13 minute read
MIDDLEFEST CLASSES
PHOTO: » WCMS students design a video game as part of the Media MashUp class.
BIBLICALLY-MINDED CULTURE MAKERS
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How a MiddleFest elective class is helping students discover their potential to dive into digital creativity as Christians.
MRS. ALICIA QUAN WCMS BIBLE & SCIENCE TEACHER
THE FIRST IPHONE WAS RELEASED weeks after my
high school graduation in 2007. After my years at
Woodcrest Christian High School had concluded, I
remember some of my college classmates beginning
to show up with iPhones while flip phones like
mine were still common. Nobody knew how iconic
the iPhone would be or how it would revolutionize
communication, consumption, and creative
expression. Eventually, I started using my share of
smartphones and quickly realized that using them
wisely would not be a given. This would take some
major intentionality.
Eight years later, I returned to WCMS as a 7 th grade
teacher. So much about Woodcrest Christian was just as I remembered it, yet we now lived within a world where few areas of life had been left untouched by the smartphone era. I became intrigued and soon was concerned over how middle school students were using their phones. This year, I am teaching my fifth class of students who were barely born when the iPhone was released. As true digital natives, adults using smartphones is all they know. For some, they are beginning pre-adolescence with a device and will likely maintain some kind of relationship with a mobile device into adulthood and the unforeseeable future. Nowadays, the cautionary content on pre-teens and phones are plentiful. Those who are taking care of young people are asking similar questions about screen consumption and social media, but the questions that have really captured my steady attention fall right within the intersection of its pros and cons. I watch my peers use the tools of our digital age to develop careers, make positive social influence, and create amazing content. I observe in wonder at how the world surrounding my secondary education drastically changed by the time I reached the workforce. When I became a teacher, I wondered whether there was a sweet spot for developing Biblical digital citizenship in our teenagers, inspiring them to become skillful and creative problem solvers in these areas, while also maintaining an appropriate caution and wisdom. I was given the opportunity to explore this more through developing an elective class called Media MashUp. For middle school students, the fourth quarter is an opportunity to mix things up as their
homeroom class turns into a new elective course that culminates in a showcase festival at the end of the year. Media MashUp encourages students to use their awareness of digital technology and pop culture to build cultural artifacts that have a positive influence on our world. The course contrasts mindless consumption with thoughtful critique; shallow copying with dynamic creating. We spend time analyzing what and how we consume media and then move forward to developing x-ray questions that can dissect our own hearts and consciences. We travel through the topics of video games, movies, TV and YouTube, music, social media, photography, and coding while practicing Biblical critique of these forms and how we use them. Meanwhile, students are also working together to create a media project that allows them to move past consumption and copying and dive into creativity as Christians. One of the foundational sources in developing this course is Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch. He argues that culture can only be changed by making new culture. My hope is that Media MashUp can foster Biblicallyminded culture makers who are developing skills for their time. So far, we have had a blast building games,
designing websites, writing about films and video game plots, shooting films and newsreels, recording music, and setting up photo essays. So often, students hear the negative results that come from digital technology, which can cut off communication on the topic overall. Maybe it is my age or the fact that I grew up in the Woodcrest Christian School System, but I really empathize with students who express their enjoyment of technology. Their future workforce contains jobs that do not even exist yet because technology is changing so rapidly. As a Christian school, I believe we are in a unique position to encourage digital skill-building while we cultivate the heart and mind behind the screen.
PHOTO: » Producing a middle school news show gives students a chance to learn about potential careers and technology.
PHOTO: » Media MashUp students release their video game for other students to play during MiddleFest.
MIDDLEFESTCLASSES What is MiddleFest? MiddleFest is the quarter-long elective class offerings for the fourth quarter in Middle School. These engaging courses provide new hands-on, interactive learning opportunities while still using applied Biblical principles. More courses are set to be announced in early 2020!
MEDIA MASHUP Focuses on the influence of technology and popular culture on young Christians. Students learn to think critically about social media/phones, video games, magazines, music/YouTube, coding, movies/TV/comics/Pop Lit, and entertainment icons.
STEALING FREEDOM Based on the dramatic journey of Ann Maria Weems on the “Underground Railroad,” students learn about the extreme hardships and injustices of slavery in the United States. Students also examine slavery in the world today, and how we, as Christians, can respond.
MISSION POSSIBLE! A study of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His global mission for the world. Students study missionaries from times past, learn major world religions, examine local and international missions projects, hear from missionaries, as well as learn about what God is doing through global missions today.
OPEN MIC Students learn how to write a script and craft their own original narratives to captivate an audience, engage in improv games and activities that will build collaboration, stretch the imagination, and improve confidence.
PAYDAY Students create, manage, and earn money from their own unique startup businesses, study entrepreneurship and budgeting, all while learning the importance of stewardship.
PHOTO: » PAYDAY team, NAJA Merch, earned enough money to purchase a cow for Hope Children’s Home in Uganda.
WHEN FAITH and CULTURE COLLIDE
MR. MATT MESSNER WCHS BIBLE TEACHER
modern christian students face a myriad of challenges to their faith. The Christian worldview has received assault from various directions in the modern era leaving the Christian student adrift on the sea of culture. The dominant voices of the West have infiltrated the church and Christian education in such a fashion as to confuse the minds of Christian students regarding the legitimacy of their Biblical worldview. These realities likewise leave
parents searching for answers as to how to train their students to resist cultural vices and pursue cultural impact. This is precisely the goal we are trying to accomplish here at school. Woodcrest Christian aims to train students through the development of a spiritual life that is devoted to Jesus. Our faculty and staff work diligently to teach and demonstrate that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most beautiful story in the world and that a life spent pursuing the mission of Jesus Christ is the happiest life in the world. We seek the completion of this goal by using at least two methods. First, we teach the Bible. Here at Woodcrest Christian, every class students take is immersed in our Biblical Core. We believe that the Bible is God’s Word and is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Bible is our source of truth and authority and our guide for all matters of life. It is the way in which we hear the voice of God and experience the reign and blessing of God. Therefore, we teach our students the Bible in order to equip them with God’s truth for the battles they currently face and will continue to face, living
in this cultural context. Our goal is for students to exit our campus thoroughly convinced that the Scriptures are to shape, inform, and dictate the way in which they live in every arena of their lives. In the midst of a culture where truth, gender, and sexuality have been redefined, Woodcrest Christian students are being prepared to enter the culture with God’s truth in order to impact it for the glory of Jesus Christ. Second, we teach beautiful stories. Storytelling is one of the most impactful mediums in the lives of teenage students. It is stories that draw and incite our students to abandon their Christian foundations and unite themselves with the culture. There is no denying that the culture tells beautiful stories of bravery, expression, and the quest for identity. In fact, the stories culture tells form part of the reason why teenage students continue to leave the church at such alarming rates. However, Christians have the most beautiful story to tell. At WCS, we teach in such a way as to explain and persuade students that amidst all of the allure of culture’s attempt at beautiful stories, the Bible tells the most beautiful story. In the past, Christians have failed to teach students that the Bible is more than a rulebook or a set of facts that need to be memorized. Such poor
instruction fails to capture the hearts of Christian students and leaves them longing for transcendent beauty. Often, the result manifests in their college years as transcendent beauty is found in cultural narratives leading to an exodus from the local church. Instead, we intend to compel the hearts of our students with the most beautiful story ever told. We believe the Bible is the story of God redeeming and restoring the world for the praise of His glory. Here at Woodcrest Christian, we teach the Bible’s beautiful stories to urge our students to cling to the Biblical worldview amidst the draw of culture’s secular worldview. While the classroom at WCS is engaging the truth of the Bible and the beautiful story of the Bible to train students to impact culture, parents remain the primary influence and voice in the lives of their students. Parents must realize that the power of culture is significant and impacts the hearts and minds of their students. Therefore, parents likewise must engage their students at home in such a way as to equip them to live in this cultural moment with Gospel ambition. The first way parents can train their students is by participating in the normal rhythms of a local church. The local church is a wonderful place for Christian parents to be trained, equipped, and
“Woodcrest Christian
aims to train students to
resist cultural vices and
pursue cultural impact
through the development
of a spiritual lifethat is
devoted to Jesus.”
supported. It is the local outpost of the kingdom of God. Therefore, if it is the parent’s desire to raise children who are able to resist cultural vices and pursue cultural impact for the glory of Jesus Christ, they should participate in the normal rhythms of a local church with their children. Participation in a local church enables parents to be trained themselves in how they can train their children to live Christian lives in a secular culture. The second practice is the insertion of holy habits at home. Homes are where children are instructed, trained, and formed. This formation happens primarily through the habits children practice.
Therefore, parents seeking to raise children who are devoted to Jesus and can impact the culture for His glory should employ holy habits in their homes which support this goal.
Read the Bible with your kids after dinner or before bedtime to enforce the habit that they should always seek truth and wisdom from the Scriptures.
Invite non-Christians over for meals and share the Gospel with them to enforce the habit that cultural voices are not to be rejected outright, but are to be heard and compelled with the story of Jesus.
Pray for those whose sexual ethics and truth claims have been warped by culture to enforce the habit that the Gospel of Jesus can change anyone’s heart.
Through the practice of these habits, students will be formed to enter culture with clear eyes concerning the truth and passionate hearts regarding the power and impact of the Gospel. In these ways, parents can participate in the empowering of their children to resist cultural vices and pursue cultural impact. Culture is seemingly headed further and further from the Christian worldview each year. Students are being swept away in the current of culture in abandonment of the church and of Jesus Christ. Woodcrest Christian seeks to join with parents in the training and equipping of students to hold fast to Jesus and dive head first into culture with the power of the Gospel. Rooted in Biblical Truth and compelled by the beauty of Christ, our students can change the world.
ABOUT MATT MESSNER: » Matt Messner teaches Old and New Testament Bible classes at Woodcrest Christian School. He is a graduate of California Baptist University and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he studied theology and pastoral ministry. He also serves at Redeemer Baptist Church in the area of preaching and teaching. Matt and his wife, Sarah, have been married for four years and are expecting their first child in February 2020.
"While making the decision to attend a private Christian school can be intimidating, one thing remains true: at Woodcrest you are not just a student, you are part of the Woodcrest family. Our only regret has been not enrolling our daughters into the Woodcrest Christian School System sooner." - Megan S.
Woodcrest Christian Day School, Middle School, and High School is a school system that is not going to compromise their expectations, especially being Christ-centered. - Bernadette L.
"Choosing the right middle school was a big decision for our family! My son just finished 8 th grade at WCMS and I am so grateful for the wonderful experience that he had. The academics were strong, he learned about giving back to the community, and they have rules that work. Best of all, he was mentored by strong Christians who solidified his faith and created a strong foundation for him. I highly recommend this school!" - Anna R.
We believe this school is preparing them for their God-given purposes both academically and spiritually. - Jeff B.
"The sacrifice we made in paying for private schooling was the best investment we could have given to our girls. They both graduated with high honors and went on to get their Master's degrees in college. I sincerely believe WCS was the major catalyst to their achieving success in adulthood." - Kathy B.
This school offers a top-notch education and wonderful athletics, fine arts, clubs, missions and service opportunities for our kids all while pointing them to Jesus. - Andrea S.
"As an alumna of WCS, I am so thankful for the Christ-like role models that surrounded me, from my teachers to coaches to administrators—everyone's conduct helped to disciple me in my faith. It is an excellent school with a nurturing, encouraging, and academically challenging environment." - Katy B.
WOODCREST CHRISTIAN SCHOOL SYSTEM
Transitional Kindergarten through 12 th Grade 18401 Van Buren Blvd., Riverside, California 92508 | (951) 780-2010 | WCSS.ORG
