 possibilities what they
"wish" churches believed the purpose of confirmation is, not a single person
stayed with that response.

	Instead, they clustered equally around two responses:

"a personal and communal response to God's grace through a public profession
of faith in Jesus Christ" and "the sending out (commissioning) of the
believer as a missional agent of the gospel"

	The striking contrast in responses between what is and what should
be, said workshop 
leader and Columbia Theological Seminary faculty member Rodger Nishioka, is a
result of some rapidly changing trends in how Presbyterians view
confirmation.

	"The American church has equated confirmation with church
membership," Nishioka said. "But one of the trends is the movement from a
nurture model with the goal being membership in the church to a faith
development model with the goal being a proclamation of faith in the
community of the body of Christ."

	That shouldn't be surprising in a post-denominational world, Nishioka
said. "You should hang it up right now if your goal is to make good
Presbyterians," he said. Though the question of denomination may come up
eventually and Presbyterian churches should be prepared with answers when it
does, "the focus these days should be on making great disciples who have
roots in the Reformed tradition."

	And what's the best way to do that?

	Two keys, Nishioka said, are the creation of strong relationships
between confirmands and their peers and adults other than their parents or
step-parents and "the incorporation and expression of Christian values and
living into daily situations."

	"Knowing the right things doesn't necessarily produce great
discipleship," he said. "Christian faith is not just a set of personal
beliefs ('subjectivism') or rote answers to questions ('objectivism'), but a
journey in which peers, mentors and the community must seize the opportunity
to engage young people directly" - what Nishioka called "constructivism."

	The result, he said, is "an incorporation of God's love, trust,
acceptance into the lives of all."

	The most essential "best practice," Nishioka insisted, is the
establishment of mentoring relationships at the outset of the confirmation
process. "All adolescents are in the process of shifting their primary
relationships from their parents to their peers," he explained. "But at the
same time, adolescents are yearning for contact with adults other than their
parents.

	"If your confirmation process doesn't start with the formation of
mentoring relationships with significant adults other than parents or
step-parents," Nishioka said, "pack it up right now."

	Other emerging best practices in transforming confirmation, he added,
are at least 17 hours of relationship-building with peers (most effectively
done in a retreat setting), study of Scripture, the writing of personal and
corporate faith statements, spiritual practices, Christian service, and
vocational discernment.

	Perhaps most important, confirmation must not be seen or structured
as an isolated program of the church. "Confirmation must be intimately
related to the whole church's ministry," Nishioka said. "This relationship
happens through connections to the community and through mentoring.

	"It's all about relationships."

	Congregational Ministries Publishing in the Congregational Ministries
Division introduced a new confirmation curriculum, Professing Our Faith,
which will be available this summer. For an introductory "sampler" (product
#623007) call Presbyterian Distribution Service at 800-524-2612 or visit the
Web site www.pcusa.org/marketplace.

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