The stance is consistent with that of First United as a whole. The First United Methodist Church council voted on April 2 to allow both its clergy and others to perform same-sex weddings on church property in defiance of the ongoing ban.

The Rev. Kent Little, the church’s senior pastor, said the confirmation class statement was written entirely by the kids without help from teachers or others. He said that to the best of his knowledge, they’re the only confirmation class anywhere to make such a move after the General Conference decision.

“I have led confirmation classes and every once in a while you would have one or two (students) who said they were not ready to join the church, but never whole classes,” he said. “In my opinion, it was a very faithful and mature decision. It’s not an easy thing to do when tradition is to confirm your faith at that point.”

The statement has gotten widespread attention on social media, so Little thinks he would have heard about it if a confirmation class elsewhere had done something similar. He said none of the eight students had agreed to media interviews so far.