Confirmation for Youth

You are here > >

Credo Sessions in Three Weekend Retreats

If you're interested in taking your confirmands out of a traditional classroom setting, here are instructions for teaching the 18 Credo Confirmation sessions during three weekend retreats (one retreat per unit).

These retreat plans set aside time for evening prayers, morning watch, and worship but do not provide detailed instructions for these activities. We suggest that you draw from the evening prayer, morning watch, and worship instructions for the retreats included in the Credo Confirmation Director's Tools binder.

The schedules below suggest completing one session Friday evening and five on Saturday, leaving Sunday open for worship and packing up. If the Saturday schedule seems too full for your group, consider moving session 6 to Sunday morning, leading directly into a shorter worship time.

All of the activities included in these schedules are directly from the Credo Confirmation Director's Tools binder and Credo Confirmation Session Plans book, though the schedules also offer some suggested changes for the sake of time or continuity. The sessions themselves have been condensed slightly but without compromising any of the key teachings. As always, you have the freedom to adjust these schedules to meet your group's needs.

Overall Schedule for All Three Retreats

Friday Evening
6:00: arrive, eat, and settle in
7:00: Session 1
8:30: break
9:00: evening prayers
10:30: lights out

Saturday
7:30: breakfast
8:15: morning watch
8:30: Session 2
10:00: snack break
10:15: Session 3
11:45: free time
11:45: lunch, a short game, and rest time
1:00: Session 4
2:30: snack break
2:45: Session 5
4:15: free time
6:00: dinner
7:00: Session 6
8:30: break—movie time or group games
10:00: evening prayers
11:00: lights out

Sunday morning
7:30: breakfast
8:30: worship
9:30: load up and go home

Schedule for Each Session in Each Unit

Retreat #1: Know Your Story

Session 1: Creation

10 min: Opening Ritual
20 min: Days of Creation
15 min: First Person
15 min: Created in God’s Image (Skip the skits.)
15 min: Created to be Caretakers
5 min: Stewards for a Day

Session 2: Sin

20 min: Back to the Beginning
15 min: Who Sinned?
25 min: Corporate Sin
20 min: Where There’s Sin, There’s Grace
5 min: Sin is Real (question only)

Session 3: Redemption

10 min: Returning Home
20 min: Re-Re-Redemption
10 min: Counterintuitive
20 min: Stories of Redemption
15 min: Our Redeemer
10 min: Redemption in the United Methodist Tradition

Session 4: Holy Spirit

20 min: The Spirit in Scripture
10 min: Burning, Breathing, Blowing
20 min: The Spirit Moving in You
15 min: Listening for the Spirit
15 min: The Spirit on the Move

Session 5: Church

10 min: Defining Church (Skip the quote and begin with the markerboard instruction.)
5 min: The Church in the Bible (Condense by moving directly to Acts 2:43-47 after intro.)
30 min: The Church Expands
15 min: Forefathers, Mothers, and Others
20 min: The Members and the Body

Session 6: New Creation

15 min: New Creation
15 min: Old Creatures, New Creations
10 min: Defining the Kingdom
15 min: Characteristics of the Kingdom
25 min: Playing our Part

Retreat #2: Confirm Your Faith

Session 1: Way of Discipleship

10 min: Opening Ritual
5 min: Tell Me the Way (Skip the first two parts [about instruction] and start with the directions portion of the activity and Bible reading.)
10 min: Private and Corporate
10 min: Devotion (Go through to the reading of the Bible verses, without the separate time for devotion within the lesson. Don’t forget to label the cross before moving on.)
10 min: Worship
20 min: Compassion (complete the in-class project)
15 min: Justice
10 min: Putting it All Together

Session 2: Way of Salvation

15 min: My Faith Timeline
5 min: House of Salvation
15 min: Prevenient Clays
15 min: Amazing, Justifying Grace
10 min: Sanctifying Grace: An Object Lesson
10 min: Growing Toward Perfection
15 min: Thorny Issues

Session 3: Wesleyan Quadrilateral

5 min: Moving Beyond the Magic 8 Ball (Skip the group work and just have kids ask funny questions and use the Magic 8 Ball for answers. Point out the absurdity of the advise given by the 8 Ball.)
5 min: Introducing the Quadrilateral
10 min: Lectio Divina
10 min: Scripture as I See It (Variation A likely will save time.)
10 min: Our Church is Changing
15 min: Experience Journals (The optional version will work better as the youth will not have had time during the retreats to maintain personal journals.)
15 min: Reason: We’re in Agreement That . . .
10 min: Putting it All Together

Session 4: Worship

10 min: Listen to Me
5 min: Rules Rule (Use the first two paragraphs and the questions, skipping the activity in between.)
10 min: Do You Know Hymn?
10 min: Noteworthy Composers
20 min: Worship Scavenger Hunt (Option B)
10 min: Person, Place, or Thing?
15 min: You’re in Charge

Session 5: Sacraments

10 min: What is Baptism?
10 min: Babies and Believers
10 min: Remember Your Baptism
10 min: What is Holy Communion?
15 min: How It All Started
10 min: The Table is Open
15 min: But Why?
10 min: Celebration of Holy Communion

Session 6: Living a Holy Life

10 min: To Know is to Love
10 min: Puzzled by Holiness
10 min: It’s Perfect!
10 min: A Wholly Holy Life
10 min: Ingredients for a Holy Life (Using the handout with recipes, mix up the ingredients and give youth the three dishes to be made, asking them to sort the ingredients into the correct recipes. Transition from the need for the ingredients to be correct to make a dish correctly to the rest of the activity about the ways to practice living a holy life.)
15 min: Making Holy Choices
10 min: A Holy Reminder

Retreat #3: Live Your Commitment

Session 1: Renounce, Reject, Repent

10 min: Opening Ritual
10 min: Promises, Promises
10 min: Wicked Words
10 min: Hear Evil, See Evil, Do Evil?
10 min: Totally Rejected (Skip the questions regarding the Taps game.)
10 min: Rejection Letters
10 min: Turn Your Life Around
5 min: Slavery: A Case Study

Session 2: Accept

5 min: Call to Worship
15 min: Life Without Rules
15 min: Words of Freedom (and Discipline)
15 min: Freedom Rules!
10 min: Get Fired Up!
10 min: Transformers
10 min: Personal Training

Session 3: Confess

15 min: Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
10 min: The Last Thing You Expected
15 min: Trust: The One Who Knows
15 min: Promise: Pinkie Swears
10 min: Promise: Real Promises (Skip the list-making and go straight from Pinkie Swears to the questions about serving God.)
15 min: Unity: Put Me In, Coach

Session 4: I Believe

15 min: All In
20 min: Crawl, Hop, or Sleep
10 min: Father, Son, Spirit
15 min: The Faith of the Church
10 min: Heard it All Before
20 min: I Believe (Only do this activity if youth are to this point in their journals Otherwise, do this activity at a separate meeting after the retreats are completed.)

Session 5: PPGSW

15 min: Prayers: From the Rising of the Sun
5 min: Prayers: Can I Get a Witness?
15 min: Presence: Marked Present
10 min: Presence: There for You
5 min: Presence: Can I Get a Witness?
10 min: Gifts: One to Grow On
10 min: Gifts: Give it Away Now
5 min: Gifts: Can I Get a Witness?
15 min: Service: Follow the Leader
5 min: Service: Can I Get a Witness?

Session 6: Going Forth

10 min: In the Image of God
15 min: Sole Purpose
10 min: Terms of Endearment
10 min: Fertile Soil
10 min: Remembrance
15 min: Somewhere in the Middle
10 min: Living in the Presence

Comments