Yesterday, Kemsing Church held its first Confirmation service for nearly seven years.

Four candidates, aged from their early teens to their early thirties, were confirmed by the Bishop of Rochester. Many their friends and family came to support them, as did a good number of our regular congregations (including those who did not know the candidates personally). One of those confirmed took a couple of minutes in the service to share publicly what this act of recommitment meant to her.

It was an uplifting and encouraging service; we hope to have another Confirmation soon - certainly not waiting for a further seven years! We have increasing numbers of young families joining us on a regular basis, and we have strong links with Trinity School. It is our hope that this will give us a good ground to start to build a youth programme again, and as this happens we hope some will want to reaffirm their Christian commitment in this way.

The Bishop wrote in after the service, asking for his personal thanks to be passed to everyone who had worked to make the service such a success.