Confirmation & Identity Formation:
The Importance of Confirmation &
Confirmation Equivalent Practices
in the Era of Black Lives Matter
Presented by:
The Rev. Shonda Nicole Gladden, Allen Temple AME Church Pastor
The Confirmation Project: AME Research Team Member
“Vivid images of Jim Crow, picket lines, mass
meetings, and hate crimes are etched in my
memory of early adolescence as though it were
yesterday. These events were enough to pull most
youth and their families to the abyss of
hopelessness. However, my African American
community, especially the church, was the womb of
hope protecting its youth from despair while
nurturing their expectation… I marvel at the ability
of my congregation and its constituent churches to
foster hope in teenagers amidst the turbulent
events of the time.”
-Evelyn J. Parker, PhD.
Trouble Don’t Last Always: Emancipatory Hope
Among African American Adolescents
“The formative culture of the colonies demeaned the African
as human being, by associating blackness, and thus black
people, with evil… [it] devalued community and idolized the
individual… this cultural conflict has not been resolved in
contemporary American life. As African Americans struggle
with the pull of a secular, materialistic, hedonistic,
narcissistic, and pessimistic culture, they also experience, to
varying degrees, the magnetic hold of a spiritual,
integrated, communal and hopeful, counter-culture. AfricanAmerican Christian faith is in part a response to this cultural
conflict, attempting to navigate, with varying degrees of
success, a course between the old and the new, the familiar
and the strange.”
- James H. Evans, Jr., PhD
We Have Been Believers: An AfricanAmerican Systematic Theology
Parker Palmer posits that individuation, or
identity formation, is an ever evolving core
within where our genetics (biology),
culture, loved ones, those we cared for,
people who have harmed us and people we
have harmed, the deeds done (good and ill)
to self and others, experiences lived, and
choices made come together to form who
we are at this moment.
Image source: Inside Korea “MI Governor Names Panel to fix Flint’s Contaminated Water”
http://theinsidekorea.com/2016/01/28/mi-governor-names-panel-to-fix-flints-contaminated-water/
Image source: Gawker.com “Unarmed People of Color Killed By Police 1999-2014”
http://www.lusakatimes.com/2015/06/23/council-of-churches-in-zambia-mourns-charlestonchurch-shooting-victims/
Source: Lusaka Times “Charleston Shooting Victims”
http://www.lusakatimes.com/2015/06/23/council-of-churches-in-zambia-mourns-charlestonchurch-shooting-victims/
How do youth navigate
identity formation
in
this moment?
Three Site Visits
Spring 2014- Winter 2015
Anderson Chapel AME
Killeen, TX
Reid Temple AME
Glenn Dale, MD
First AME
Las Vegas, NV
Anderson Chapel AME Church
Killeen, TX
Rev. Dr. William Campbell, Pastor
Reid Temple AME Church
Glenn Dale, MD
Rev. Dr. Lee P. Washington, Pastor
First AME Church
Las Vegas, NV
Rev. Dr. Ralph Williamson, Pastor
Summary
• Identity formation is greatly impacted by sociohistoric context
• Confirmation and Confirmation Equivalent
Practices that are relatable, relevant and real
yield results
• Students are listening everywhere; Confirmation
and CEP Practitioners who are attentive to the
myriad conversation partners in youth identity
formation flourish.
Questions?
Keep the conversation going:
Facebook: RevShonda Nicole Gladden
Instagram: @shondagladden
Periscope: @RevShondaGladden
Twitter: @ShondaGladden
Email: revsgladden@gmail.com
Confirmation & Identity Formation:
The Importance of Confirmation &
Confirmation Equivalent Practices
in the Era of Black Lives Matter
Presented by:
The Rev. Shonda Nicole Gladden, Allen Temple AME Church Pastor
The Confirmation Project: AME Research Team Member