Central Illinois District

Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod

February 8, 2005

To the Congregations of the Peoria Circuit

We, the pastors of the Peoria Circuit, have been moved to write this letter because of our concern for Lutheran Education.

As many of you may know, the Evangelical Lutheran Church has been a church of education from its very beginnings. The Reformers of the first generation were not only pastors, but in most cases were educators as well. And when the Evangelicals began to form church bodies separate from the Roman Catholic Church, one of their first concerns was to provide for both the training of future pastors and for the education of young people. What they were given to understand, perhaps more clearly than we do in our own day, is that the stability of both church and civil society depends in a fundamental way upon the education of both lay people and clergy alike. And this education did not simply encompass the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, but was aimed at shaping character, heart and mind, as well.

Now, it is true that the Lutheran Church initially took up the task of educating both its young and the youth of the communities in which it found itself because the civil government in many cases neglected its duty in this regard. In addition, many parents were not themselves educated well enough to be able to give their children a useful education at home. So the Church set up schools that would educate young people and prepare them to make the best use of their God-given gifts for the good of home, community, and church. However, with the advent of "state" schools since then, it would appear that one of the motivations for Lutherans to support their own schools has faded away.

But in fact, the motivation for offering a Lutheran education may be becoming only more urgent. One of the bitter lessons of the period known as the "Counter-Reformation" was that those who controlled the schools also controlled the religious, social, political, and philosophical outlook of the youth. The Jesuits boasted that if they could have a young man for five years, they would have him for life. In territories where the schools were run by the Roman Catholics, conversions of Lutheran families back to the Roman Catholic Church were notable. Likewise, in territories where one of the Reformed churches controlled the education, converts were won from the Evangelical Lutheran Church to congregations following the footsteps of Calvin or Zwingli, among others.

So it was that when Lutherans came to the United States, they had 300 years of experience with both the positive aspects of institutional education, and the dangers of such education when it was in the hands of those who did not share the faith and hope of the Lutheran Church. This is why we, in the Missouri Synod, have inherited a tradition of more than 150 years of local education. At times it may have been motivated by ethnic prejudice (many Germans did not like to associate with the "Yankees" as they called English-speaking Americans), or narrow parochialism (some Lutherans truly wished to have nothing to do with those who did not share their religion). But for the most part, the desire of Lutherans to establish schools is the sincere outgrowth of their understanding that our young people, our church, and our communities need institutions that will shape minds and characters with both the hard work of academic inquiry and the compassionate influence of the Gospel in its purity. Not that the school was ever to be confused with the work of Christ that took place when congregations were gathered around the sacraments and the proclamation of the Word. The school was seen as an auxiliary, a supplement to the life of the congregation – but also as a fundamental and necessary resource.

Because we have become concerned by two realities that have been shaping our community here in the Peoria Circuit for a number of years now. The first reality concerns the enrollment at our schools. While enrollment fluctuates from year to year at Concordia and Christ Lutheran Schools, both institutions have faced declining enrollments over the last decade. Preus Lutheran High School continues to have anemic enrollment. These realities can be explained by a number of factors: tuition costs, program offerings, families moving out of the area into stronger school districts, and so on. But we believe it would be an inestimable loss to our congregations were any of these institutions to fail.

The second reality concerns the lower percentage of parents in our respective congregations choosing to use the Lutheran schools. We realize that this has been a sensitive issue in many congregations, and we do not wish to suggest that parents making use of the schools are somehow ahead of parents choosing not to use them. This is a complex issue, and each family is called to examine their resources and goals to know what choice would be best for them.

However, that said, we also passionately believe that a distinctively Lutheran education offers benefits to our families and congregations that are not easily dismissed.

First, we want to speak with respect to the public schools. As noted in the opening paragraphs, those who control the schools have a deep and lasting influence on the outlook and character of our young people. We are not of a mind to join some in the conservative Christian community who see public schools as universally evil. In fact, we admit that they have resources, they have trained teachers, and they have programs that all contribute mightily to the well being of the civic realm. They can even do some things that few, if any Lutheran schools can do well. So, we give them their proper respect.

But as many a Christian worker in the public school system can tell you, there are also challenges that accompany such an education. Every institution of education has an educational philosophy. What that means is that they have specific goals and methods that grow out of their understanding of themselves and their purpose. In the 20^th century, the philosophy of the public school became increasingly secular – in the sense of actually being hostile to religious belief as such. Religion began to be seen as a cultural artifact (like native costumes and folk music). But more disturbingly to the Christian family, many schools saw themselves called to usurp the parents’ place in shaping moral and ethical values. Schools not only sought to educate in academics, but also set as a goal the inculcation of values like self-esteem, political correctness, or cultural relativism. These were seen as desirable character traits for the type of citizen the schools sought to produce. Sadly, in some cases this was accompanied by an appalling decline in concern for the mastery of core academic skills. Notorious cases from the 1990’s pointed to public education run amok as students in lower grades were encouraged to discover "their own truths" rather than to learn the truth. Thankfully, there has been a turn away from this particular educational philosophy in recent years.

But public schools are not our only concern. There are also other religious schools in the area with which we have had some positive and some not-so-positive contact. Let us say simply, but clearly: just because a school purports to be Christian does not necessarily mean that it will be seeking to build your son or daughter up in the clear and pure doctrines of Scripture. As noted above – the Lutheran Church has a long history of losing its sons and daughters to other denominations when they control the educations our children receive.

Now, some will ask: but if we all believe in Christ, what does it matter if one is Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Baptist, or so on? And this is where Lutherans often become unpopular. For our answer to that question is this – we believe that the Lutheran Church, standing on Scripture as the inerrant Word of God, teaches that Word in its purity and that those who disagree with the Word of God are in error. We are not saying that they are outside Christ or the Church, we simply declare that they are in error in one or more points. And we do not desire our children to learn error. Furthermore, there have been a number of cases in our area where our students have been exposed to unconscionable proselytization at one or more of the other Christian schools.

Therefore, we consider it vital to the life and health of our congregations, our Synod, and indeed our society, that strong Lutheran schools be maintained and used by our families. In the Peoria Circuit we are blessed to have two established K-8 schools with excellent histories. Both Christ Lutheran School and Concordia Lutheran School have contributed to our families, our congregations, and our communities in ways too numerous to mention. We urge all families in or near Peoria, with school-age children, to take a look at either Concordia or Christ in order to understand the educational opportunities each of those schools provide. Then prayerfully consider whether a Lutheran education can serve your family. Also, many of you are aware that Preus Lutheran High School is in its infancy, but is making progress in offering to our high school aged youth an intellectually rigorous and spiritually nourishing education. We urge families seeking the benefits of a classical education, to take a look at Preus when they consider high school.

And finally, we urge all faithful men and women to keep our schools in their prayers.

May God richly bless you with the abundance of the blessings that are in Christ our Lord.

The Pastors of the Peoria Circuit

Central Illinois District

Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.