When I was in high school, my parents and I attended Fox Lake Baptist Church.  I really liked the pastor and his preaching, and I loved the warm fellowship of the wonderful people there. I developed a profound love for the Bible that has never left me.  I am deeply thankful for so many gifts I received from that sweet midwestern community of faith.

But one gift they could not give me was the gift of holy curiosity, a permission to ask tough questions about the faith they were sharing with me, to wrestle with the beliefs we shared and look at them in fresh ways, or even to ask “why do we believe this and not that.”  They couldn’t offer me the gift of holy curiosity because it was considered dangerous.  And one Sunday I was told by a youth group leader that I “shouldn’t ask questions like that. it’s a sign of backsliding.”  It was my last Sunday at that church.  I knew that if they couldn’t handle the questions of a 15 year old, they couldn’t provide a faith for the complexities of being an adult.  I sadly walked away.

How I wish that 50 years ago there had been a curriculum for young people like “Confirm, Not Conform,” the resource we’ll be using this fall for our 2024-2025 Conformation Class!  Confirm Not Conform (or CNC, when my typing fingers are tired) works to help young people create a bedrock of faith that encourages curiosity, and offers lots of space for exploration and questions with a support system along the way.

CNC is not just a program for our young people; it will involve the whole church- including young people in various aspects of worship, fellowship, and mission, helping them learn how Harvard Epworth lives out its faith, and providing support for those who are exploring and developing a faith that will lead them into adulthood.

I am looking for seven or eight adults (aged 21 to 101) who would like to be a Mentor for a CNC youth– attending a few of the CNC classes, meeting a Confirmand for ice cream or a walk or a ball game, sharing the joys, sorrows, questions, faith, and doubts of adult faith.  Let Mitch know if you’d like to be a mentor for a young person this season!

Our first CNC class will be this Sunday, September 8 at 10:00 am in the pastors’ office.  The mentors will attend the second class on September 15.  I’m looking forward to working with Harvard Epworth this year to help young people discover and create for themselves a faith that will be relevant, dynamic, and able to wrestle with the big questions of life!