tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366621735995057721.post3786906877730567302..comments2024-03-17T09:17:01.454+00:00Comments on Vic the Vicar!: Confirmation: Beginning not end!Vic Van Den Berghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09581156515370131898noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366621735995057721.post-17102560888461350542014-07-12T08:34:46.502+01:002014-07-12T08:34:46.502+01:00There is some truth in what you say about engaging...There is some truth in what you say about engaging children, the younger the better.<br /><br />I made my first communion aged 7 and was confirmed the same year (RC).<br /><br />At the time, my understanding was perhaps superficial, but I knew that something special was happening, if not quite what?<br /><br />What it did, was to INCLUDE me, not exclude me. It allowed me to grow and to develop, until I had sufficient understanding to actually know what being confirmed has and still means. Sadly, it didn't keep me in the church of my birth, but when I was received into the CofE at age 58, at a Confirmation service at Canterbury Cathedral, the laying on of hands and anointing suddenly made eminent sense and brought back that experience so many years before.<br /><br />So:<br /><br />1. Allow children to receive communion from age 7, when they're still in the age of innocence, but so much more perceptive and knowledgeable than we can remember in ourselves.<br /><br />2. Allow confirmation from age 8 or 9, having given them time to develop and to grow, having been communicant members from age 7, and perhaps allow the Holy Spirit to make them committed members, life long.<br /><br />3. Encourage and support our schools including Sunday Clubs/Schools/Messy Church and similar, that include and provide a sound Christian foundation for our children from primary age onwards.<br /><br />Appreciate that this might be traditional, might take effort, time and volunteers, and might be teaching us to suck egs, but from the people that I talk to, who are committed members, they were all confirmed and at communion at a much younger age than 15 and they stuck as faithful Christians.UKViewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18114944341930758335noreply@blogger.com