MS Shares Gifts in Love, Prayer, Service, and Worship

Students join parts of the globe to symbolize being instruments of peace arond the world.Two groups of students at Bethany Christian Middle School have been spending 3 hours each day—as part of the school’s two-week J-term—learning who God has called them to be and then sharing their gifts with others in love, prayer, service, and worship (see video excerpt).

Enrichment teachers Linda Hochstetler and Eliza Stoltzfus centered their course on the premise that each student is uniquely made by God and called to be … something. To help students discover what that something might be, they each participated in an individual spiritual gifts assessment and then discussed what their assessments might mean as a group. Students copied Bible verses in their journals that related to their spiritual gifts and reflected how they might use their gifts in their service and worship activities.

Students act out a children's story as part of a worship skit.In learning to share their gifts in worship, each group created a program of stories, skits, songs, and art that they shared in several public settings during the two weeks—at schools, churches, and retirement communities.

They also practiced serving others by volunteering at the Depot, playing games with residents at Greencroft and Waterford Crossings retirement communities, and painting at a local church.

Painting at a local church

Volunteering at the Depot