By John M. De Marco

LAKELAND — Confirmation is an opportunity for young people to make a public proclamation of their faith in Christ and become official members of a local United Methodist church. For many it is the first detailed and coordinated opportunity to grasp the big picture of the Christian faith and its theology.

Local churches and pastors continue to wrestle with developing creative methods for ensuring the confirmation experience is one of spiritual growth and significance for young United Methodists. So do Florida Conference ministry teams.

For nearly two decades the Florida Conference Council on Ministries (CCOM) coordinated a Bishop’s Confirmation Convocation event. It took place each spring, with the goal of bringing confirmation candidates, their families and youth leaders from churches around the conference together for a time of worship, inspiration and excitement about the confirmation experience.

The event “helped kids to see they were part of a much bigger picture, that it wasn’t just their little church on the corner,” said Carol Sue Hutchinson, director of the CCOM’s Discipleship and Church and Society ministries.

Several years ago attendance at the event hit a high of about 900 individuals, but the 2003 event garnered only about 180 participants. The CCOM’s recent cancellation of the covocation from lack of participation and leadership does not signal the conference plans no role in the confirmation experience.

“When the event started about 20 years ago, it was very relevant to the culture at the time,” Hutchinson said. “Everyone was confirming the same time of the year, using the same materials, pretty much. There was a sameness about it that is no longer around today in any way, shape or form.”

Hutchinson said the CCOM is willing to assist any group that has a passion for developing a new conference-wide confirmation. “We will help districts do what they want to do or big churches that can pull in the small churches around them,” Hutchinson said. “This is a ministry of the people in the local congregations, and we are willing to resource these ministries in ways that are relevant to kids today.”

One church that continues to explore ways of tapping into such relevance is Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville. Youth director Brian Wittstruck spearheads an effort that has evolved each year, including for the first time this spring participation by a class of seventh graders. Previously, a young person had to be in at least eighth grade to be confirmed.

Trinity’s program runs for 16 to 18 weeks during the spring, with weekly meetings during the Sunday school hour. Trained adult mentors work with the candidates and break them into small groups. Wittstruck pulls resources from the confirmation curriculum published by Cokesbury.

Candidates are typically confirmed during worship the Sunday after Easter. “The last three years, Dan Johnson [Trinity’s senior pastor] has let the kids kind of take over the services, which is great. The whole congregation needs to be part of confirmation,” Wittstruck said.

Wittstruck also assigns adults who do not participate in the classes or other confirmation-related activities to serve as prayer partners with the candidates. “We ask them to pray for their individual youth every single day, and they can write letters of encouragement,” he said.

Wittstruck said Trinity had not regularly participated in the conference’s confirmation event for some time. He suggests inviting such speakers as Cokesbury’s Walt Marcum to a conference-wide event could help churches become more unified in their confirmation approach.

The Rev. Chris Akers, senior pastor of Faith Church, a United Methodist congregation in Bradenton, says confirmation is valuable in that it is a “tent marker” in a young person’s life. The church held confirmation classes this fall and confirmed 10 youth Dec. 14 during worship.

The church has used the “Diving Deep” curriculum from Group Publishing, which focuses on spiritual disciplines, discipleship and articulating the gospel. The course includes a mini-retreat offering communion and foot washing.

Although Akers’ youth minister conducts the classes, Akers meets with candidates one-on-one to talk about their faith. “I make sure they’re making their decision with integrity and profess Christ,” he said. “I try to talk about the difference between professing Christ and joining the church. You don’t have to join the church, but you can’t join the church without professing Christ.”

Like Wittstruck, Akers sees the confirmation system at his church as constantly in need of retooling and revision as time passes.

At Kathleen United Methodist Church the Rev. Jeffrey Ice is preparing to conduct the church’s first round of confirmation classes this coming spring. Ice said he will use the Cokesbury curriculum as part of Sunday school lessons for the candidates.

“These kids will know the basic tenets of the faith, regardless of denomination,” he said. “We’ll teach them what is a little different about the Methodist church and Wesleyan things, such as striving for perfection.”

The confirmation class at Trinity United Methodist Church in Tallahassee doubles as the sixth grade Sunday school class from September through May.

“We have a great team of teachers who lead the class, and the pastors meet with them on six different subjects, including sacraments, worship, membership vows, organizational structure of the United Methodist Church, etc.,” the Rev. Art McClellan said.

Trinity’s class also visits other denominations’ worship services and participates in a retreat weekend. To close, the church throws a Saturday night banquet with a Jeopardy-style game and a walk-through of Sunday morning’s confirmation celebration.