29 Jul Confirmation: Discipleship in Post-Christian Culture
Christ Church Madison. Photos by Julia Wallet.
Christ Church Madison’s First Confirmation: 120 People and a Vision for the Diocese
By Clare VanderWeele
Father Scott Cunningham
In an ordinary high school auditorium on a Sunday morning in April, 120 people took turns kneeling before three bishops in Madison, Wisconsin. It was Christ Church Madison’s first-ever confirmation service—and possibly the largest, single confirmation group in the history of the Anglican Church in North America.
The location was significant. Madison is infamous for its post-Christian culture, consistently ranking among the top 20 least Christian cities in America. Wisconsin itself holds the dubious distinction of being the sixth least-churched state in the U.S., an anomaly of the Midwest.
So when Father Scott Cunningham and his wife, Marissa, first moved there to plant a church in 2017, it seemed unlikely they would encounter much spiritual hunger.
But God knew better.
The Cunninghams’ church plant was unique, just the couple and their children, in what they called a “parachute plant.” Rather than landing in Madison with a dedicated church planting team, they found themselves part of a larger story God was already writing there. The family slowly connected with local believers whom God was already stirring.
Father Scott Cunningham
Despite Madison’s reputation as an unlikely environment for church growth, within months the Cunninghams had enough people to fill a living room. The momentum continued building, and a year later they officially launched Christ Church Madison on All Saints’ 2018. For the last seven years, they have met in a local high school, watching God expand their congregation.
This past April, the church reached a significant moment: their first-ever confirmation service, with 120 men, women, and youth seeking to publicly affirm their faith.
The confirmands knelt before three bishops that Sunday—Bishop Stewart Ruch III, Bishop John Miller, and Bishop Clark Lowenfield—in a 2.5-hour service that left even seasoned church leaders breathless. The moment was unprecedented for Bishop John, who had previously served as the diocese’s Acting Bishop and who was on the cusp of retirement.
“I told the congregation this was the zenith of my episcopal ministry,” Bishop John reflected.
“I’ve witnessed confirmation services of this size in Africa, but nothing close to this in the United States. I feel certain this is the largest number of confirmands that has ever been confirmed at one time since the birth of the ACNA.”
The scene was strikingly diverse: teenagers kneeling alongside millennials, young married couples next to older folks, all seeking to publicly affirm their faith in a city known for rejecting it. Led by the Spirit, the three bishops prayed personally over each confirmand—blessing marriages and future families, interceding for God’s plans, speaking prophetically into individual lives.
“We didn’t want it to end,” Bishop John admitted. “The joy of the Lord was pervasive.” Congregant Chuck Thomas agrees. He and his wife, Sue, found Christ Church Madison after God interrupted their lives as empty nesters. They sold their house and after a short nomadic stint, they were hungry to find a church where they could see God’s power moving. The moment they walked into their first service at Christ Church in 2021, they knew this was God’s answer to that hunger. Chuck calls the confirmation service the “highlight of our spiritual lives.”
Behind this historic confirmation service were varied stories of faith. “Madison is a dechurched culture,” Father Scott explains. “Many of these are people who deconstructed and left the Church but are finding their way back. For them, confirmation becomes super important. They need a rite to walk through. Confirmation allows them to confirm the vows of their baptism and make them their own.” The confirmation class included faithful Christians seeking something deeper, lifelong Madisonians encountering traditional Christianity for the first time, people returning to church after years away, and others for whom the process became a fresh encounter with Jesus.
Olivia Stramara exemplifies many of the stories from that Sunday. Growing up nominally Catholic and lacking a deeper understanding of God, she found herself in a dark place. Olivia was introduced to Christ Church by a coworker, and she began a “slow walk back to the Lord.” After a Lent marked by deep spiritual warfare, “Easter week was the breaking point,” she recalls; “everything dissipated, God delivered me. Life has been more peaceful.”
"Easter week was the breaking point, everything dissipated, God delivered me. Life has been more peaceful."
Annie Drury made a more dramatic transition. “From the moment of the processional, I knew Christ Church was where I was supposed to be.” After growing up Mormon and leaving at 20, she spent a long period disconnected from faith. But 18 months ago, she began seriously seeking a church where she could belong. She found Christ Church around Christmas, and despite the 45-minute drive, she knew immediately she’d found home. Annie was baptized at Easter Vigil and confirmed just one week later.
"From the moment of the processional, I knew Christ Church was where I was supposed to be."
For both women, the confirmation service itself was deeply meaningful. “When the bishop laid hands on my head and started praying, it was so beautiful to receive such a personal prayer that really spoke to who I am,” Olivia commented. She was also struck by the collective experience: “Seeing everyone go up and be prayed for, the loving kindness of the bishops—everyone wanted to be there.”
For Annie, too, “being confirmed with so many others felt really supportive.”
Their stories reflect the broader experience of Christ Church’s confirmands. “A lot of these folks have never had to say out loud that public confirmation of belief before,” Father Scott says. The four-month-long catechesis process revealed how serious a commitment confirmation represents—deeper than just a membership ceremony.
The confirmation service embodied a broader vision taking shape across the Diocese of the Upper Midwest under Bishop Stewart’s leadership. Confirmation is reemerging as both a recovery of ancient Anglican practice and a crucial tool for discipling believers in a post-Christian culture.
Several other diocesan church plants have also celebrated their first confirmation services this past year, including City of Light Anglican in Aurora, IL, and Church of the Incarnation, in Appleton, WI. “Confirmation is being recovered, renewed in our diocese,” Father Scott explains, echoing conversations Bishop Stewart has been fostering throughout the region.
The process has revealed confirmation as “a precious part of the Anglican apostolic way of discipleship” that many hadn’t realized they were missing. There’s hope that future church plants will begin with this integrated approach rather than adding it years later.
For Christ Church Madison, what began as a church plant in challenging circumstances has become a testament to how historic Christian formation can reach an increasingly dechurched population. Their Confirmation Sunday was more than just a celebration of 120 individual faith journeys—it was a glimpse of gospel revival.
