Confirmation 2027 Kick-Off

Your child has been handed a faith. Confirmation is where they decide whether it is theirs.

Confirmation 2027 runs January through Easter for students in 8th through 12th grade. Sunday mornings, students worship at 10:15, share a meal with their mentor at 11:15, and meet for the session until 1:00. They spend a Saturday together on retreat, and walk the whole season alongside an adult mentor from this congregation. Not a teacher. Someone who shows up, asks how the week went, and prays for your student by name.

The year is built around five promises: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Each session takes up one promise and the practices that go with it. Students pick one to try that week, their mentor asks midweek how it went, and the next session opens with what actually happened. Faith gets practiced, not just studied.

The Season

• January 10: Kick-off, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Worship together, then lunch with families and mentors.
• Sunday sessions, 10:15 AM to 1:00 PM: January 17, January 24, January 31, February 7, February 14, February 21, and March 7. Worship at 10:15, a meal with mentors at 11:15, the session until 1:00.
• February 10: Ash Wednesday worship, 7:00 PM.
• February 27: Retreat, Saturday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, location to be announced.
• March 31: Supper and rehearsal, 5:30 to 7:30 PM.
• April 4: Confirmation Sunday.

Come to worship together. The 10:15 service is part of confirmation, and we mean the whole family, not a drop-off. Presence is one of the five promises your student makes in April, and it is not a promise anyone keeps alone. Thirteen Sundays sitting beside your student will teach it better than any session we could design.

That is the only thing we ask of parents, and here is the one thing we invite. Families take turns providing the Sunday meal. Students and mentors eat together at 11:15 every week, and that table is where most of the real conversation happens. Sarah works the calendar out with families directly, so there is nothing to sign up for now and no date to pick today.

Each student serves in worship twice during the season, alongside their mentor. Greeting, ushering, reading scripture, serving communion, hospitality, or the tech booth. Presence, gifts, and service are three of the five promises your student makes in April, and they will practice them before they promise them. Students and mentors choose together at the January 10 kick-off, so there is nothing to decide right now.

Confirmation Sunday is April 4, 2027, the Sunday after Easter, and a service of confirmation, baptism, and reception of new members. Students profess their faith in front of this congregation and are received as professing members. Students who have not been baptized can be baptized that morning, and plenty of students come into confirmation having never been baptized. Either way, your student is welcome exactly as they are.

Parents, that morning can be yours too. If you have never been baptized, never joined a church, or have been part of this congregation for years without ever making it official, you can take that step alongside your student. Watching your child claim this faith has a way of raising the question for yourself. Say so in the registration and we will walk with you the same way we walk with your student.

There is something else for you in this season. While your student is in the session, you can be in a Grace Group down the hall from noon to 1:00. A small circle, one hour, honest conversation, practicing the same five promises your student is learning. You are already here for worship and you are coming back at 1:00 anyway, so the hour in between costs you the walk down the hall. We are forming these for January through Easter. Say you are interested in the registration.

We also need mentors. This congregation promises to nurture the young people among us, and a mentor is how that promise gets kept. You do not need to teach or to have answers, only to show up and pray for one student by name. It is a Sunday morning and a text most weeks from January through Easter: worship at 10:15, the meal at 11:15, and the session until 1:00 alongside your student.

We expect students at every session, and we know that will not happen perfectly. If you already see a date your family cannot make, tell Sarah when you sign up and we will work it out. The two hardest to miss are the February 27 retreat and Confirmation Sunday.

One link does both. Choose Confirmation Student to register your student, or Mentor Interest to tell us you are willing and Sarah will call you.

Questions, or wondering whether your student is ready? Contact Sarah Hendricks at sarah.hendricks@mcphersonfirst.org or 620-480-0165. She would rather talk it through than have you guess.