wfn.org | Lutheran Teenagers Learn How to Become Disciples

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 24, 1998

LUTHERAN TEENAGERS LEARN HOW TO BECOME DISCIPLES
98-23-140-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "People between the ages of 13 and 18 are serious
about life.  They are also self-reliant, stressed out and skeptical, but
they are spiritual and survivors," said the Rev. Paul G. Hill, director of
the Center for Youth Ministry, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque,
Iowa.  "They realize the society is a mess and they are the ones to fix it.
We should help turn the clean-up generation into disciples."
     Hill spoke at "Confirmation 2000," a symposium on confirmation
ministry sponsored by the Division for Congregational Ministries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held here June 14-16.  About
60 lay leaders, youth ministry workers, clergy and theologians identified
the present practices of confirmation ministry in the ELCA and sought to
reshape Christian education in Lutheran congregations for the 21st century.
     "Traditionally, confirmation ministry has been regarded as an
educational process where the Bible and the Lutheran catechism are studied,
but it's much more than that," said Diane Monroe, ELCA associate director
for Christian education.  "Confirmation needs to be the way young people
see themselves as named, claimed and affirmed by God.  It is God's loving
action in one's life that is the basis of confirmation."
     The primary content of confirmation programs includes the study of
the Lutheran catechism and the Bible, according to a recent survey on
confirmation ministry in the ELCA.  About 600 of the ELCA's 11,000
congregations were surveyed; 422 responded.  Most confirmation programs
include community or church service projects, memory work, sermon and
worship reports, homework and retreats, indicated the study.  The most
common approach to confirmation is the traditional school model.
     "Confirmation should not just include a pastor and a classroom of
children.  We need to look at confirmation ministry as more of a family
project.  How can parents be involved in nurturing faith in the life of an
adolescent?" asked Monroe.  "Confirmation is about helping adolescents
understand they can be disciples."
     Monroe said confirmation happens in a living community of faith and
is the responsibility of the whole congregation.  "Regardless of which
approach for confirmation ministry a congregation uses, the home must
always be considered the first church.  Parents need to help their children
learn about the Christian faith."
     For most congregations of the ELCA, middle adolescence is still the
time for some form of concentrated emphasis on learning and activities
related to faith development, said Monroe.  "Congregations see adolescence
as a key time for educational input.  Congregations need to help
adolescents become disciples among their peers, and help them carry what
they're learning from the Bible and the catechism into their everyday life.
This is what Christian education is all about for adults but more
importantly for teenagers as they're facing issues we don't even know
about."
     At St. Peter Lutheran Church, Mesa, Ariz., confirmation is seen as a
"re-affirmation of Baptism," according to Becky Hampton, Sunday school
superintendent for St. Peter.  The congregation has expanded their
traditional seventh and eighth grade experience to include people of all
ages.
     Members of St. Peter call it a comprehensive, family-centered
confirmation program.  It begins with the birth of a child and continues
through adulthood, said Hampton.  No matter what the age, there is a
confirmation ministry at St. Peter taking place.
     "Few young people know much or anything of the Bible's story or
message," said the Rev. Roland D. Martinson, a professor of pastoral care
at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.  "Many youth are among the third-generation
unchurched for whom Christianity is an alien world."  Martinson
was a keynote presenter at the symposium.
     "The 21st century confronts confirmation ministry with complex
challenges.  Secularism, materialism, relativism and narcissism, although
challenged and tired, drive and will continue to drive North American
society and culture, including youth and their culture," said Martinson.
     "Shallow, fragmented and abusive primary life relationships continue
to place youth at risk.  Greater concentrations of people, resources and
power among the wealthy and the elderly place youth among the most
vulnerable in our culture.  As the culture becomes even more complex, fast-paced,
desperate and violent the period of transition from childhood to
adulthood will be longer, more treacherous and full of risk," said
Martinson.
     "Confirmation ministry can effectively engage young men and women in
these challenging circumstances," said Martinson.  Models of ministry which
speak the gospel in relationship to what matters to youth, their families
and communities can nurture faith and determine the difference between life
and death for young people, their families and communities."
     "Because families are critical crucibles of psychological, social,
moral and spiritual development for teenagers, because families are often
exhausted, overextended and fragmented, churches will need to minister to
the families of teenagers as well as the young people themselves," said
Martinson.
     "Because many young people will come from the ranks of the unchurched
... because many Christian youth will grow up in families and congregations
which have not taught them the Scriptures, steeped them in prayer or shaped
in them a life of service ... because culture in the 21st century will be
pluralistic and predominantly secular, confirmation ministries will need to
teach the basics of faith and the fundamentals of leadership," said
Martinson.
     "Confirmation ministry is alive and well as it stands at the
threshold of the 21st century," said Martinson.  "Young women and men of
vibrant faith bear witness to their convictions and make significant
contributions to their congregations and communities."

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html