Are You Ready?: Preparing Young People to Live Their Confirmation - Softcover

Maidment, Pete

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0281071497 ISBN 13: 9780281071494

Publisher: SPCK Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

This 'prequel' to the confirmation gift book Living your Confirmation (SPCK, 2012) contains 19 ready-to-use, interactive sessions to use with young people who are preparing for confirmation. The first part of the book focuses on the promises made in the confirmation service and relates to the topics covered in Living your Confirmation, including prayer, Holy Communion, going to church and social action. The second part includes sessions on sex, alcohol, image, exams, science, pornography and suffering. An introduction considers the point of confirmation and its role in a young person's faith journey. The book also includes a full programme for a pre-confirmation retreat and a liturgy for the enrolment of confirmands.

About this title

Review:

'A great course - Easy to use with minimal preparation, flexible, imaginative' --- Revd Richard Harlow

'Pete Maidment is witting, humorous, insightful, thought-provoking and creative. I am delighted that he has taken up the challenge of producing what is decidedly, and rightly, not a confirmation course but a fabulous resource to produce brilliant confirmation preparation sessions. Read the really helpful opening chapters, then let your young people delve into the themes and ideas to help them get ready for their confirmation. They will grow, and so will the leaders. Terrific stuff!' --The Rt Revd Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham

This book is brilliant. In essence it is a pre-confirmation resource, comprising of: a couple of chapters about the background of confirmation, 19 sessions worth of material and a further section relating to the final preparation of candidates. It s simply excellent and well worth buying right now if you have any involvement in preparing young people for confirmation. The book describes itself as more of a toolbox than a course - and it's right: 19 sessions are too many for a confirmation course that doesn't intend to scare off any young people interested. The sessions are broken down into two sections. One dealing with the stuff contained in the commission in the Confirmation service (e.g.'breaking bread','prayer', 'proclaim the good news'), and the other looking at common issues that young people might be wrestling with (e.g. 'image','exams', 'suffering'). The well-written introductory material suggests a variety of ways of using these to create something to journey through with the young people towards confirmation, including my favourite description, likening it to a buffet.

One of the best things about this book (and there are lots of good things) is that Pete 'gets' it - he gets how resources are used in reality, by whom, to do what and so on, thus the material is easy to use, adapt, shift around and compile into a coherent course. But unusually for a resource I feel the best bit of this book is not actually the 19 sessions (although they are excellent) but the opening sections. In fact, I'd say this book is almost worth getting for the opening few chapters on their own, looking at the theology of confirmation with doses of development, leadership, discipleship, all in a readily accessible format and language.

For full disclosure, I have mixed opinions about confirmation (at vicar factory we have the full range of views about what it is and/or does and much cleverer people than I couldn t seem to agree on it) but this book is sufficiently open-ended that wherever you come from and whatever your theological stance on confirmation you can use it. In fact, I'd even suggest that for non-Anglicans it would prove to be a useful resource to draw from.

In summary, this is a fantastic resource that every Anglican church (and plenty of others) should be buying for their youth leaders. --Jimmy Young, Premier Youthwork

'Getting young people ready for confirmation is a privilege and a great opportunity but it can also be a daunting task. Reading 'Are You Ready?' is like sitting down with a good friend who knows what you need to hear. Pete Maidment talks us through what confirmation is, what young people are like and how to create a tailor-made course for your group from the rich buffet that he provides in the book. Pete's love of young people and years of experience as a youth worker shine through this excellent resource - highly recommended.' --Jenny Baker, author of 'Equals' and Development Manager for the Church Urban Fund

From the Author:

Pete Maidment is Youth Adviser for the Diocese of Winchester. He is co-author of Living your confirmation (SPCK, 2012) and has many years' experience of preparing young people for confirmation.

About this edition

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0281071497
• ISBN 13: 9780281071494
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 120