Confirmation is all about growing in understanding and in faith—by God’s grace. It’s a time when individuals add their “yes” to the promises made by their parents/Godparents and sponsors at their baptism. St. Peter’s is committed to providing both educational and faith-affirming activities for students.
Along with regular Sunday worship attendance, mid week Lenten and Advent services, confirmands are required to participate in 40 hours of church service during their study. Some examples of this are VBS preparation and camp week, Christmas hamper packing, Sunday School extra events, or other events as outlined by Pastor and/or Diaconal Minister, plus one week-end retreat.
Confirmation is a time when individuals can truly become an integral part of church life. Confirmation usually begins at grade 7 and is a two year commitment, but can begin at any age.
In Genesis, God did not create a group of teens with a great youth leader. God created one man, one woman, and said, “Be fruitful and multiply,” thus a multi-generational family.
Every teenager needs an extended family of Christian adults – adults who can be a part of the cloud of witnesses that cheers them on. Church is where teenagers are exposed to these adults. An extended Christian family is a community of believers who affirm and encourage growth toward Christian maturity. Only church and family can provide Christian nurture from birth to old age – even death.
The youth of St. Peter’s are an integral part of our larger congregation. They are Sunday School teachers, Vacation Bible School leaders, communion assistants, ushers, readers, acolytes, sit on various committees as well as church council. Once a month we have a contemporary 11 am service which the youth are primarily responsible for.
In addition, we have a number of fun youth events each year. Some are just with the youth of St. Peter’s, at other times with youth from other churches.
Here at St. Peter’s our primary goal of family-based youth ministry is to equip young people to grow toward mature Christian discipleship.
Our youth begins at grade seven with Confirmation.
THE NORTH AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH IS MISSION-DRIVEN
We believe that the mission of the church is to preach the Gospel and to make disciples for Christ. We believe that making disciples--in our congregations, in our communities and nations and around the world--must be a priority of the church in the present age.
THEREFORE, the St. Peter’s Ev. Luth. Church mission committee’s mandate is to follow NALC’s recommendation to support mission work locally, nationally and internationally and comply with St. Peter’s mission by-law which, in part, states:
Considering the anticipated income, the committee shall make recommendations to the Church Council as to mission projects which are to be supported and to provide background information and other rationale for their recommendations.”
St. Peter’s mission committee currently consists of seven members who meet regularly to discuss and, after prayerful deliberation, make recommendations for mission support projects to Church Council.
The following are the projects currently supported by St. Peter’s
St. Peter’s Ev. Luth. Church together with Joy Lutheran Church and others are partnering with Malawians to provide the necessary financial support in order to build and run the Grade 9-12 KUWALA Christian boarding school for girls in rural Malawi, Africa. St. Peter’s is specifically providing the finances to construct the main building which will be used as an assembly/dining facility. It will be named ST. PETER’S HALL. Construction has begun on the classrooms and 60 girls will begin their studies in September 2018. Only girls whose families are unable to pay tuition for higher education will be chosen to attend this tuition-free learning institution. There is opportunity for anyone, who so wishes, to support one or more girls by providing their tuition for one or more years.
- Sponsorship of a Christian refugee family from abroad
St. Peter’s applied to sponsor a Christian refugee family in the spring of 2016. A Care Committee was set up to spearhead this endeavour. An apartment was located and suitably furnished for a family of four who arrived in Winnipeg in August 2016. One of the family’s first tasks was to learn the English language. The three adults attended English classes daily while the child attended the local elementary school. The Care Committee helped them obtain their social security numbers, find a dentist and doctor, locate suitable shopping facilities etc. and generally helped them connect to other relevant agencies in order to be able to function in our Canadian society. The three adults are currently gainfully employed and the family has become fairly independent although some St. Peter’s members are continuing to assist them when a specific need arises.