Confession
From Neoredemptive
Stripped of its church lingo baggage, confession (literally, "saying with") is simply agreement stated aloud. To confess is to make a statement of agreement with someone besides the self.
Confessing before God is simply agreeing with Him, usually by "taking God's side against ourselves" as we admit our sin and our total reliance upon His grace to restore righteousness and life to our bodies of sin and death.
Confessing as a church is simply declaring, publicly, our agreement and unity (communion) around a true statement of the tenets of the gospel.
Confession, in every sense, is a virtually lost art in the present-day church. We have developed an unhealthy expectation that God will come around and see things our way, and an unhealthy presumption that the people nominally gathered in God's name have an understanding of what it really means to gather in His Name without being constantly reminded.
