Confirmation

Confirmation is a historic rite of the Church rooted in the New Testament apostles' praying for baptized believers with the laying on of hands (Acts 8, 19). For Christians in sacramental traditions that baptize infants, confirmation is also an opportunity for church members to make an adult profession of faith, "confirming" their childhood baptism.

Being confirmed is not a requirement for membership at the Vine, but it is an opportunity for those seeking membership not only in our congregation, but also in the Anglican communion to which we belong. Confirmed members of The Vine are eligible to serve on our vestry, who work closely with the Bishop of our diocese in the absence of a rector.

The Fundamental Declarations of the ACNA

In addition to the requirements for congregational membership, those seeking to be confirmed must also affirm the Fundamental Declarations of our Province:

We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life.

We confess Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself in the Gospel, and thus to be ministered with unfailing use of His words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.

We confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness and unity of the Body of Christ.

We confess as proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture the historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the three Catholic Creeds: the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian.

Concerning the seven Councils of the undivided Church, we affirm the teaching of the first four Councils and the Christological clarifications of the fifth, sixth and seventh Councils, in so far as they are agreeable to the Holy Scriptures.

We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.

We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief. (Read the 39 Articles.)

Note: If you have been confirmed before in another apostolic church tradition (Anglican/Episcopal, Catholic or Orthodox), you will be “received” into the Vine Anglican Church instead of confirmed.

Interested in Being Confirmed?