Mount Cross Lutheran Church 2015-2016 Confirmation Handbook Page 1
A Thank You To Parents. The presiding minister addresses the parents who have brought their child for baptism: As you bring your children to receive the gift of baptism, you are entrusted with responsibilities: to live with them among God's faithful people, bring them to the word of God and the holy supper, teach them the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, place in their hands the holy scriptures, and nurture them in faith and prayer, so that your children may learn to trust God, proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace. Do you promise to help your children grow in the Christian faith and life? Response: I do. Thank you for keeping your promise! Page 2
CONFIRMATION TEACHING & DINNER SCHEDULE -- 2015-2016 Wednesdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m. -- Parish Life Center DATE LESSON DINNER NOTES Sept. 16 Student Orientation - Meredith Parent Orientation - Pastor John Mount Cross Sept. 23 Martin Luther Valencia Sept. 30 The Reformation Schneider Oct. 7 Service Project Laskey Oct. 14 The Reformers Stouch Oct. 21 Lutheran Confessions Ebright Oct. 28 Adiaphora Fisher Nov. 4 Justification By Faith Jones Nov. 11 NO CLASS Veteran s Day Holiday Nov. 18 The Cross McCormick Nov. 25 NO CLASS Thanksgiving Week Dec. 2 Law & Gospel Easley Dec. 9 Saint & Sinner Sheller Dec. 16 Christmas Caroling Service Project Fanner Dec. 23 NO CLASS Christmas Break Dec. 30 NO CLASS Christmas Break Jan. 6 The Church ******** Jan. 13 Service Project Jan. 20 Luther s Small Catechism Jan. 27 The Ten Commandments Feb. 3 Apostles Creed - Article 1 Feb. 10 The Meaning of Ash Wednesday Dinner and Lesson from 6 to 7pm Ash Wednesday Worship service at 7pm Feb. 17 Topic to be announced Confirmation continues Feb. 24 Topic to be announced during the five Wednesdays in Lent: Mar. 2 Topic to be announced 6 pm - Supper Mar. 9 Topic to be announced 6:30 - Confirmation Lesson Mar. 16 Topic to be announced 7:00 - Worship 7:30 - Dismissal Mar. 23 Service Project Holy Week Mar. 30 NO CLASS Spring Break April 6 Apostles Creed - Article 2 April 13 Apostles Creed - Article 3 April 20 The Lord s Prayer April 27 Topic to be announced 3 rd Year Preparation for Confirmation May 4 Holy Baptism May 11 Holy Communion May 18 Confession & Forgiveness May 25 Daily Prayers June 1 End of year celebration ******* The rest of the year s schedule will be filled in when we know all the 1 st year students who are going to be part of the program - and maybe with some of the High School families, too. Page 3
WHAT IS CONFIRMATION? Before the world was created, it was decided that you should become God's child in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1:3-4 to be holy and blameless before him in love. When you were baptized this relationship of love was publicly made official. Kind of like a wedding. When two people are married, there is already a love relationship that exists; the wedding service makes it official. Many of us were baptized as infants. In faith our parents brought us to the font and on our behalf asked Jesus to start to put down a solid foundation our life. In the Lutheran Church, we provide an opportunity for young people, most of whom were baptized as infants, to say for themselves, Yes! I want to continue in this loving relationship that God started with me when I was baptized and I want Jesus to continue to build my life. The moment when we ask young people to say this Yes! is Confirmation day. The entire mix of activities for our middle school students is designed to prepare them for Confirmation Day, so that when asked, Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism... these young people will be able to say YES! with as much knowledge, understanding, enthusiasm, spirit, and feeling as is possible. WEDNESDAYS Schedule: The schedule for Wednesdays is very simple: Be at church no later than 6:00 PM each Wednesday. Plan to be picked up at 8:00 PM each Wednesday. Parents, please plan to arrive at 8:00 PM (that is, don't ask your child to call when they are ready to be picked up). If there are exceptions we will do our best to communicate these to you as far in advance as possible. The content of each Wednesday session will vary, mixing food, study, service and fun. The whole group will gather for an opening time, followed by instruction in the large group and processing in the small group. NOTE: Earlier Ending of Time for the Season of Lent (February 17 - March 16). Lent is a time of year when we reflect on the journey of Jesus to the cross and prepare ourselves for the resurrection at Easter Sunday. During this time we have special worship services at Mount Cross on Wednesday nights along with a simple soup supper. We would like to invite parents and families to join confirmation students on these nights. With that in mind we will be ending at 7:30pm instead of 8:00pm in order to coincide with the ending of the worship time so that families can leave together without having to wait longer for Confirmation to be over. We hope you will join us during Lent! Dinner: Page 4
We start each Wednesday session with dinner from 6:00 PM until 6:30 PM. Dinner is not an optional part of our program. Fellowship over meals is an important way that God s people are knit more tightly together as a family of faith. Each week s dinner is provided by one of the students (i.e., their family). See the schedule below for your date. If there is a conflict, please arrange to trade with someone else on the list. Please make trades as far in advance as you can. Please contact Pastor John or the church office with changes. On your date, please arrange for dinner (for about 25-30 people) to be ready to be served in the church kitchen at 6:00 PM sharp. We will usually leave the kitchen open so that you can get in to prepare as needed. You are welcome to come and cook at church, cook at home and bring to church, or arrange to have some sort of fast food brought or delivered to the church. Pizza and soft drinks is the easiest dinner to prepare. Call Dominos and let them know it is for a church youth group and you will get a discount. For example: You can drop off cans or bottles of drinks on Sunday and then charge a pizza delivery to arrive by 6:00 PM. If you want to leave a check with Pastor John so he can pay with the pizza arrives, this is fine, too. Providing dinner for 20-25 may seem like a large expense, but remember that most of the other weeks of the year, someone else is providing the meal for your child. SUNDAYS Our Confirmation program is designed to prepare young people for full participation in the life of the church. Worship is an important part of our life together, and it is expected that the young people will take an active part in worship. The students in our Confirmation program are expected to assist in Sunday worship as Acolytes & PowerPoint Operators at the Traditional Service, 8:30 a.m., and the Contemporary Service, 10:00 a.m. NOTE: These two jobs are being combined into one - at both services. Students are expected to take part in the weekly Sunday Faith Journeys. These sessions begin in the church at 9:45 a.m. After an all-school opening, students and teachers stay in the first service through the Children s Message and then are dismissed to their class rooms. After about 20 minutes for celebrations, stories, songs, crafts, etc., they will return to the service after the sermon in time for Communion. Acolyte & PowerPoint Training. 1 st year students will shadow a 2 nd or 3 rd year student at least once before being assigned their own Sunday. In addition, Pastor John will take each 1 st year student on a walk through during dinner the Wednesday before they start serving on their own. Instructions for all worship assistants are found on the church s website: http://www.mountcross.com/worship-assistant.html BEHAVIOR We expect that behavior and language will be appropriate to a community of faith who gather in Jesus` name and seek to live and care for each other following His style: In everything do to others as you would have them do to you. Matthew 7:12 We have set up a few basic boundaries in which the group works and plays together. The boundary has been crossed if you: o use foul or abusive language, including racial slurs; o use physical violence against another person; Page 5
o fail to respect the property and contents of the place we are meeting (whether it be church, a home, or park); o if you fail to clean up the mess. We shouldn t have to set consequences for crossing these boundaries but if they are crossed parents/guardians will be contacted and consequences will be discussed. FRIENDS Friends are always welcome! The only time you will need to ask permission to bring friends is if there is any reason there might not be supervision or transportation enough for all. But you'll know about this in advance. In addition, we don t expect friends who come now and then to do the memorization unless they want to. When friends attend, however, they will be included in all of the day s learning and fun activities. Friends are also expected to abide by the same standards of behavior. CAMP EXPERIENCE During his time on earth, Jesus would take time to go away either by himself or with his disciples to a quiet place in order to pray. It is important as Christians that we too take time out to focus on our faith by ourselves and with other Christians. As part of our Confirmation ministry we expect students to participate in at least one summer and one winter camp experience. This may include going to El Camino Pines, Beach camp, or a Servant trip in the summer, and going to winter camp or a church-sponsored overnight retreat during the school year. PARENT PARTICIPATION The Guides and the pastor are assistants to the parents in the raising up of a child in the way he or she should go (see Proverbs 22:6). We aren t doing this for you; we re doing this with you. And we want what we do on Wednesdays and Sundays to be supportive of what you are already trying to do at home. While the work of the Guides is one of the most significant gifts of time and effort made to this program, the Guides cannot be the only ones who give time and support to Confirmation. Our success will begin with the interest you take at home in what the students are doing. We also need your support and participation in a variety of ways. Please make sure you let us know how you will help on the bottom of the Confirmation Registration form. At the end of most Wednesday sessions, the students will be sent with an Into the world question (see pages 8-9). Ask them about it. During each year there will be a limited amount of memorization expected. They will not be tested on this at church; we ask that you work with your student to accomplish these tasks: o 2015-16: The Ten Commandments and the Apostles Creed. o 2016-17: The books of the Old Testament in order. o 2017-18: The books of the New Testament in order. Page 6
WHAT DO WE COVER IN THREE YEARS OF CONFIRMATION? We will be using a curriculum called Colaborate (yes, that is the way they spell it), a three year cycle that will cover a variety of topics. Over the course of the three years, students will go through all the topics, but when they study them will depend on what year they start. The lessons will give a good overview of the basics of Christianity to strengthen them in their relationship with God and their journey of faith. Here is the three year cycle: o 2015-16: Lutheran History and Catechism o 2016-17: Old Testament o 2017-18: New Testament SMALL GROUPS For many years we have divided the large assembly of students into small groups with one or two adult Guides (mentors). These adults share the journey of learning, serving, playing, praying and growing. The Guides help to create an atmosphere of care and a network of nurturing relationships to enhance the lessons being taught. In the small groups, Highs & Lows, fellowship, prayer and discussion follow all the presentations by the pastor. Someone once said, The purpose of prayer is not to find the answers, but to find God. We want the purpose of confirmation to include knowing the catechism as well as knowing Christ. To accomplish this, we need more than workbooks and weekly lectures. We need relationships, we need small group bonding. This year there will be three small groups, one for each year (6 th, 7 th and 8 th grade). CONFIRMATION DAY 2016 Confirmation Day for this year s Third Year Class (8th Graders) will be May 22, 2016 at 10:00 AM. Immediately following the service, we traditionally have a cake reception hosted by 2nd year students and parents. The second year parents and students help coordinate some of the features of the day including: ordering and picking up the cake, serving the cake, coffee and punch at the reception following the service, photographs of the Confirmation Class, picking up and returning the robes used in the service, etc. Please indicate on the bottom of the Confirmation registration form how you might be willing to help. CONTACT INFORMATION Church office: Phone: 805-482-3847 E-mail: office@mountcross.com Web: www.mountcross.com Pastor John Church office: 805-482-3847 Cell/text: 805-302-3475 Home: 805-384-2399 E-mail: pastorjohn@mountcross.com Meredith Gardner Church office: 805-482-3847 Cell/text: 805-558-5687 Email: meredith@mountcross.com Page 7
Into the world DATE CLASS TOPIC THE QUESTION THE STUDENTS WILL HEAR AS THEY LEAVE Sept. 23 Sept. 30 Oct. 7 Martin Luther The Reformation If you were going to have millions of people bearing your name, what would you want it to mean? When does division go too far? What s a sign that a difference of opinion may be harmful? Service project Oct. 14 The Reformers How could you continue to reform the church? Oct. 21 Lutheran Pay attention to the ways your faith is being Confessions Law & influenced outside of church. Why is that a good Gospel thing?how can we live in the promise of Christ s good news? Oct. 28 Adiaphora Throughout the coming week, think about the essentials in your life. What are they? How did they Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Justification by faith The Cross come to be essential? When do you find yourself struggling to believe you are justified by faith alone? When is that a comforting thought? No Class - Veteran s Day How can you demonstrate hope to someone this week? No Class - Thanksgiving Week Dec. 2 Law & Gospel How can we live in the promise of Christ s good news? Dec. 9 Saint & Sinner How can you bring your saintly qualities into your family life? Your friendships? Your community? Dec. 16 Dec. 23/30 Christmas Caroling Service Project No Class - Christmas Vacation Jan. 6 The Church What makes your church church to you? Jan. 13 Service Project Page 8
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DATE CLASS TOPIC THE QUESTION THE STUDENTS WILL HEAR AS THEY LEAVE Jan. 20 Luther s Small Catechism How can you incorporate a part of the Small Catechism into your daily life? Jan. 27 The Ten Commandments Feb. 3 Apostles Creed - Article 1 Feb. 10 Ash Wednesday To be announced What s one way you want to turn up the volume on grace and positivity this week? How does what you believe affect the way you live? Feb. 17, 24 March 2, 9 & 16 Mar. 23 Mar. 30 Lenten supper & worship To be announced Service project No Class - Spring break April 6 Apostles Creed - Article 2 April 13 Apostles Creed - Article 3 How does knowing more about Jesus life affect who you are? How do you invite the Holy Spirit to guide your life? April 20 The Lord s Prayer Find at least three times this week when you can say the Lord s Prayer as a way of helping you make a decision or guiding you through a new of difficult situation. April 27 Topic to be announced To be announced May 4 Holy Baptism How can you live out your baptism this week? May 11 Holy Communion What does it look like when we are the body of Christ out in the world? May 18 Confession & Nothing is beyond God s forgiveness, but what Forgiveness might be beyond yours? How can you learn to forgive the way God does? May 25 Daily Prayers How does prayer affect you? How can your prayers June 1 affect others? End of year celebration Page 10