telling my parents I'm getting confirmed.

[RobynLou]

As a child I was sent to sunday school, but my parents didn't go to church (it was free childcare to them) We went to church at Easter and Christmas and on Mother's day and for school concerts. I grew up in a small village so the church was a big part of the community, me and all my siblings were christened, I was married in church and I had DD christened.

I have recently done an Emmaus course and decided to get confirmed, but I just feel so so wierd telling my parents what I'm doing - They're 'cool' with a sort of cultural christianity, they respect vicars as they do teachers, but the idea of actually believing is really odd to them. By getting confirmed I'm making a definite statement that I do believe and I just don't know how to brooch it with them.

First of all, congratulations! My DH is getting confirmed soon (exact date tba, as it keeps changing!), and he's chosen not to tell his family. His sister isn't tolerant of his beliefs, and teases him a lot, so I suspect that is why. It sounds at least as if your parents have respect for your belief, even if they don't understand it!

I think the way I'd handle it, is, do you have a date for confirmation, or is this all still very new in your mind? In any case, I would tell them you feel the need to make a formal commitment to believing, and that the way you want to do it is by being confirmed. Are they likely to have an understanding of what confirmation is? If not, you might like to give them a book which explains about it - I could probably try and find one for you if it would help. Or the C of E website explains about Confirmation. But in a purely simplistic sense, I guess it could be described as "membership" of your church.

I'm getting confirmed on Sunday!
They definitely know what it means, I'm pretty sure my dad is confirmed. They come from a world where that's what you did, like eating yorkshires with beef not chicken, to them it didn't mean belief.

We're just a family who don't really talk about personal things, and this is very personal to me!

I feel like part of getting confirmed for me is 'owning up' to my faith and so I feel compelled to tell them what I'm doing, so scared though!

I just rang my mum and told her.

She was shocked but it was fine.

I feel so much better now I've 'owned up'!

Congratulations on telling her, and congratulations for Sunday! Are they going to come, or is that a step too far?

Funnily enough, my DH WAS due to be confirmed this Sunday too, then the date had to be changed to 18th, then 25th, now we're just waiting to hear when the bishop will be available!

My ILs are the same about baptism, in that its just something you do to your children/grandchildren when they are babies.