The two portraits that we are sharing this April have allowed their contextual reality to shape their confirmation program in meaningful ways. The intimate community of Peace Lutheran Church, where each youth and their home life is known by the pastor differs vastly from the Church of the Resurrection – whose confirmation class had over 120 youth last year. Despite these differences, each program has found creative and relevant ways to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Peace Lutheran Church in Tacoma, Washington is a city church with a long history of loving its community. This community in Tacoma has struggled with gang violence and homelessness and in response has fulfilled its mission to love their neighborhood through helping meet their needs. In this portrait, by Peter Bauck, we learn how the identity of a congregation can shape a meaningful confirmation program.
Church of the Resurrection is a giant United Methodist church in Kansas City with four campuses and 20,000 members. Kate Obermueller Unruh’s portrait of COR provides a powerful example of a confirmation program that holds youth to high expectations, provides resources for parents, and has made strategic bridges between youth and congregational life to ensure lasting involvement.
I hope you find these congregational portraits to be an encouraging sign of the vibrant activity of the Holy Spirit!
Peace,
Katie Douglass
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