Sunday School Class 9:00-10:00 a.m.

Sunday school is held for all ages from September to May.

 

Beginning at four years of age through 9th Grade children learn the basics of the Christian and reformed faith and prepare for confirmation. See below for Basics of Confirmation.

 

PRE-K: a child must be at least 4 years old to be in this class. In this class children are taken through a child’s Story Bible, color pictures based on the Bible stories they learn, and learn some basic hymns of the faith. They will also memorize Questions 1 and 2 of the Heidelberg Catechism.

 

GRADES 1-3. In this class the children are taken through a more advanced Story Bible, and also begin on a very elementary level to memorize the Heidelberg Catechism. The goal is to memorize Questions 1-2 and Question 21 and 60 as a class.

 

GRADES 4-6. In this class the children begin a more advanced study of the Christian faith. In addition to a fuller study of Bible history they begin to study the main doctrines of the Christian faith as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism. They also begin a more extensive memorization of the Heidelberg Catechism, as well as an elementary study of church history.

 

GRADES 7-9. This class is taught by the pastor. This is a student’s final preparation for confirmation. This class consists of a much more advanced study of Bible history, the Heidelberg Catechism, and Church history. The students are also expected, if possible, to memorize the entire Heidelberg Catechism. There are comprehensive exams in all these areas of study at the end of a student’s final year. A student must pass these exams before they are confirmed.

 

10th GRADE to ADULTS. Continuing education in the Christian Faith. 

 

 

Basics of Confirmation

 

“The rite of confirmation is the solemn and joyous acknowledgment by the congregation that God has confirmed His covenant promise of salvation, which was signified and sealed to these baptized children, by granting them repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ upon their coming to the age of understanding and commitment” (Directory of Worship).

 

Confirmation is when those baptized in infancy become full members of the Christian Church by public profession of faith, and are given the right to partake of the Lord’s Supper.

 

Our baptized children are already members of the church by virtue of their baptism but they are not yet full members, who are allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Before our children can be eligible to partake of the Lord’s Supper they must first be instructed in the Christian faith. This closely follows the Jewish practice derived from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament children were first circumcised and then catechized and then admitted to the Passover.

 

Confirmation is more than just a profession of faith. Confirmation is an acknowledgment by the congregation that God has confirmed His covenant promise of salvation (Romans 15:8). In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God has promised to save the children of believers (Genesis 17:7; Deuteronomy 30:6). On the Day of Pentecost, when the Christian Church began as an organized institution, the apostle Peter told his Jewish converts that God’s ancient promise to save the children of believers remains the same. “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39). God still promises to save the children of believers—not all of them without exception but as many as the Lord our God shall call. As William Hendriksen said, “God has not promised that every child of believing parents would be saved, but He has definitely promised to perpetuate His work of grace in the line of believers considered as a group” (Covenant of Grace, pages 28-29).

 

In the Old Testament the sign of God’s covenant promise of salvation was circumcision (Genesis 17:11; Romans 4:11). In the New Testament Baptism has replaced circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant promise of salvation (Matthew 28:18-19; Colossians 2:11-12). Infant baptism is God’s sign and seal – God’s certification – of His own covenant promise to save the children of believers.

 

God saves the children of believers, just like He saves any one else, by giving them repentance and faith. Because we are all born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1), no one is willing to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ unless God gives a person repentance and faith. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father” (John 6:65; cf. Acts 5:31; Philippians 1:29).

 

Every time God gives repentance and faith to one of our children, He is confirming His covenant promise! He is doing what He promised to do! Therefore, when the church sees the children of believers expressing repentance and faith, then the church has a confirmation ceremony to recognize and celebrate that God has confirmed His covenant promise of salvation!

 

Why is profession of faith necessary?

 

In order for us to be confident that God has in fact granted repentance and faith to our children they need to be able to tell us. We cannot see their heart. They must tell us what is in their heart. This is why the Bible requires a public confession of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).

 

Why is confirmation school necessary?

 

In order for our children to be ready to confess their faith and partake of the Lord’s Supper (which is only for professing believers) they first need to be taught the Christian faith. They cannot believe in Jesus or confess their faith in Him if they do not know who He is or what He has done to save them from their sins (2 Timothy 3:15).

 

Therefore, our children must first undergo a period of instruction in confirmation school in order to learn the basics of the Christian faith. They have to know enough and be mature enough to be able to examine themselves and be certain that God has in fact granted them repentance and faith. “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). This self-examination is absolutely necessary before partaking of the Lord’s Supper, as it says in 1 Corinthians 11:28: “let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

 

Both church and parents must work together to train covenant children for confirmation. Parents are primarily responsible to teach their children the word of God; and the church is primarily responsible to equip parents to teach their children (Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4). This is the vow parents take when they bring their children to the baptismal font: “Do you promise to instruct your child in the principles of our Christian faith as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism?” Much of the child’s spiritual good depends on the parents training them the way God requires in His Word (Proverbs 22:6, 15). This is why parents need to come to church to learn the word of God so they can grow in their ability to teach their children.

 

The church has the responsibility to teach parents so parents can teach children. The church has a responsibility to teach every member of the congregation, including children (Matthew 16:16-19; 28:18-20; Acts 8:30; 18:26; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:2, 15; 2 Peter 3:16). The Bible says that every believer must first be taught milk, then meat (Hebrews 5:12-14). The Bible recognizes different levels of spiritual maturity: little children, young men, and fathers (1 John 2:12-14). Therefore every church member must be taught age-appropriate material.

 

In confirmation school the church reinforces and strengthens what the children should be learning at home. In this way church and parents partner together to prepare children for full membership in Christ’s church and a life-time of service in God’s kingdom.

 

A Reformed Confession of Faith

 

We not only require our children to know the basics of the Christian Faith. We also require them to have a basic understanding of the reformed faith before they are confirmed. The first vow taken in confirmation asks if you agree with the reformed confessions. This is why our children spend time in confirmation school learning the confessions and memorizing the Heidelberg Catechism. This is where we differ with other churches (like Presbyterian churches). For example, the Presbyterian tradition only requires candidates for church membership to have a basic understanding of the gospel, similar to what the thief on the cross had. But the reformed tradition wants all their members to confess the reformed faith. We believe this not only fosters unity and like-mindedness, but it helps the church to better preserve the reformed faith from generation to generation. Adults who are new to our church and new to the reformed faith are also taught the basics of the reformed faith in membership class. But the course is much briefer, only several weeks, since adults do not have the advantage of spending several years learning the reformed faith.

 

How can our children know if they are Christians?

 

Your baptism certifies the wonderful promise that God truly does give repentance and faith to the children of believers. If as a child of believing parents you desire this salvation that God has promised to your believing parents, rest assured that it is for you too. If you desire to have God save you and forgive you and bless you for the sake of Christ’s death for your sins, rest assured that God is your God and He will never leave you.

 

The examination before the Spiritual Council

 

After confirmation school, when parents believe their children are ready, the children will need to be examined by the Spiritual Council (the pastor and the elders). The leaders or officers of the Church have been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and therefore have the divine authority to say who may join the church (see Matthew 16:19; 18:18). It is the duty of Church officers to admit into full membership only those who confess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who promise to submit to the authority of His church (Acts 2:37-47; Hebrews 13:17).

 

When parents bring their child to meet with the Spiritual Council the child will be asked to give a basic confession of faith and commitment by answering sincerely the following four questions (vows):

 

1. Do you believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the inerrant and infallible Word of God, and its doctrine, summarized in the confessions of this Church, to be the perfect and only true doctrine of salvation?

 

2. Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself before God, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone?

 

3. Do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as your sovereign Lord; and do you promise, in reliance on the grace of God, to serve Him with your whole heart, to forsake the world, to mortify your old nature, and to lead a godly life?

 

4. Do you agree to submit in the Lord to the government of this church, and in case you should be found delinquent in doctrine or life, to obey its discipline?

 

If our children sustain a satisfactory exam before the Spiritual Council they will be received publicly into full membership and be asked in front of the congregation to answer the same four questions.