Editing Confirmation (section)

===Methodist Churches===
In the [[Methodist Church]] confirmation is defined by the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]] as one those "Commonly called Sacraments but not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/baptisms-weddings-and-funerals/baptism-and-confirmation|title=Baptism and Confirmation|year=2014|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|quote=There is no obvious difference in understanding, for example, between the Methodist Church and the Church of England about Confirmation itself.|access-date=23 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707201151/http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/baptisms-weddings-and-funerals/baptism-and-confirmation|archive-date=7 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rethinkbishop.com/tag/the-united-methodist-church/|title=Where The Line Is Drawn: Ordination and Sexual Orientation in the UMC|last=Pruitt|first=Kenneth|date=22 November 2013|publisher=Rethink Bishop|access-date=27 April 2014|quote=Sacraments for the UMC include both Baptism and Eucharist. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions count five more, which many Protestants, including the UMC, acknowledge as sacramental: Confession/Absolution, Holy Matrimony, Confirmation/Chrismation, Holy Orders/Ordination, and Anointing/Unction.|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428000914/http://rethinkbishop.com/tag/the-united-methodist-church/|archive-date=28 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="Thompson2010">{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Andrew C. |title=Generation Rising: A Future with Hope for The United Methodist Church |date=1 October 2010 |publisher=Abingdon Press |isbn=9781426731242 |page=93 |quote=Meanwhile, we can also say that confirmation is sacramental: it is a means of grace (if not an actual sacrament) in which God has been known to show up – and thus it has importance for both our justification and sanctification.}}</ref><ref name="Bicknell2008">{{cite book|last=Bicknell|first=E. J.|title=A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, Third Edition|date=1 January 2008|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=9781556356827|page=359|quote=Then it proceeds ''Those five, commonly called Sacraments, that is to say Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for the Sacraments of the Gospel.'' We notice that the Article does not deny to them the name sacraments. 'Commonly called' is not in the language of the Prayer-Book necessarily derogatory. We find, ''e.g.'' 'The Nativity of our Lord, or the Birth-day of Christ, commonly called "Christmas day".' All that the Article insists is that these rites are not to be counted equal to the other two.}}</ref> also known as the "[[Anglican sacraments|five lesser sacraments]]".<ref name="Blunt1891">{{cite book|last=Blunt|first=John Henry|title=Dictionary of Doctrinal and Historical Theology|year=1891|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co.|page=670}}</ref> The ''Methodist Worship Book'' declares that:

{{blockquote|In Confirmation, those who have been baptized declare their faith in Christ and are Strengthened by the Holy Spirit for continuing discipleship. Confirmation reminds us that we are baptized and that God continues to be at work in our lives: we respond by affirming that we belong to Christ and to the whole People of God. At a Service of Confirmation, baptized Christians are also received into membership of the Methodist Church and take their place as such in a local congregation.<ref name="MCGB2014">{{cite web|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/baptisms-weddings-and-funerals/baptism-and-confirmation|title=Baptism and Confirmation|year=2014|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=23 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707201151/http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/baptisms-weddings-and-funerals/baptism-and-confirmation|archive-date=7 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>|title=Baptism and Confirmation, The Methodist Church in Britain}}

''By Water and Spirit'', an official United Methodist publication, states that "it should be emphasized that Confirmation is what the Holy Spirit does. Confirmation is a divine action, the work of the Spirit empowering a person 'born through water and the Spirit' to 'live as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ'."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/by-water-and-the-spirit-a-united-methodist-understanding-of-baptism|title=By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism|year=2008|website=The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church|publisher=The United Methodist Church|access-date=17 May 2014|archive-date=20 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020223017/http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/by-water-and-the-spirit-a-united-methodist-understanding-of-baptism|url-status=live}}</ref> The Methodist theologian [[John William Fletcher]] saw confirmation as a [[means of grace]].<ref name="Wood2002">{{cite book|last=Wood|first=Laurence W.|title=The Meaning of Pentecost in Early Methodism|date=23 September 2002|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9781461673200|page=339}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=An Anglican-Methodist Covenant|year=2001|publisher=Church House Publishing|isbn=9781858522180|page=41|quote=Fundamentally, however, as our liturgies show, confirmation is regarded by both churches as a means of grace within the total process of Christian initiation. For both churches, confirmation includes the reaffirmation of the baptismal promises by the candidate, accompanied by the prayer with the laying on of hands that God will strengthen the candidate in his or her discipleship through the work of the Holy Spirit.}}</ref> Furthermore, confirmation is the individual's first public affirmation of the grace of God in baptism and the acknowledgment of the [[Born again (Christianity)|acceptance of that grace by faith]].<ref>{{cite book|title=We Believe |year=2007|publisher=Bristol House|isbn=978-1885224064}}</ref> For those baptized as infants, it often occurs when youth enter their 6th through 8th grade years, but it may occur earlier or later.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = At what age are children confirmed?
  | publisher = [[United Methodist Church]]
  | url = http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1360
  | access-date = 30 September 2013
| archive-date = 24 February 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120224143638/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1360
  | url-status = live
  }}</ref> For youth and adults who are joining the Church, "those who are baptized are also confirmed, remembering that our ritual reflects the ancient unity of baptism, confirmation (laying on of hands with prayer), and Eucharist."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/what-is-the-appropriate-age-for-baptism-and-for-confirmation|title=What Is the Appropriate Age for Baptism and for Confirmation?|year=1996|publisher=The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church|quote=What if a youth or adult has not been baptized? Can he or she be part of the "confirmation preparation"? Yes, the unbaptized can share in the same experiences. By ''Water and the Spirit'' puts it this way: Youth who were not baptized as infants share in the same period of preparation for profession of Christian faith. For them, it is nurture for baptism, for becoming members of the Church, and for confirmation. Those who are baptized are also confirmed, remembering that our ritual reflects the ancient unity of baptism, confirmation (laying on of hands with prayer), and Eucharist. "The ritual of the baptismal covenant included in The United Methodist Hymnal makes clear that the first and primary confirming act of the Holy Spirit is in connection with and immediately follows baptism." (By Water and the Spirit)|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404124018/https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/what-is-the-appropriate-age-for-baptism-and-for-confirmation|url-status=live}}</ref> Candidates to be confirmed, known as confirmands, take a class which covers Christian doctrine, theology, Methodist Church history, stewardship, basic Bible study and other topics.<ref>{{cite book|title=We Believe|url=http://www.bristolhouseltd.com/we-believe-student/|access-date=17 May 2014|year=2007|publisher=Bristol House|quote=Confirmation classes provide a great opportunity to give students a broad view of basic Christian beliefs including the characteristics of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the importance and nature of the Bible; the need to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation; and the significance of the church. We Believe Student includes these topics as well as general church history and the responsibilities of discipleship and church membership. It offers students a basic but thorough understanding of what it means to be a Christian in the United Methodist tradition.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517120611/http://www.bristolhouseltd.com/we-believe-student/|archive-date=17 May 2014|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

While the Holy Spirit strengthens the believer in confirmation, in Methodist theology, it is though [[entire sanctification]] that a believer is [[Baptism_with_the_Holy_Spirit#Methodism_(inclusive_of_the_holiness_movement)|baptized (filled) with the Holy Spirit]], thus being made perfect in love and wholly devoted to God, cleansed of original sin (the carnal nature), and empowered to accomplish all to which they are called.<ref name="UMC2012">{{cite web |title=Guidelines: The UMC and the Charismatic Movement |url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/guidelines-the-umc-and-the-charismatic-movement |publisher=[[The United Methodist Church]] |access-date=31 July 2019 |language=en |date=2012 |quote=The Methodists were also first to coin the phrase baptism of the Holy Spirit as applied to a second and sanctifying grace (experience) of God. (Cf. John Fletcher of Madeley, Methodism's earliest formal theologian.) The Methodists meant by their "baptism" something different from the Pentecostals, but the view that this is an experience of grace separate from and after salvation was the same. |archive-date=31 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731112659/http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/guidelines-the-umc-and-the-charismatic-movement |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="PHC2000">{{cite web|url=http://www.pilgrimholinesschurch.org/doctrine.htm|title=Doctrine|date=15 December 2000|publisher=Pilgrim Holiness Church of New York, Inc.|language=en|access-date=31 May 2018|archive-date=2 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502115615/http://www.pilgrimholinesschurch.org/doctrine.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> John Fletcher saw the attainment of entire sanctification as being the goal of the vows made at the ordinance of confirmation.<ref name="Wood2002"/> [[John Wesley]] laid emphasis "upon a personal, non-ceremonial experience of sanctifying grace" and this second work of grace—entire sanctification—distinguishes Methodism.<ref name="Wood2002"/>