Confirmation at Redeemer

This paper explains how Redeemer understands Confirmation: why we offer it, who it is for, what it involves, and how it grows out of baptism. But before any of that, we want to tell you what we hope it will be. We hope Confirmation, both the class and Confirmation Sunday,  is used by God in their spiritual formation, whether they are fifteen or fifty. We hope they stand before people who love them, say out loud what they believe, and receive the Bishop's prayer. And we hope the whole community of Redeemer stands beside them and says: we see you, we are praying for you, and we are with you!

At its heart, Confirmation is simple. Through the Bishop's laying on of hands and prayer for a daily increase in the Holy Spirit, God strengthens a believer for life in the service of Christ and his kingdom. Grace is God's gift, and we pray that he will continue to pour out his Holy Spirit on those who have already been made his children by grace through faith.

To understand Confirmation, it helps to begin with what we affirm  about baptism, because Confirmation only makes sense as a response to what baptism has already given.

Baptism is a Sacrament instituted by Christ, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. In baptism, God truly acts. Through water and the Holy Spirit, we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection, welcomed into his Church  and called into a new life of faith and obedience.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus himself was baptized (Matt. 3:13 to 17; Mark 1:9 to 11; Luke 3:21 to 22; John 1:32 to 34), and he commands his followers to make disciples and baptize them (Matt. 28:19). So baptism is more than a public testimony or a symbol of a decision we have already made. It is a gift Christ gives to his Church, and the ordinary way he brings us into his Body.

We are saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, received through faith, and not by any work that earns salvation. At the same time, baptism is neither optional nor incidental to the Christian life. Christ commands it and gives it as a means of grace. God's saving mercy is not limited by the Sacraments (the thief on the cross is Scripture's own example), but the extraordinary mercy of God never makes light of the ordinary means he has given us.

For this reason, Redeemer baptizes both the children of Christian parents and those who come to faith later in life and have not yet been baptized.

Following the historic practice of the Church, we gladly baptize infants and young children of Christian parents. Baptism is first of all a sign of God's gracious initiative toward us. It is something he does, not something we achieve or declare.

In baptism, children are received into the household of God and the life of the Church. Parents make promises on their behalf and commit to raising their children in the knowledge and love of the Lord: teaching them the faith, praying with and for them, and helping them grow into the grace and identity they have been given.

Our hope is that baptized children will grow into the faith they have received, and one day take the promises of their baptism upon themselves through a mature profession of faith and Confirmation.

We are just as glad to baptize children, youth, and adults who come to faith in Jesus Christ and have not been baptized before.

Those preparing for baptism receive instruction in the Christian faith, publicly profess faith in Jesus Christ, renounce sin and evil, and enter the Sacramental life of the Church through baptism.

We long to see more people baptized at Redeemer, whether as infants, children, or adults. We do not consider one path better than the other. We simply want to see people baptized and to see those who do not yet know Jesus come to faith in him. Whether someone is baptized as an infant or after a later profession of faith, there is one baptism.

The Christian life that follows is, in a very real sense, a lifelong growing into our baptism, learning to live more fully into the identity and grace God has given us in Christ.

Because Redeemer baptizes both infants and those who come to faith later, there are two pathways that lead to Confirmation. Both honor the one baptism we share, and both arrive at the same place: a person standing before God and the community, saying with their own voice, I believe,  and being commissioned to further serve the Lord.

Because Redeemer baptizes both infants and those who come to faith later, there are two pathways that lead to Confirmation. Both honor the one baptism we share, and both arrive at the same place: a person standing before God and the community, saying with their own voice, I believe,  and being commissioned to further serve the Lord.

Infant Baptism → Faith → Eucharist and Confirmation

In this pathway, parents bring their child for baptism as a sign of God's gracious initiative. As in the historic Church, baptism comes before the child's own profession of faith and points ahead to a faith that will one day be theirs. Parents (and godparents, if applicable) promise to raise the child in the knowledge and love of the Lord.

As the child grows, they learn the Scriptures, take part in the life of the church, and receive Eucharist (also called Communion) as a baptized member of the Body. Beginning in eighth grade, they are invited into the Confirmation process, where they study the faith more deeply, are paired with a sponsor from the congregation, and take the promises of their baptism upon themselves.

What changes at Confirmation is not a person's standing before God. Confirmation is an invitation for the faith into which they were baptized to be declared and owned out loud. They respond to what God has already done and affirm the promises made over them. And they are commissioned for the journey ahead, sent forward with the prayers and blessing of the church, the laying on of hands by the Bishop, and the confidence that the God who claimed them in baptism will carry them all the way home.

(Child Blessing) → Profession of Faith → Baptism → Eucharist and Confirmation

In this pathway, a person comes to baptism after an explicit, personal profession of faith.

For parents who choose to wait on baptism until their child can make their own confession, we offer a Child Blessing. In this service, parents present their child before God and the church to give thanks, to seek God's grace and protection over their child's life, and to promise to raise them in the knowledge and love of the Lord. As a congregation, we stand with these families, promising our prayers, care, and support until the day the child professes faith for themselves.

When a child, youth, or adult who has not been baptized comes to personal faith in Jesus Christ, they receive instruction in the faith, make a public profession, renounce sin and evil, and are baptized. Baptism is the doorway into the Sacramental life of the Church, including full participation in Communion.

For those baptized in this pathway, profession of faith comes before baptism. Confirmation then becomes the occasion to renew the promises of their baptism, to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit through the Bishop's laying on of hands and prayer, and to be commissioned for a life of following Jesus within the community of Redeemer. Youth are invited into the Confirmation process from eighth grade on, and adults may enter it whenever they sense the call.

In baptism, God truly acts. Baptism is the beginning of the Christian life, and Confirmation is where that life is deepened and strengthened. But where baptism is the beginning, Confirmation is an invitation to grow: to own the faith, to step forward in it, and to ask God to renew and increase the work of his Spirit in us. If the Christian life is a lifelong growing into our baptism, Confirmation is a significant moment on that road.

The Book of Common Prayer puts it well. In the preface to the Confirmation rite, it describes what happens when the Bishop lays on hands:

This is not a second conversion, and it does not finish something baptism left incomplete. It is a deepening of the work the Spirit has already begun. Confirmation is the church's way of saying: what God started in you, we are asking him to continue and complete.

Confirmation at Redeemer is an invitation to step forward. It is for those who were baptized earlier in life, whether as infants or after a profession of faith, and who now sense a call to affirm that faith publicly, to renew the promises of their baptism, and to follow Jesus more intentionally within the life of the church.

During the Confirmation service, those being confirmed make shared affirmations of faith. The Bishop then anoints each person with oil and prays for God to strengthen them, asking for a renewed and daily increase of the Holy Spirit. It is a chance to pray for a deepening of the grace already given in baptism, as God equips each person for a faithful life of following Jesus and serving his kingdom. The laying on of hands is not merely ceremonial. It is an act of commissioning, the church, through its ordained leadership, sending a person forward into their life as a disciple.

Marking a person's mature affirmation of faith has deep roots in the history of the church. In the early church, instruction in the faith (catechesis) came before baptism for adult converts. The church also developed Confirmation as the rite in which a person baptized as an infant, now grown, embraced the faith of their baptism with their own declaration.

Scripture gives a clear basis for this practice. The Apostles prayed for and laid hands on those who had already been baptized (2 Timothy 1:6 to 7; Acts 8:14 to 17; 19:6), and the Book of Common Prayer grounds Confirmation in this apostolic pattern.

During the time of the Reformation (1600s), church leaders, such as Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer, kept Confirmation, though they reframed it around catechetical instruction rather than as a Sacrament. The global Anglican Church has treasured Confirmation as a rite of passage: the Bishop comes to the congregation, lays hands on those being confirmed, and prays for the Holy Spirit to strengthen and renew them. It is one of the rare moments in Anglican life when the Bishop serves not only as an administrator of the diocese but as a pastor to the flock, present in person to commission the next generation of disciples. In Confirmation, we join a long and living conviction!

One of the distinctive features of Confirmation at Redeemer is the sponsor relationship. Everyone who goes through Confirmation will be paired with another member of the congregation (for youth, someone other than a parent) who walks alongside them through the process. This is not a side feature. It is central to what Confirmation is.

Studies of faith formation consistently find that young people who have meaningful relationships with adults in the church besides their parents are far more likely to carry their faith into adulthood. A sponsor weaves each person into a wider web of belonging. It says: you are not just your parents' kid here. You belong to this whole community.

Human beings are ritual creatures. We mark what matters. Graduations, weddings, ordinations: we surround the great transitions of life with ceremony because ceremony does something. It names what is happening, gathers witnesses, and lodges the moment in memory.

The move from inherited faith to owned faith deserves to be marked. A young person who stands before the congregation and says, in their own voice, "I believe in God the Father Almighty," is living a moment that matters. It ought to be surrounded with prayer, weight, and joy. And when the Bishop lays hands on them and prays, that weight becomes something they can feel. The church is saying: we have prayed for you, we have walked with you, and now we are sending you.

Confirmation at Redeemer is open to baptized teenagers from eighth grade and up, and to baptized adults. We want students to be ready for the kind of serious theological engagement and personal discernment Confirmation asks of them, and above all we want this to be something they choose, not something that happens to them.

Confirmation is not only for the young. Many people come to Redeemer having been baptized in another Christian tradition, or having grown up in the church without ever making a public affirmation of faith. Confirmation is open to them too. Those who have not yet been baptized are first invited into baptism, and may then pursue Confirmation.

Confirmation at Redeemer will include:

• A series of classes on the core of the Christian faith, such as the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Sacraments, and the story of the church. 
• A sponsor, an adult member of Redeemer who meets regularly with the participant, prays for them, and walks alongside them through the process.
• A public Confirmation service, where participants affirm their faith before the congregation, are commissioned by the Bishop's laying on of hands, and are sent forward as confirmed disciples of Jesus within the community of Redeemer.

A sponsor is not a teacher or a formal mentor. A sponsor is a companion. Their job is to show up: to attend class with the participant when possible, to share coffee or a meal and talk about real life and real faith, to pray, and to be there at the Confirmation service. We believe the sponsor relationship, as much as any single class or curriculum, can leave a lasting mark on a person's life.

Confirmation is not a graduation from the faith or from the church, and it is not a finish line. It is a beginning, a public declaration that a person intends to live as a follower of Jesus within the community of Redeemer and the wider body of Christ. We will say this clearly and often throughout the process.

Confirmation is not coercive. We will never pressure anyone to be confirmed before they are ready, and we welcome doubts and questions. The Confirmation process is exactly the place to bring them. What we are looking for is not the absence of questions but a genuine desire to follow Jesus and to keep seeking him.

Redeemer is a church that believes the faith once delivered to the saints is worth passing on, worth explaining, worth celebrating, and worth owning. Confirmation is one of the ways we do all four, and we would be honored to walk with you through it.