This thesis project begins with the observation that the youth ministry I oversee typically loses a significant number of youth after eighth grade confirmation. Parents and adults have taken for granted that these young people will return to church once they begin to partner and/or have children of their own. But recent trends in American religiosity—namely the overall decline of Protestantism and the so-called “rise of the nones”—suggest that once our young people leave church many of them may never come back. If there is to be a future for the Christian witness of mainline Protestantism in 21st century America, these realities must be addressed. Of the numerous interventions we could consider, this project focuses on the unique faith formation opportunities found in the practice of adolescent confirmation. Even in post-Christendom America, confirmation maintains a high degree of cultural cachet as a rite of passage and therefore represents a brief window of time during which mainline churches have the attention of youth and their parents, an opportunity we cannot afford to squander. Confirmation is the last significant church-based faith formation that many young people will experience. We must ensure that youth who participate in confirmation programs receive quality discipleship because this experience may end up sustaining them for a decade or more. Yet I argue that typical confirmation practices—in which youth are empowered to pick and choose the theologies and practices that they find most compelling—have directly contributed to the decline of mainline Protestantism. After studying the long term impact of these confirmation experiences as I have facilitated them in two PC(USA) congregations, I suggest potential interventions that might feasibly transform our confirmation practices to better prepare young people to participate in vibrant expressions of post- Christendom Christianity.
