Adult Confirmation: a thorough overview

2009 Adult Sunday School Plan

Topic: Adult Confirmation: a thorough overview

Rationale: Many adults in the church have not participated in confirmation instruction in their youth. Of those who did, it was many years ago, and some have expressed a desire to have a refresher course.

The nature of corporate worship leads us to repeat certain activities (Communion, Baptism) or statements (Lord’s Prayer, Apostle’s Creed) without taking the time to explain and teach what we are doing and why.

Repetition can be useful for low-level learning, but can be counter-productive to higher-level understanding and applying.

Adults need the opportunity to not only hear the teachings of the church, but to evaluate and at times even question them, in order to develop spiritual maturity.

Challenges: Students will likely possess a wide variety of experience with the topics presented. Some may feel they know all they need to know. Others may feel as though these teachings are no longer relevant for today’s world. Still others may feel that they are not ready for this in-depth of a study. In order to overcome these challenges the Instructor must engage the students and not simply present the material. The more involved the students are in the learning process the more they will benefit from the material presented.

And of course, when working with spiritual growth, the course and the students need to be covered in prayer, for only the Spirit of God can move a topic from the head to the heart.

Objectives:

The primary objective of this course is two-fold:

1. To expose students to the basic foundational teachings of the church.
2. To move students from simply knowing the teachings of the church to understanding those teachings so that they are able to apply them to their daily lives

As a result of participating in this course, students will:

• Be able to recite the Ten Commandment
• Understand how the Ten Commandments apply to their daily lives
• Be able to evaluate real life situations in order to discern which Commandment should guide their choices
• Be able to recite the Apostle’s Creed
• Understand what it means to have God as their Heavenly Father
• Understand the redemptive work of Jesus Christ
• Understand their relationship to Christ’s church
• Have a deeper understanding of what they are asking for when they pray the Lord’s Prayer
• Be able to offer prayers that follow the model of prayer found in the Lord’s Prayer
• Know the different views of Baptism within the Christian church
• Understand what God has done for them through Baptism
• Know the different views of Communion within the Christian Church
• Understand what God does for them through Communion

Schedule: 33 Weeks of instruction & interaction

Sept 13	Kick-Off
Sept 20	Introduction to Confirmation, expectations, objectives, schedule
Sept 27	Authority of Scripture
Oct 4	Sacraments – The What, Why and How
Oct 11	The Law – 2 tables, 3 uses
Oct 18	Commandment #1 – You shall have no other gods before me
Oct 25	Commandment #2 – You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God
Nov 1	Commandment #3 – Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
Nov 8	Commandment #4 – Honor your father and mother
Nov 15	Commandment #5 – You shall not murder
Nov 22	Commandment #6 – You shall not commit adultery
Nov 29	Commandment #7 – You shall not steal
Dec 6	Commandment #8 – You shall not give false testimony
Dec 13	Commandment #9 – You shall not covet your neighbor’s house
Dec 20	Commandment #10 – You shall not covet your neighbor’s spouse (stuff)
Dec 27	CHRISTMAS BREAK – no Sunday School
Jan 3	NEW YEAR’S BREAK – no Sunday School
Jan 10	Introduction to the Apostles’ Creed
Jan 17	First Article – God the Father
Jan 24	Second Article – Jesus, His only Son, part 1
Jan 31	Second Article – Jesus, His only Son, part 2
Feb 7	Third Article – The Holy Spirit
Feb 14	Third Article – The Holy Christian Church
Feb 21	Third Article – Eternal Life
Feb 28	Introduction to Prayer
Mar 7	Addressing your Heavenly Father
Mar 14	Petitions 1-3
Mar 21	Petition 4
Mar 28	Petition 5
Apr 4	EASTER – no Sunday School
Apr 11	Petitions 6-7
Apr 18	Baptism: how
Apr 25	Baptism: why
May 2	Baptism: who
May 9	MOTHER’S DAY –no Sunday School
May 16	Communion – the elements
May 23	Communion – the practice
May 30	Conclusion – WHO YOU ARE