Willamette Students
Middle School
Middle School
Jun 11th
Dear parents of incoming middle schoolers,
Summer is around the corner, the weather is (hopefully) turning sunny, school is almost out — and your son or daughter is transitioning into middle school. (Can you believe it?!)
We want to welcome your student as he or she ventures into the unknown land of middle school, and provide some ways to link arms in their spiritual development. You may have already visited the willamettestudents.com website. (There are actually three sites there: one for high school, one for middle school, and one we call The ROAD. More on that in a moment.)
We strive to share core emphases, happenings, and opportunities to partner together.
[download this Letter to Parents of incoming 6th graders as a PDF here]
A group of 50+ middle schoolers (grades 6-8) begin Sunday mornings at 11:00am in the Middle School Lounge (upstairs, south end, far right corner room), and generally transition downstairs into the south terrace/multipurpose room. Each week is hardly the same, but we generally follow a flow of four elements:

Also, as a recap, each week we send out an email to parents called ASK & EXPLORE where we hope to share with you the emphases, happenings and opportunities for Gospel conversations with your student. We have about 1% of their time, and your role as parent and discipler cannot be overstated. We desire this simple tool to foster those Gospel conversations and mutual fascination — parents and students exploring the truths of Jesus and the Bible together! That is our desire in everything we do, connecting the whole Gospel to whole students and deepening the family influence.
Odds are your student is itching to get to middle school — or at least ‘out’ of fifth grade. We want to first welcome your student to sixth grade, and then into the whole middle school program.
On Sunday, June 13th they will ‘graduate’ from 5th grade (the Edge). Every student will start in the Edge room at 11:00am, and then at 11:20 we’ll come get them. Half of our adult volunteer leaders will be with them to give a preview of what we do in middle school worship, and connect life stories. Next week (June 20th) your son is a middle schooler: come directly to the Middle School Lounge (upstairs, south end, far right corner). As I mentioned before, we finish the morning in small group conversations, scattered in the various spaces in and around the south end of the building.
Parents gathering (sign up for the Ask & Explore emails and we will invite you to a parents gathering later this Summer, before school begins.)
While the middle school program meets together on Sunday mornings at 11:00am, your family is encouraged to meet other families and together seek the spiritual and overall development of your students. Whether it is serving together at The Table & Sunday Market, at a monthly Love Serves project, going on a missions trip, taking a course, conecting in a community group, or meeting up after a sporting activity. Worship happens anywhere and everywhere as we treasure Jesus every day. In the WCC family, everything we do is meant to align with our core mission as a caring community that loves God, loves people, and serves the world.
Welcome to The ROADBecause middle school is the time for students to renew their commitment to enjoying God and His Word, we’ve created a website — find it at willamettestudents.com/ROAD.
There you will find a daily Bible reading plan, an overview of The Story of God, and practical helps like video overviews of key books. [overview here]
When we read, we focus on Jesus — and respond to His greatness, goodness and grace.
Let us know how we can be a resource to you as you teach your children who Jesus is, why He came, and what it means to follow Him together.
Because Jesus is everything,

Jeff Patterson
Associate Pastor
May 22nd

We want to point out the new site we launched last weekend with some helps for enjoying God and His Word: the ROAD.
Some of the helps include:
GOD’s Story (visual and summary)I underscore with the students that the Bible reading plan (which is the last half of the booklet) is the exact one I use. We’re not asking them to practice anything we’re not committed to doing with them. We encourage parents to join on the journey, to get on the ROAD. A good place to start is here.
The Bible reading plan has some unique features, like reading 3 chapters (1 in the NT, 2 in the OT), and going 3 days on and then a day off. Also, some of the slower narrative books have been pulled aside with a future video coming to explore its significance and place in the story. That way students and parents don’t feel lost on the ‘trees’ and can also see the ‘forest.’
Enjoying God and His Word, with you,

Pastor Jeff
May 12th
On April 30—May 2 about 35 of us went to the BELIEVE conference in Portland. We learned much, primarily:
Here’s a little highlight video of our trip:
May 10th
While we made sure that all our awesome middle school students honored their mothers on Sunday, we still did have a lot of fun before our various brunches, lunches, and dinners.
It was a very food focused day with our middle school students as we looked at the question, “What will really satisfy us?” Lyle and Gary gave us a stellar cooking show, making brownies and talking about how even if we have a bunch of yummy ingredients, the satisfying taste of a good brownie only comes after we put it in the oven. Without the oven, it’s just a messy glob of chocolate.
God is like the oven. We may have the ingredients to a good life: good works, some money, friends, and a pleasant lifestyle (all good things), but if we do not have the warmth and heat of God’s love in our lives, these good things will become ultimate, and therefore not fully satisfy our hearts. God satisfies.
We just wanted to share some pictures from this very fun Sunday morning!

It sticks! Nice work.

Throwing Cocoa Puffs at whip creamed faces. They stuck!

Bullets

Cooking Show with Lyle and Gary!
May 2nd
What is your Question?
This morning we worked through answering students questions about life, Jesus, following Him, the Church, and issues facing middle schoolers.
As one might expect, they have some good questions. Like:
We actually started with that last one, since it may seem odd to ask questions in church. Why is that? Perhaps we have been programmed to not think too deeply or too much, but just go through the motions. Yet, we all have questions, and Jesus welcomed people to ask Him questions. Every few weeks we plan to give space and time to wrestling with life questions.
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When we don’t ask questions our minds simply run with the preconceived notions running around in their (our thoughts, attitudes and desires), which come out in our words, lead to actions, and ultimately form and display our character. Just like we taught about last week:

Apr 23rd
Apr 23rd
Last Sunday we launched a new series with your middle schoolers. “My Heart, Christ’s Home” centers around the booklet of the same title by Robert Boyd Munger. The goal is to explore each “room” of our lives to discover if Jesus is welcome there, and how He can take full ownership of our lives. We’ll be exploring through May. Parents: drop by and get a copy of the booklet each student is receiving, and see the front of a house John Sramek built in the Student Center.
Apr 23rd
Join other parents and students for Potluck in the Park on Sunday, April 25th, from 1:30-6:00pm.
Apr 18th
Today we watched this clip from “The Wonder Years,” as part of our kickoff to a new series, My Heart, Christ’s Home.