Confirming Mentoring: Mutual Experiences of Incarnation

The Confirmation Project research clearly identified the impact of the faith-forming culture of a congregation on youth confirmation. When the congregational ecology is intentional about lifelong and life-wide faith formation, intergenerational relationships become a powerful means of faith transmission. This article explores the role and impact of mentoring in confirmation programs, a practice we found in 57 percent of the 3064 congregations surveyed. Drawing from social science research and building on biblical and theological foundations, we argue that Christian mentoring, a practice of modeling faith, provides mutual benefit for young people and their adult mentors, while also contributing to the spiritual health and relational vitality of congregations. Intergenerational mentoring at its best teaches confirmands, mentors, and congregants that they are not independent Christians, but part of an interdependent body of Christ