Growing leaders central to success of confirmation weekends
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Down and Dromore recently marked the 10th anniversary of its Confirmation weekends, with record numbers of candidates staying at Castlewellan Castle, Co. Down, and an extra Confirmation Day arranged for groups which could not be accommodated in the original bookings. Andrew Brannigan, the diocese's Youth Officer, writes:
The weekend focused on three themes: 'What is Confirmation and what does it mean to be confirmed?', ‘Prayer and Bible study’ and ‘The Church’, with all three themes led by Simon Henry from Moira parish.
Each young person was also involved in a group of around 14 others, taking part in discussions, activities, Bible study and prayer under the watchful eye of three Confirmation facilitators.
Also built into the weekend were a number of recreational activities, including Laser Quest, cage football, crazy maze, ultimate Frisbee, laser clay pigeon shooting, a murder mystery, ‘Saturday Night Live’ and a disco.
Over 10 years, these weekends have managed to create a good balance and afford many opportunities to cater for the spiritual formation of young people of different ages and backgrounds, all of whom share a common involvement in Confirmation.
There are a number of reasons behind the continued success of these weekends, including the commitment of clergy and leaders in sending groups; the work of the Youth Council in organising them; and the provision of financial and staff support from the Diocese.
However, the key successful ingredient has undoubtedly been the involvement of group facilitators who come to the weekends and work with young people across four sessions to share their faith, discuss topics and pray with and support them.
Each group follows a handbook for the sessions and has at least one or two experienced facilitators who take the opportunity to train up one or two new facilitators. This means that, as well as providing group time that works for young people, new leaders are able to gain valuable experiential training over the course of the weekends.
This has resulted in about 140 young leaders having been given valuable experience and training over the 10 years of the Confirmation weekends. These leaders are vital to the future of youth ministry in their parishes and beyond, so please continue to pray for them.
For video of the recent weekend, visit: www.ddyc.co.uk
(This article first appeared in The Church of Ireland Gazette 6 May ).