Protestant Church District Bad Godesberg-Voreifel Many teenagers believe in God
Bad Godesberg/Voreifel · In the coming weeks, almost 400 young people in the Protestant Church District of Bad Godesberg-Voreifel will celebrate their confirmation. It is the solemn confirmation of the young people's own faith before the congregation.
It was important to Martin Bucer to strengthen young people's knowledge of the faith. The Protestant celebration of confirmation goes back to the Strasbourg reformer. At the same time, young people should personally and consciously confirm their baptism in the transition to adulthood. The word confirmation is derived from the Latin "confirmare" and means "to confirm".
"Confirmation used to be an important biographical turning point," explains Uta Garbisch, press officer of the Protestant Church District of Bad Godesberg-Voreifel. Many children left school and started an apprenticeship. "The rite thus also became a sign of the change between childhood and adulthood and initiated the separation from parents." Even if today's confirmands remain teenagers for a long time, confirmation continues to be a celebration of change - but more with a view to physical and emotional upheavals in this stage of life.
In this respect, the time of confirmation has a completely different image of man and completely different content compared to what Bucer expected of the young believers in the 16th century. The lessons are not cramming, confirmation is not an exam. The young people usually meet once a month for a confirmation evening. They eat together, sing, experience silence by candlelight, watch films. They discuss, pray and prepare a service together.
Adolescents receive God's blessing
In the coming weeks and months, a total of 382 young people, 195 girls and 187 boys, will celebrate their confirmation in the 13 parishes of the Protestant Church District of Bad Godesberg-Voreifel. They will start next Saturday, 29 April, in the Thomas church congregation in Bad Godesberg, in Meckenheim and in Zülpich. The last date is 16 September in Euskirchen.
The young people say "yes" to their baptism and receive God's blessing in person. In festive services, they approach the altar under the motto of a Bible verse they have chosen themselves. In doing so, they confirm their baptism and receive God's blessing. The young people between the ages of 13 and 15 show that they want to take responsibility for their own faith and actively shape it. Through confirmation, they become members of their church community with all rights and duties. Those who are confirmed can become godparents, can vote in the presbytery and take part in the Lord's Supper.
Ritual for growing up
In Bad Godesberg and the Voreifel, most young people traditionally celebrate their festival in the month of May, but many do so as early as the end of April. In the Thomas Church parish in Bad Godesberg alone, a total of 43 young people walk down the aisle, and 42 each in Meckenheim and Wachtberg. In the four Protestant parishes in Bad Godesberg there are a total of 107 girls and boys. The four parishes in the Rhein-Sieg district with Meckenheim, Rheinbach, Swisttal and Wachtberg have 149 "Konfis". Almost 48,000 Protestant Christians live in the Bad Godesberg-Voreifel church district, which extends to Weilerswist and Zülpich in the Euskirchen district.
(Original text: Jutta Specht; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
