Confirmation training in the context of society and church life in seven Nordic and Central European countries
Tapani Innanen, University of Joensuu
Confirmation work is one of the most important educational efforts in many Protestant churches in different countries. It is of great interest how this work has developed and carried out. What strategies has been chosen? Which organizational models has been pursued? How has the participants felt about the content and the different programmes?
In July 2007 an "International Network for Research and Development of Confirmation and Christian Youth Work" (http://www.confirmation-research.eu) has been formed. Confirmation training of Protestant churches in seven European countries - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland - are involved in the research project. The international study aims at researching confirmation training in different countries with a similar questionnaire.
In this presentation the context of confirmation training in each of the seven countries of the project is studied. Attention is paid to the social, educational and religious situation in which each of the churches arranges its confirmation training