The following rite follows a public examination of confirmands to receive them as communicant members of our congregation upon their public profession of faith. If you would like to learn more about our Confirmation Class on Sunday mornings, please speak with Pastor Grabenhofer.
Beloved in the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”
You have been baptized and you have been taught the faith according to our Lord’s bidding. The fulfillment of his bidding we now celebrate with thankful hearts, rejoicing to confess the faith into which you were baptized and which you yourselves will now confess before the Church.
Jesus said: “Whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father in heaven. But he that denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven.”
Lift up your hearts therefore to the God of all grace and joyfully give answer to what, in the name of the Lord, as a minister of his Church, I now shall ask you.
Do you this day in the presence of God and of this congregation acknowledge the gifts which God gave you in your Baptism?
I do.
Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?
I do.
Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?
Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son?
Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,*
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
* The ancient text: the holy catholic Church
Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?
I do so intend with the help of God.
Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and confess the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from them, as you have learned to know it from the Small Catechism, to be faithful and true?
I do.
Do you desire to be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and of this congregation?
I do.
Do you intend faithfully to conform all your life to the divine Word, to be faithful in the use of God’s Word and sacraments, which are his means of grace, and in faith, word, and action to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?
I do so intend by the grace of God.
Upon this your profession and promise I invite you and welcome you, as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and of this congregation, to share with us in all the gifts our Lord has for his Church and to live them out continually in his worship and service.
The Rite of Confirming Members is taken from Lutheran Worship Agenda, copyright © 1984 by Concordia Publishing House.