Confirmation Service 17th July 2016

This year's Confirmation Service will be on 17th July. Bishop Michael, the Bishop of Woolwich, is about to leave the Diocese to become Bishop of Lichfield and therefore Bishop Christopher, the Bishop of Southwark, will come and do the Confirmation Service. Southwark Diocese, our diocese, has 4 bishops: the Bishop of Southwark (the Diocesan Bishop or Ordinary) and three area bishops: Croydon, Kingston and Woolwich. Bishop Michael will leave the Diocese in June and a new Bishop of Woolwich will need to be appointed to replace him.

To get back to the Confirmation Service, this will be on 17th July. Two groups of people - adults and young people - are preparing for confirmation at the moment. We also have a group of children preparing to receive communion for the first time during that service. They are too young for confirmation - you need to be at least 11 years old for confirmation and in this parish PCC have set a minimum age of 14 - but they will be admitted to Communion by the Bishop of Southwark, which means that they will be allowed to receive Holy Communion before Confirmation. We hope, of course, that when they are old enough they will choose to be confirmed by the bishop. All of our young people who are preparing for Confirmation now were admitted to Communion when they were younger. It is exciting that they are now taking this next big step on their faith journey.

All of those being baptised, admitted to Communion and confirmed in this service are making a big step of committing themselves -once again- to God and to serving God in their lives. I really hope that as many of you as possible will be at the service to welcome our new members and to encourage those who are taking a next step on their faith journey.

The confirmation service at 9.30am will be the only service that morning. There won't be an 8am Eucharist or Messy Church or All Age Service, because we are encouraging everyone to come and support all of these candidates. Please, help to make this a really joyful occasion. The more people there, the more joyful it will be.

There will be refreshments in the hall after the service.

Please, pray for all who are doing the Exploring Faith Course, the Confirmation Course and the Admission to Communion Course as they discern whether to be confirmed or admitted to Communion and/or as they prepare to receive these important sacraments.