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The Rev. Matt Hook, lead pastor of Dexter UMC, believes strongly in the old expression, “The church is only one generation from extinction.”
That conviction is part of the reason Dexter UMC puts so much stock into a confirmation program that continues to attract an impressive number of middle school students — and unconventionally, their parents too.
Hook came to Dexter from Birmingham UMC seven-and-a-half years ago, bringing along a tried and true confirmation process that has provided vitality and energy to a thriving congregation that built a 6,400 square foot youth center in 2007.
His secret? Get back to the basics, as he puts it.
Dexter UMC holds its confirmation classes, as well as its “parents of the confirmands classes,” on Sunday mornings during its middle church service. And instead of offering confirmation annually, the church teaches the January-to-May course every other year, to the tune of 50-60 youth participants and many of their parents.
“I think we’re getting back to God’s original design for Christian education, which is that the parents are the primary Christian educators of their kids,” Hook said. “The goal is to give kids and parents something to talk about during the week, and really to try and influence the whole family unit instead of just telling them, ‘Just bring them here and we’ll take care of all their spiritual development stuff.’”
The adult class is taught by Hook’s wife, Leigh. It’s a refresher for some parents and a good starting point for others who may have grown up un-churched.
“For some of the parents who were more standoffish — and the dads especially — they think church is for someone else, church is for old ladies,” Hook said. “For them to realize there’s true enjoyment to be found, as well as challenge…to see a dad catch fire, is going to impact a family as much as anything we throw at just the kids.”
While the parents are being spiritually fed, youth minister Jeremy Hannich is the leader of the seventh- and eighth-grade operation.
“Some of the kids have heard this stuff before, but a lot of them haven’t and the vast majority have heard parts of it, but not all of it at once,” Hannich said. “The goal is to be able to share the entire background (of the Gospel), lots of different ideas and concepts they’ve heard before but haven’t had a chance to talk about.”
Aside from their Sunday gatherings, confirmands participate in initiatives like the 30 Hour Famine and are required to do two sermon reviews on Hook’s teachings each month.
The excitement of being part of an evolving faith community is jumpstarted with a confirmation overnighter in February.
One Feb. 11, Hannich and adult volunteers hosted 38 youth for a Friday evening and Saturday morning extravaganza that included a couple of teaching sessions and plenty of opportunities to strengthen friendships and create new bonds.
“We are intentional about teaching them how we can be there for each other and it’s also just a chance to have fun,” Hannich said. “We have this thing we call ‘our exam’ and it’s basically this huge obstacle course the kids go through together. It’s pretty simple, it’s cheap…and usually like 80 percent of our confirmation students come.”
Hook and Hannich agree the confirmation program offers a great return on the time investment because almost every church has many of the resources already at its fingertips.
“I think a lot of places might just think, ‘Well, we’re not that big of a church.’ But to hold a ‘parents of confirmands class’ takes nothing — you just have them go through the same stuff as the kids,” Hook said. “To do an overnighter takes nothing, any church can do that.”
Coming from a pastor who once “flunked” confirmation class (by his own admission), and Hannich — who grew in the Church of God tradition that doesn’t offer confirmation — demonstrates the proof is in the pudding.
“Children experience God as much as adults do,” Hook said. “It’s not just like it all clicks in — I think we forget that. My joke is I don’t want to be a senior pastor, so I just do youth ministry for grown-ups.”
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