It’s the second week of BSSM! One week has passed. There is so much I’ve received already; it’s hard to put into words. It’s the culture and core values that people carry here–they’ve been hammering it in these past six days. “These are Bethel’s core values! Core values! Core values!” That’s really important here, as I’ve come to realize…
So I will try to summarize into just three points what I’ve heard and received and understood as best I could:
1) YOU ARE POWERFUL
Bethel believes (or really, God’s Word says so) that everyone is powerful. Translation: You are responsible for your own actions, and you don’t need someone else telling you what or what not to do.
That’s called Culture of Empowerment, not culture of control. So within the context of school, that means you won’t have an authority figure breathing down your neck, reminding you constantly when homework is due, or asking you why you didn’t show up to class or to service. No, that’s your responsibility–because you are powerful.
If you don’t want to be here, you are able to. You behave your way out of the organization. In other words, there are consequences to your actions, and at the end of the day, your behavior is your choice.
Quote from the BSSM Student Handbook: “The freedom of the BSSM environment requires a high level of self-management. One definition of freedom we like is, ‘I am able to tell myself what to do and make myself do it.’ That’s called self-control.”