Principal’s Note: Spiritual Emphasis Week in the Middle School
Nurturing the faith of our students is something the HCS staff does intentionally and weaves into all the lessons and interactions with our students. This is a responsibility we take seriously and are humbled and blessed to do so.
This week at the middle school is Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW). This is a special week of events, chapels, and speakers. Our theme this year is “Distractions”. Throughout the week we will focus on the distractions in our lives – how they affect our hearts and then work to identify the distractions that take our eyes off Jesus and living ‘the good life’. Our theme is based on I Peter 5:8-11 – “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” (NIV)
Here is the outline of the week:
| Monday, November 4 | Kickoff Chapel (Be sure to ask your child about this!) |
| Tuesday, November 5 | Homeroom activity that will take a look at how anxiety and worry distract us in our relationship with God. By distinguishing between feelings of anxiety and worry, we are able to identify fears that are beyond our control and hand those over to God. |
| Wednesday, November 6 | Chapel led by Pastor Terry Scholten from Alive Ministries who will unpack how not all distractions come from outside of us, some we carry around all the time. Today we try to better understand how our fallen nature affects our hearts and our relationship with God. |
| Thursday, November 7 | Homeroom activity that will focus on how our time gets used throughout the week and will be challenged to think about how we can use our time to live the good life to which God is calling us. |
| Friday, November 8 | Chapel that will recap the week and move forward by identifying their main distraction and setting a personal challenge for self or family to recover that time lost |
Parents – please be in focused prayer during this special week. Ask that hearts are open and receptive to the message from the Holy Spirit. Pray that we are able to not be distracted by the deceiver who will work tirelessly this week to divert our attention from God’s message. Engage your child in conversation daily about what they heard and experienced each day during SEW. To help you facilitate these conversations use this link http://hcsparentpartners.weebly.com/Pray that the staff is able to shepherd the students throughout this week and clearly communicate the message intended for the week. Finally, prayers of gratitude to the SEW committee who put in a great amount of prayer, time, and effort to design this week – Katie VanTil, Shane Schaap, Mike Broersma, Tyler Prough, Jess Hollenbach, and Pastor Terry Scholten.
Yours in Christ,
Mary Broene, Middle School Principal
