Confirm not Conform

I doubt I'm breaking any new territory here when I tell you that a great deal of youth ministry is parent ministry. But I wanted to write about this because no one told me this; it was something I only discovered when I was a youth minister myself.

I've noticed an uptick in sales of Confirm not Conform Adult in the past couple of weeks. It makes me wonder if people are looking for good source material for Lenten studies. Maybe that's what people are planning, but even if they're not, I thought I'd give a few suggestions on how you could use CnC Adult as part of your parish's Lenten formation.

Today I happened to look at the collect for the First Sunday After Christmas--the only post-Christmas-Day collect we heard this year, what with Christmas Day on a Sunday. It reads:

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

It occurred to me today, on this World AIDS Day, that for many of the youth in our churches, AIDS is something that happens to Other People Far Away. But for many of us who work with youth, we went through the time when AIDS was a death sentence that affected people close to us. I wonder if sharing those stories and memories will help to make our current response to AIDS more compassionate and more urgent.

Last week, the radio program This American Life did a terrific show on the phenomenon known as Middle School. Among the many things that I found revelatory was this information from Linda Perlstein, author of Not Much Just Chillin: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers.

As churches begin a new program year, I thought church leaders might find this Rules of the Road protocol useful in situations beyond the Confirm not Conform program. It’s not just for youth either. I can think of a vestry or two for whom this might be useful. Feel free to adjust this protocol as necessary to fit your particular circumstances.

Discussion: Rules of the Road

Since many of you subscribed to Confirm not Conform, oh, around a year ago, many of you are now receiving renewal notices. I’ve gotten a few calls and emails in the past couple of weeks saying in essence, “We love the program, but why are we renewing? Are there updates? What do we get for our renewal?” Settle in for a full answer:

When we first created Confirm not Conform, we sold the program to parishes outright. Because parishes were buying the program (not leasing), the price was higher, with prices ranging from $250 to $950.

While Church Publishing is transferring its sales process to Cokesbury, you will not be able to order OR renew Confirm not Conform online. Instead, please call (800) 242-1918, then press 2 at the prompt, and 2 again. We are tremendously sorry for the inconvenience!

Information on ordering ALL of CPI's eproducts here.

***UPDATE***

At the top of our list of “things we need to revise in Confirm not Conform,” it’s the Take Home Exam at the end of lesson 12. And the first thing we need to change is to stop calling it an exam!

So the first thing I hope to pass along to you is to make sure EVERYBODY knows—you are not being graded and you will not fail. Sheesh! I was hoping the rest of the program made it clear that we are not about failing people in confirmation, that all of this is about your own exploration of faith. But I’m sure that goes right out the window as soon as people hear the word “exam.”

We love getting feedback from people who have used the program! Recently I had a wonderful conversation with the Rev. Lori Mills-Curran who used Confirm not Conform with the youth of St. Andrew’s, Framingham, MA (and called it, might I add, a “fabulous” curriculum).