G’day all.

SB writes:

>I have a question for this newsgroup…

>I have been attending confirmation bible studies at my church for about

>6 weeks now. We have the choice at the end whether we wish to be

>confirmed or not. The service will take place at Easter.

>My question is this….what does it mean to be confirmed? How crazy! as

>that’s what we should be studying and this is the biggest issue I am

>worried about. Does it mean I am swearing my allegiance to the Uniting

>Church? Or to God? What does it mean exactly?

Confirmation is actually very simple: it’s an affirmation that you agree with the decision your parents or guardians made to baptise you, assuming you were baptised as a child. Baptist churches, by comparison, usually don’t have a confirmation service as such, because they do it all at the time of baptism. While confirmation is not strictly speaking found in the Bible, it is considered a continuation of the “laying on of hands”, which you can see, for example, in Acts 8:14–17.

The Uniting Church does not ask you to “swear allegiance” to that organisation, unless you are being installed as an office bearer (e.g. a minister or an elder). Even then, it’s not really allegiance they’re after, but you do take a vow athat you will serve the church faithfully in that official capacity.

You will normally be asked if you renounce evil, trust in God and so on, and will also be asked to recite the Apostle’s Creed. You may (trying to remember back 15 years or so here) also be asked if you adhere to the Basis of Union, a document which you almost certainly haven’t read (if you’re a typical Uniting Church member, that is). It might be worth obtaining a copy to see if you agree with it, too.

As a matter of interest, have you asked your minister? If you have concerns, I suggest you ask him or her exactly what vows you will be asked to take during the service. Your minister should probably have told you this already, or will tell you this before the service, as it’s kind of unfair to ask someone to take vows on the spot without some self-examination first to see if you really agree with them or not.

>I am interested in your opinions and thoughts about this as I’m not sure

>whether to be confirmed or not, especially as I don’t see how it changes

>or enhances what I believe.

It doesn’t change what you believe. Well, the bible studies might enhance what you believe a bit (if you didn’t know it all first, of course).

You have to understand that confirmation is partly for you and partly for the church. At your baptism, the church accepted you. At confirmation, you give the church a public statement that you accept her[1], with all her strengths and weaknesses. That’s important for your congregation and for the church as a whole.

In that sense it’s kind of like a wedding. You could make the necessary vows to your spouse in private if you wanted to, and live by them, and be for all intents and purposes “married”. You could even arrange the legalities yourself if you wanted to. A “wedding” involves your family, your friends and the wider community in the process, and it gives them a chance to celebrate, and it makes public your intentions.

Did that help? If you have any more questions, please do ask.

Cheers, Andrew Bromage

[1] Despite being a Gen X’er, I still use the sexist pronoun for the church. I make no apologies