LUTHERAN SCHOOLS OF AMERICA

LSA was born in answer to a question: Why isn’t the ELS growing rapidly and what can we do about it? People may have many answers to that question, but the members in Scottsdale, Arizona who sent a memorial to the 2004 Synod Convention proposed that the synod begin an ambitious Christian education emphasis as a means to grow churches and attract young families to our congregations.

In this month of thanksgiving our special “For You and Your Children” offering will be introduced in most of our congregations. This offering should do well, since the economy has recovered, terrorist attacks have not re-occurred in our country, and God continues to bless us. Even gasoline prices have gone down. LSA is worth our support even as we struggle to support the Lord’s work in our congregations and our synod.

LSA is worthwhile because of the children who will benefit from Christian education. Sadly, in many congregations losing their young members after confirmation is the norm. Their teenage friends can pull them away from church, a needed job requires that they work on Sunday, they don’t feel that they need to attend often, and gradually it happens that they rarely attend. They may even feel that their church is not interested in them.

The percentages of young people who remain in church increase if they have been involved with Christian education—elementary, high school and college. Christian education at all levels teaches them Bible truths, helps them appreciate Lutheran hymns, keeps them in a Christian environment, and integrates God’s Word into every school subject and into their daily living. With this instruction our young people will be better prepared to face the challenges and temptations of living in our secular, materialistic and ever-changing world. They will better appreciate what the Lutheran Church offers them as they learn the liturgy and hymns, and hear Gospel-centered preaching in their churches.

Communicating the gospel is another reason to support LSA. We live in a world of instant and global communication where individuals can “blog” their everyday thoughts on the internet to be read by thousands. Christian education challenges students to learn language and communication skills, guides students to think critically about their life and speak responsibly in the light of God’s Word, and trains students to be able to communicate their faith in Christ to the world. The Christian Church needs many such skilled communicators as future pastors, teachers, parents, and leaders in the congregations so that God’s Word is clearly confessed and proclaimed to others.

As we embark on this special offering which will support the opening of two new schools every year, we need also to thank those Christian Day School teachers who have been faithfully serving in the congregational schools and pre-schools already operating in our synod. They have dedicated their lives to teaching our youth. They may have to put up with less than desirable classrooms, teaching multi-grades, deal with limited teaching resources and budgets, and being involved with other school activities. We need to thank them for their dedicated service and for teaching our youth God’s Word to walk in the Gospel and on the way in which they should go.

Our students need an education that helps them to know the difference between the “bling” and the treasure of heaven, to separate the world’s lies from the truths of Scripture, and to flee from evil and pursue holy living. These things they can learn only in a truly Christ-centered Lutheran elementary school.

Theodore Gullixson is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin.