A Teacher’s Deep Hope for Students

Lansing Christian School has an ambitious vision for students. Our vision of equipping students to engage and transform the world for Jesus Christ provides direction and purpose for our strategic and day-to-day work.

Equipping students in preschool through twelfth grade to engage in transformational work begins with a teacher’s deep hope for students.

What is a deep hope? It is a desire so strong that a teacher can say, “If my students learn nothing else this year, they will learn this.” An example is Mrs. Belanger’s deep hope for her second grade class. “My deep hope is that my students will embrace all of life and learning as a journey towards knowing, loving, experiencing, and serving God.” Her deep hope for students is guiding their classroom journey of discovering who God is, and how they can serve Him as second graders.

The deep hopes of our teachers provide a north star, a guide for planning and implementing learning experiences that invite, nurture, and empower students to live their lives fully in God’s story; a story that declares they are made in God’s image, they are deeply loved, and they belong. Understanding that we belong to God and that He is using us in His transformational work provides students with an opportunity to develop their gifts and use them to meet real needs for real people in our community.

A teacher’s Deep Hope communicates from the very beginning that Christian education is formational. It helps to shape students into people that will engage and transform the world for Jesus Christ.

by Sheila Dykstra, Elementary Principal