HPUMC Confirmation Marks the Beginning of a Lifelong Faith Journey

Confirmation begins with uncertainty for many sixth graders, but almost all of them sense that this is different.

There are students who have been to church pretty much every Sunday since they were born and others who are stepping into a church for the first time. Some come in ready to ask theological questions, while others don’t know what the New Testament is.

That shared uncertainty often becomes common ground, providing a starting point.

“This suddenly feels serious,” Confirmation Associate Ruth Symank said. “It's something like, ‘Oh, this is more important than Sunday school, but I don't really know why.’ And there's a lot of nervous energy in the room, so that kind of unites everybody.”

The diversity of the HPUMC Confirmation program extends beyond faith backgrounds to where students live and attend school.

This year’s Confirmation class had students from 31 different schools.

“I think that there's been the reputation of our program that it's sixth-grade Highland Park kids, and there's a bunch of them,” Ruth said. “But really, we literally have kids coming in from Denton. We've got kids from all over the place. And so it just helps people feel comfortable, too, because there's a lot of diversity, more than people would expect. It kind of makes it comfortable to ask the hard, weird questions.”

Over the course of three Rite of Confirmation ceremonies, 202 students were confirmed, making HPUMC the largest Confirmation program in the country.

This year’s class included two Belong Disability Ministry participants for the first time, children of parents who were confirmed at HPUMC, two fifth-generation HPUMC confirmands, and a sixth-generation confirmand.

While that may seem like a wide range of students and backgrounds, they all come together for the same purpose.

“We're all here because we actually have a lot more in common than we realize. It doesn't really matter where we go to school,” Ruth said. “Finding the commonality at the beginning helps. That's why we wait and do our lock-in in mid-November. That's our first big get-together because it kind of helps to chip away at the nerves for a few months, and then by the time we do our retreat in the spring, yeah, they're comfortable.”

Over time, that comfort level extends beyond friendships and into faith itself, whether that means coming into the building every week and gaining an understanding of the Bible, God and faith, or being comfortable not knowing and asking questions.

Faith is a lifelong journey, and Confirmation gives students the foundation for it.

“To me, that's the beauty of our program. It just gets them comfortable here,” Ruth said. “We definitely don't send them up into Youth having every answer. Half the time we're telling them we don't know the answers ourselves. It's a constant search, but it's nice that they just feel comfortable to ask. And that's kind of the foundation we're setting: that it's OK to ask questions, it's OK to be nervous here, it's OK to be lost. The goal is just helping them feel comfortable with church in general.”

But at the end, during the ceremony, the confirmands are asked to take vows, including joining the church. The Confirmation program has put an added emphasis on what the vows are and what they mean.

It isn’t a box to check or something to do because other people are doing it. It has to be a personal choice.

“This past year we were really focusing on the vows,” Ruth said. “We wanted them to understand what they were saying and why they were saying it. They’re not just at the ceremony because your mom and dad signed you up. We really wanted them to understand that they were making a vow. That's a big deal. It's a big promise.”

It’s also something they carry with them. One week after the Rite of Confirmation ceremonies, HPUMC honored the Class of 2026 with Youth Senior Recognition Sunday.

Of the 56 seniors recognized, 46 were part of the HPUMC Confirmation program in the sixth grade. For many of them, a journey that began at baptism and continued through Confirmation reached another milestone.

“At baptism, the congregation takes vows on behalf of them, and then their Confirmation vows are done in a community with people who are vowing to grow alongside them,” High School Pastor Mak Knowlden said. “And then Senior Sunday is the celebration of all of those vows coming together. So it's this very beautiful moment of faithful covenant between our students and the congregation.”

At the end of Confirmation, students choose to be a member of the church. In middle school, students begin taking ownership of their faith, but high school is often where that spiritual journey becomes more intentional.

“I'd say it's really a holy privilege and a great weight to have kids in their formative years,” Mak said. “But also, if we can set the example of what it looks like to be the church for them, I feel like that's a job well done on our part.”

Confirmation leaders have also made a point of getting more pastors involved throughout the process. That includes both the middle school pastors the confirmands will work with directly after Confirmation and the high school pastors they will encounter later on.

That has created relationships already that will carry through the confirmands’ time in Youth.

“I know a good amount of sixth graders this year who are confirmed,” Mak said. “And when I'm there putting their stoles on them, I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I can look at you and see you as this little kid, and know that one day you will be coming up to these same kneelers (as seniors), and I'm going to be praying over you.’”

Long before students fully understand every aspect of faith, church leaders hope they first understand something simpler: that they belong.

“To me, if the takeaway for these kids at this age is that church is fun, church is safe, I don't have to be perfect to go to church, and I can grow and I can ask questions at church and I'm loved at church,” Ruth said. “That's a win.”