Two essential elements for a Confirmation program

Two activities that I think should be givens for a full scale Confirmation program:

• Regardless of the style of program, if you have more than 4 youth, consider a retreat or lock-in at the beginning to create a sense of community.
• Have a larger project sometime during the program that the youth decide upon, plan and execute with little adult direction. Once they have accomplished it they will feel better about themselves and each other and it will prove that they are, indeed, ready to be adult members of the church. I have found these to be particularly helpful in the first part of the program because it bonds the group
• Both of these activities give the group some common event to tie them together and to talk about when they have nothing else in common.