Core Values Series: Encourage Biblical Self-Image

Dear Parents/Guardians and Friends of SCS,

Our students definitely live in a different context than we did when we were going through school.  Our students are inundated with social media pressures, a fast paced societal culture, and new levels of competition.  

As our children face new and challenging pressures, we have a responsibility to keep them focused on who they are in Christ.  Our core value “Encourage Biblical Self-Image” is a critical element of what we do at SCS to teach our students that they are first and foremost children of God and that their self-worth is in Christ.  How do we do this?

We first teach them about how God views us.  Each and every day our students are learning about God’s character and His love for His children.  They learn the true meaning of Psalm 139:13-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Students learn about God’s handiwork in them in every class, including art, music, and PE.  You should be able to see evidence of this in our hallways and in our recent music performances.

Next, we teach them how we should view each other.  When students have problems with each other or teachers, we meet to “fix it.”  We model God’s mercy and grace through restorative practices that heal relationships.  We also talk about how to view others through God’s eyes: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24

Last, we teach them how we should view ourselves.  We teach our children how they are created in God’s image.  At school, we provide students with a variety of opportunities to explore the gifts and talents God has given them.  We talk about choices, what it means to be different in the world, and how to be bold in who we are and how we act. We’re not afraid to deal with the hard stuff. For example, in units such as “Lost and Alone” at the high school level, students are given opportunities to explore emotional hardship along with the hope that only comes through Christ Jesus. See the picture above for an example of artwork created by Elliana Gonzalez (10th grade), and click the following link to view a poem written by Jocelyn Gartman (10th grade): Jocelyn’s Poem.

Thank you for your partnership in encouraging Biblical self-image in our students. You have a role in it too. Please continue to come alongside of students in helping them to know who they are in Christ.  They are strong and bold in the Lord!

Thankful for Our Students,

Ann Steenwyk
Director of Academics & Instruction