IPC YOUTH CONFIRMATION
WHAT IS CONFIRMATION
The way we like to describe the relationship between baptism and Confirmation is that at Baptism, your parents are making a covenant to raise you in the Christian Faith, and then on Confirmation Sunday, our youth claim that faith as their own and commit to being more accountable for their faith development as active participants in their church family Growing up at home and in Children’s Ministry, kids are taught the stories of our faith In Youth Ministry, we begin asking them to dig deeper, interpret, think more critically, and develop a faith that is their own. We love doing Confirmation in 9 and 10 grade because we think youth are at a beautiful age for beginning to articulate what it is they believe and what they are struggling with, and we welcome both! Confirmation is not meant to be a crash course in Christianity, but an opportunity to welcome youth into an intentional time of discernment and conversation about their faith, ending with a chance to publicly profess that faith through Session Examination, a faith statement, and answering the confirmation questions on Confirmation Sunday
CURRICULUM
BIG GOD BIG QUESTIONS:
Big God Big Questions is a PCUSA Confirmation curriculum that walks youth though discerning what they believe by breaking down the questions they are asked at confirmation. This curriculum is formatted for 12 or 24 Sunday School hours. Instead we have adapted it to fit a retreat with 5 Sunday Schools Model. We will cover 6 sessions during our retreat and the remaining 5 during Sunday school
CONFIRMATION QUESTIONS:
1 Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of Sin and evil and its power in the world?
2.Who is your Lord and Savior?
3.Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love?
4.Will you devote yourself to the church’s teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers?
SCHEDULE
CONFIRMATION RETREAT:
SUNDAY SCHOOL:
January 10-11 , 2026 th Our Confirmation retreat this year will take place at Living River (our Presbyteries camp near Montevallo) We believe that faith is best learned and discerned in community and there is no better way to foster community than leaving our normal spaces and retreating together. We are also thrilled to partner with some smaller churches in our presbytery
Sunday School will be taught by each of the pastors as well as Cammie & Grace. Sunday School will be in room 105 from 10:00-10:50.
History of IPC
Rev Susan Clayton
January 25
Prayer
Rev Kevin Long
February 1 Fellowship Cammie Ashworth
February 8
Turning from Sin & Evil
Rev. Nicole Newton
March 1
Writing a Faith Statement
Rev. David Seamon
March 8
ELEMENTS OF CONFIRMATION
SESSION EXAMINATION:
In March all the confirmands will go before the session to be examined This year the confirmands will attend the March session meeting and enjoy dinner with the IPC elders During dinner each youth will be partnered with an elder and will have a conversation about their faith journey, what they learned in confirmation, and how they plan to be active in the church
FAITH STATEMENT:
Confirmands will write a faith statement as another way to profess their faith While this can feel overwhelming at first, the process is designed to help youth reflect on what they believe On March 8, Rev David Seamon will lead a Sunday School class on writing faith statements Afterward, confirmands will have about a month to write their statement with support from pastors, youth staff, and covenant partners
COVENANT PARTNERS:
Each youth will be part of a covenant partner group (about 4 youth and 1–2 adults) Covenant partners serve as mentors, walking alongside confirmands, supporting them in discernment, and modeling what it means to be active in the life of the church Confirmands will meet with their covenant partners at least twice outside of Sunday School.
CONFIRMATION SUNDAY
APRIL 12, 2026
On Confirmation Sunday, the promises spoken at baptism come full circle Youth who were once carried to the font by parents and surrounded by the congregation now stand on their own, ready to affirm their faith and claim God’s covenant promises as their own. The confirmands will be called to the front of the sanctuary asked to respond to the 4 confirmation questions in unison, and recite the apostles creed. We will then pray over these youth as they begin their journey as confirmed members of IPC.
