Rob Hicks  Instructor

Confirmation instruction is taught during Sunday School hours (9:15AM - 10:15AM) in grades 7 and 8. Our confirmation instructor is Rob Hicks. The teachings follow Luther's Small Catechism and the children are expected to know it by the end of the 8th grade. Teachings from the Small Catechism include the Ten Commandments, the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, baptism, confession, and communion. Confirmation takes place on the Day of Pentecost, typically around the end of May.

2008 Confirmation Testimonies

Mr. Rob Hicks, 2008 Confirmation Instructor, along with Rehoboth is pleased to announce our confirmands' for this year: Caitlin, Emily, Ashley, and Julian.  We extend our warmest congratulations to these members! We look forward to posting their testimonies in the next few weeks. Confirmation will take place on May 11th which is also Mother's Day!

2007 Confirmation Testimonies

Mrs. Janet Reese, 2007 Confirmation Instructor, along with Rehoboth is pleased to offer our confirmands' essays which were presented by students during our Pentecost worship service in May 2007.  We extend our warmest congratulations to these new members!

I believe in love.  Without love there is no happiness.  In the Bible, there is a chapter called the love chapter, it's I Corinthians 13.  It says, "there are three things that last forever, love, hope and faith but love is the best of all."  Love doesn't mean you have to marry everything you love.  It could mean many different things.  Love could mean something like in most cases, you want to be with them all your life.  It also says love your enemies, be good to those you hate.  You tell yourself all the time I love him and believe in him, but what kind of love do you really have for him?  You're probably saying to yourself now I love him with real love but do you really?  Because no matter what you do, he will always love you.  Are you only suppose to love those who love you?  Why would you love someone who hates you, because God might not have loved everyone on Earth when he sent His only Son down here to forgive our sins.  And isn't He the one when we sin He forgives us?  No matter what we do to make him mad or someone else, he forgives us.  That's real love.  Not everyone loves Him the same way.  What does He do to make us not listen to Him or treat everyone the way He would treat us.  When it says love your enemies, why would we do that?  What if they did something that made us so made we couldn't even look at them anymore?  That just goes back up to what I was talking about earlier.  In the Apostle's Creed, it says honor your neighbors as yourself, do we do that?  I'm sure when you're neighbor throws their grass in your yard, you just want to ruin their flowers or something!  Yea, it wasn't right for them to throw grass in your yard, but it's probably because they're jealous of your yard.  Did you ever say to yourself, I hate that person?  Do you really?  Or is your love so deep, you can't stand them?  Love can be good and love can be bad.  It's however you take it, it could be good if you take is serious but if you don't take it serious, it will probably be bad.  When kids come to Sunday School every Sunday, it's because they have to or is it because they really want to learn something about God?  My love for God has grown more and more as the years go on and my teachers teach me more.  The things he did for us is unbelievable.  Do you think Jesus was forced to come down here to give his life and forgive us?  He did it because he loves us.  Then when people didn't believe him, when he told them who he was, but he still loved them.  And for the kids when they tell their parents they hate them, isn't there a commandment that says honor thy mother and father?  Yet everyday someone breaks laws, but he doesn't put them in jail or give them a ticket, he forgives them.  Does it make you cool to do something you were told not to do?  It can make you cool by showing your love and coming to church to worship him.  Love might not be important to you, but to a lot of people I'm sure it is.  Anyone can be anything but with love you can be a lot more.  You could bring new people to the world to share God's love.  Love is one of the most important things in my life.  I don't know about you, but I think I would have no hope or no faith without love -- that's why I believe in love!

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord.  I didn't know how to start saying what I believe in, so I figured what better way to start than stating the beginning of the Apostle's Creed.  After having Confirmation classes, I now not only say the Apostle's Creed, I fully understand it along with the Lord's Prayer and the Nicene Creed, too.  In Sunday School, when we were being taught these Creeds and prayers, I realized how much I didn't know.  We slowly broke down the sections and we learned what each part meant.  After doing this, I felt like my knowledge and beliefs were already stronger.

I believe that God will forgive my sins.  Everybody is a sinner.  For God to be able to forgive anybody is incredible.  I also believe that I will have everlasting life.  It is also phenomenal to me that just be believing and knowing God, and taking him into our lives, that we are saved.  Although it seems impossible to be fully man and fully God, we all know that Jesus was both.  I believe that being confirmed assures my faith in Jesus.  God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we may learn more about Him.

I was brought into this religion, and was baptized by the choice of my parents.  I then became a child of God.  I received Holy Communion and I am now being confirmed.  The church, along with my parents, has taught me what to believe.  Now, it is my respnsibility to take my beliefs on my own and go further with them.  It is my responsiblity and my decision to make my belief in God a central part of my being, of all that I do, and of all that I plan.  I also believe that you can turn to God for anything.  I believe that God will listen to our prayers.  I believe God can create miracles.  I know this because my belief and my faith are strong in God and continue to grow with the Holy Spirit.

I understand that now I am confirmed I am a voting member of the church.  I'll do my best to contribute to this church as much as I can.  I ask the congregaion to support me in my efforts.  I also thank the congregation for helping to this point.  I also know my responsibilities extend past these walls.  As I enter the community, I need to be an example of God's love for everybody to see so that others may come to know Him.

Some people say that seeing is believing.  But I know, because my faith is so deep, I will later see.

"Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul . . ." as said by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, poet, author and philosopher.  That is what I am up here to talk to you about:  Affirming my faith.  Today I have the wonderful opportunity to become confirmed.  By being confirmed, I personally affirm my faith to God and to myself.  A few weeks ago, Pastor came into our Sunday School and told all of us that we were to compose an essay declaring what we believe in, confirming our faith.  I'll admit that at first no part of me was really eager for this assignment , but it really made me look deeply into my heart and my soul.

Until today, I didn't have much of a decision in my religion path.  My choices in this church were always chosen by my parents.  When I got baptized, that was my parents' decision.  When I received my First Communion that, too, was my parents' decision.  Now I am making this choice on my own.  I choose on the path that was started on.

All of us here have said or heard the Apostle's Creed, Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments numerous amount of times.  Do we say it routinely, like robots, or do we really think about the words that are coming out of our mouths?  As I was thinking about what I was going to write, I realized about how amazing all of these things are.  God the Father never lived on this Earth, but he made it for us to live on.  He gave His only Son, not for himself, but for us.  When the Ten Commandments were composed, he wasn't setting those rules for himself, he made them to better us.

I believe in the 3-in-1.  I believe in God the Father, Jesus his only Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I believe that there is only one true God.  I trust and love God above everything else.  God is not only with me in church but in all of my activities and aspects within my life.  I know that the Spirit is there with me always to guide me in the right direction.  I believe that I am becoming an adult in part of God's family.  I know that God loves all of us and that one day we will enter his kingdom and have eternal life with him.  I believe that my parents did not make this choice for me but God chose this path for me to take.  I believe that God is with me to keep my faith strong.  I know that he keeps me safe and helps me when I am tempted by the devil.  I believe in God as the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  God is my Father, he is my Teacher, he is my Protector, He is my Lord, and above all other things, God is my Savior.  As Albert Einstein had once said, "true religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness."

I believe that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to us so that He may forgive our sins.  I also believe that Jesus was the Son of God the Father.  I believe that God created Heaven and Earth.  I believe that everyone should believe in the mighty power of God.  God saves people from going to Hell, so they do not have to live a horrible afterlife.  He wants everyone to love Him like He loves us.  Some people are very stubborn and choose to go against their conventional ways of praise and prayer.  I believe that every person, in their lifetime at one time or another, believes in God but then there are those people who stick with God for their entire lives.  I believe that it is our duty here on Earth to convince as many people as we can while we are still here.  I believe that we all should recruit as many people as we can in our lifetime as we can to serve God, because if everyone believed in God then all of these killings, wars, and battles over religion would not happen.  They would be gone and for the most part, we would live in peace.  I believe that the Bible is 100% true.  Sometimes you keep sharing the word of God and nothing is happening.  The Bible says that the word of God is living and active.  It says that His word never comes back to him without accomplishing its purpose.  Jesus compared the word of God to the seeds that a sower would sow.  That some of the seeds would land on rocky soil, and some will land between the thorns, some will be taken by the birds, but a lot of that grows in the good soil.  It says that in the Psalms of the Old Testament those who sow in tears will reap with sheaves.  There have been many people where their loved ones haven't come around to believeing in God until the last minute but more often than not they did come around.  And like that thief on the cross at the last minute, they made their commitment to Christ and that commitment counts jus as much as any other commitment.  It doesn't matter when you come to work for God as long as you do.

I believe that everything, we as Lutherans believe, is true. I feel that everyone in our church makes you feel comfortable, like they are your family.  I believe that the Holy Spirit guides you through your church life to do what is right or wrong.  I believe that God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus make up the Trinity.  I believe that the Trinity is the three-in-one.  I believe that if you believe in God, then you should not be afraid to show that you love and believe in Him.  You should not be afraid of God for He loves you regardless -- this is what I believe!

Rehoboth Evangelical Lutheran Church 2800 Conway Wallrose Road Baden, PA 15005 724.869.2806 church-office@rehobothlutheran.com