Middle School: Missional Leadership

Middle school can be tough to navigate. This pre-teen stage also brings with it a critical time of self-discovery and exploration of the world’s ideas. Knowing this, the Heritage discipleship team has made it a priority to help middle school students discover their own voices and see how they are equipped to impact their communities.

On a Saturday this past October, Heritage hosted the second annual middle school leadership conference, Lead Now, put on by Sagamore Leadership Initiative. Its primary goals are to teach students about leadership, to equip them to lead within their circles of influence, and to break down the low expectations that society places on teenagers.

“Middle schoolers may not realize that they can be agents of change, but they do want to make a difference,” said Discipleship Program Coordinator Dina Furnish. “There’s so much we can do to help equip them to really see what their strengths are and see how they can make a difference.”

In 2018, the theme of the conference was “Mission Possible.” Forty students from Heritage, surrounding schools, and homeschool groups met for this one-day conference. The students heard from speakers about how to be on mission and work together to make change, and also had several breakout sessions in small groups. Each student walked away with a personal mission statement and a problem or issue in mind that he or she could get involved with.

“I love seeing kids realizing what they have to offer,” said Furnish. “We tend to think leaders are the ones who want to grab the microphone and boss everyone around, but there are so many strong leaders who are behind the scenes.”