THE STORY OF OUR LUTHERAN SCHOOLS, PART ONE
Why do Lutherans have elementary schools and high schools? Why don't they just let their children go to public schools like almost everyone else? Did you ever ask yourself that question? Do you know the answers?
It is a long and complicated story, but the basic reason Lutherans have "parochial" schools, i.e., schools built and supported by the "parish," is that Martin Luther told us to do that. This is how it worked in Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltic nations where Lutherans were dominant. This is how it worked in the North American colonies and the United States, until the state of Pennsylvania adopted its public school system in 1834. After 1834, the older synods of American Lutherans lost their parish schools, because their members wanted to speak English, the public schools were cheap or free, and the public schools posed no threat to Christian beliefs or morality at that time.
The newer synods of American Lutherans, especially the Missouri Synod, did not want to lose the language of their homeland. As the Missouri Synod people emigrated here in the mid-to-later-nineteenth century, congregations and schools were planted all over the Central Midwest, speaking German in church services and school. Wherever those people moved to in the United States, they started German-speaking congregations and schools like the ones in the Midwest.
This is all changed with World War One, when Germany became an enemy of the U.S. Slowly, but surely, church services and school classes in the Missouri Synod changed from the German to English language, starting about 1914. But this time, the Lutheran churches, instead of losing their parish schools, found them blossoming in the 1920s. Why? They grew partly because the congregations believed in their schools' mission, and partly because public schools were being influenced by "modernism," which included "pragmatism" (e.g. John Dewey), the "new morality," and the philosophy of evolution (e.g., Charles Darwin).
Christians who rejected "modernism" and who wanted to teach their children traditional morality and Christian beliefs found that the Missouri Synod schools were an ideal, safe place for their children. Many non-German-ancestry and non-Scandinavian-ancestry people jointed the Missouri Synod congregations because of their schools. The Missouri Synod schools have proven over the years to be its most effected "evangelism" program for long-term membership growth and retention.
I commend the members of Grace Lutheran Church for starting, supporting, and continuing to support its Lutheran parish school. You have continued to support the school in spite of the high cost of living in this place, which affects everyone(congregation members, staff members, parents, etc.). You have continued to support the school in spite of the gradual decline in numbers of our church membership. You have continued to support the school in spite of the gradual decline in church members that have children in the school. God bless you for your efforts and faithfulness!
In the next article in this series, I want to look at what Martin Luther said to his "German people" to get them started on the road to supporting elementary education for boys and girls!
Yours in Christ, Pastor Martin R. Noland
