reformission

As the church engages with the world around us it has beceome clear that histroy has given us a lot of tools at our disposal. I said in an earlier post how i consider infant baptism to be a mission opportunity - especaily among post christian society. On friday i was asked about my thoughts on confiramtion - in particular why i felt confiramtion was not happening in the same way it once had. I suspect it has become disconnected from the christian life and possibly cheapened by the emergence of alpha, i also think that many clergy fail to see the relevance and importance of it and are so swamped by the tyranny of the urgent in ministry that they do not have the time and the inclanation to put any work into a worthwhile confiramtion program. But as with Infant baptism i think this again is about mission- and an opportunity to not only recognise the journey of adolescence but develop the young person also. What is more i think those who are baptised as infants have made a commitment to this confirmation - i suspect then it could be an opportunity to remind the young perosn and there families about God's love for them, who knows if it si done correctly it may even help draw people closer to God.
We have many of the tools available to do mission in this climate - but we need to be aware that we may need to reform them, reshape tham and allow the Spirit of God to bearther life into them once more - it is not jsut about mission thne but reformission.