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Sam Brannon replied to Justin Rimbo's discussion 'Wanna Get Misquoted?'

I am way plugged into Facebook but as a tool for the community I serve, I have only started to uncover the opportunities. As it stands, my community is a small urban congregation nestled in the growingly gentrified East Austin area. My first venture…

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Sam Brannon and Richard Kidd are now friends

April 5

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At 6:31pm on March 31, 2008, Sam Brannon said…: The difficult part is convincing the old guard. Most people who want confirmation want it because it is a part of the prescribed formula for "church".

At 6:03pm on March 31, 2008, Justin Rimbo said…: Again, I agree. I was talking with Jay Gamelin (another fella on this site) a few weeks ago, and he kind of totally convinced me that confirmation was dead, basically using that same argument -- if this stuff is so important, it should be taught to everyone, then they teach it in the home, then we don't need to cram it into two years worth of entertainment, striving to keep kids' attention. And it's important (I think) to note that teaching the gospel is effective at ANY age, when it's done "well." (and often when it's not.)

At 7:19am on March 28, 2008, Richard Kidd said…: Hey Sam!!! What's up?

At 3:26pm on March 14, 2008, Justin Rimbo said…: Right, right -- and don't think the two aren't interrelated. If kids don't ever connect with Jesus (because that's most of the basics, right?), they grow up, have kids of their own, and know they're supposed to take them to confirmation, but if their homes aren't churches in themselves . . .

At 1:48pm on March 14, 2008, Justin Rimbo said…: That's great thinking, and ROUGH practicality. (If I sound bitter, I'm fasting today for the 30-hour famine -- pardon me if my context sounds like I'm contorting my face.)

Anyway, I totally agree -- it starts in the home, and that's where the confirmation-related basics should be learned. Do we need to teach adults how to teach? Heck, I'm worried that the adults in my church don't know what grace is (in its most basic sense). I bet it can be done with intentionality.

At 11:09pm on March 13, 2008, Sam Brannon said…: Well, we took things a bit further (in theory only). Nixing education of the basics seemed myopic. The premise of our work is based upon the assumption that out society is increasingly child focused to the point that finding a responsible adult is quite difficult. So if you wonder why there are so few responsible leaders simply look at the overarching culture. Few people are really willing to take responsibility for their own actions, and although this is nothing new, (see Genesis account of the Fall), it is not as it should be. Thus, if we are in the business of raising disciples and we think "confirmation stuff" is important information then we think we should teach the adult parents/guardians first (maybe even with the kids present) and ask the adults to teach their children at home, in the daily lives.

More later...

At 4:31pm on March 13, 2008, Justin Rimbo said…: A wise person recently shared with me his thoughts on the "need" for confirmation at all . . . and I've been pretty converted. Not a sacrament . . . hardly ever "successful" in terms of engaging youth within the church, . . . a source of MAJOR frustration for youth-people like me trying to keep kids interested in Jesus . . .

I can't relate this idea as well as my source, but maybe we can think about this together: Why do we do confirmation? Does the baptism not count? Shouldn't a person's entire life be a process of affirming one's faith? What if we had commitment/affirmation moments for people who felt like they were called to it?

Maybe some of you legitimate theologian/ecclesiologists can help me out, here . . .

At 9:36am on March 12, 2008, Sam Brannon said…: OK here goes, Thomasasked me to let you guys in on what we are thinking of doing. I am in a small congregation in Northeast Austin, Texas. It is actually quite simple. In this Lenten period the leadership has been discerning what God has in mind for us. Our determination has been that God needs us to look right in front of us. We have been thinking that we have to be something "greater" than we are and that since we're not we must be doing something wrong.

But we have noticed that single people keep showing up, of all ages. So instead of focusing on "family and children" we are thinking of focusing on who is right in front of us. Additionally, from our Bible study it is also clear that Jesus DIDN'T say, "Go out and create programs for families and children" but instead commanded us to make DISCIPLES. So we're going to focus on the six marks of discipleship (seemed like a tidy number). We are not going anti-family but instead are looking critically at this notion that a church is defined only as a "Family Institution".

Question:
How do we do youth education so that they can start to get to know why we do what we do? Part of the problem is that one size does not fit all, so traditional confirmation obviously doesn't fit. It seems anachronistic too.

More later...

At 4:43pm on March 11, 2008, Thomas Knoll said…: Hey! Glad you're in... Be brave, throw your thoughts and questions into the mix. I would especially love it if you could tell the story of the process your congregation is going through right now. What are you doing? Why did you decide to do it? How's it going?