Education and the identity of the Missouri Synod
In reflecting on my previous post and the comments you all have offered, I was thinking about an historical strength of our synod: her schools. In years past, our parochial school system was proportionately rivaled only by the Papists. We have a university system that is far larger than our own membership would suggest, and we have two seminaries each with a beautiful campus and a highly-educated faculty. Our resources are phenomenal.
Yet we are turning our strength into a liability. Many pastors choose to send their children to government schools instead of a local Lutheran school (although a friend of mine had to pull his children out of the Lutheran school because of its educational and moral problems); many parishioners do the same, or choose a private school of an erring confession. Our schools can barely make ends meet; Immanuel’s parish school, in the years I have been here, has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond tuition payments and direct gifts. Our synod, despite ever-increasing donations, gives very little support to her seminaries. As a result, seminary students graduate loaded with debt, and I suspect the seminary recruiting process is compromised by the need for more tuition-paying pastoral candidates.
We are in an environment where any unemployed huckster can hang out a shingle, slap a “Rev.” in front of his or her name, and start up a church. Meanwhile, the educated populace scoffs at Christianity with its parade of illogical buffoons. Yet not only do we have the pure doctrine of our confessions, we have an educational system that could take a young man from kindergarten (or earlier) to M.Div., and for those able and inclined, to a Ph.D. or Th.D., either in our schools or in the best schools beyond our synod. We have the ability and resources to produce a highly-educated clergy and attack the culture head-on, challenging the anti-intellectual evangelicals with the true Evangel, and challenging the hyper-rational liberals with a rigorous, scholarly confession.
Instead, what are we doing? Our parochial schools are crumbling under the influence of progressive education, our colleges end up destroying the faith of some of the church’s children, and our seminaries are in bed with the dumbed-down internet ordination programs (I will grant that they probably didn’t have much of a choice). We may as well have put a gun to our collective head and started to pull the trigger.
But it isn’t too late. Almost. But not yet. Perhaps God has put us right where we are supposed to be: under the cross.
Related posts:
- In memoriam: the educated pastor SED President Diefenthaler is reporting to the district this morning...
- Purity of doctrine and the future of Synod Whether our Synod gains friends or makes enemies, wins...
- The Office of School-Teacher in the LCMS I’ve often thought that the late Professor Kurt Marquart’s discussion...
- Silence of the Synod Two weeks ago, someone fired–against Synod rules, without cause, without...
- Overheard on NPR NPR was just interviewing a school teacher attending the Obama...
[Comment removed since it asks about confidential material that I should not have included in the original post. -CSE]
Lutheran schools are struggling in part because they have strayed from their core mission. Originally Lutheran immigrants established schools in order to see to it that the children were properly indoctrinated in the Lutheran confession of the faith.
Sometimes today there is little that is distinctly Lutheran about Lutheran schools. Although – especially in more secular areas of the country (like NJ wehere I live) a Lutheran school that is more generically Christian than Lutheran is still far better than other alternatives.
The beauty (as I see it) of the classical approach to education is that it frees the Lutheran school from thiking it must complete with the local public school in terms of dollars, programs, curriculum, etc. The classical model would even allow small congregations to provide a solid Lutheran parochial educatin for their children. 30 students K-8 may not work according to modern educational standards (or parental expectations), but utilizing the trivium it can work. The classical approach frees us (for the most part) from obsessing about enrollments, budgets, teaching staff, etc. to focus on training children and their minds!
if Dan as a pastor cannot afford a Lutheran education for his son, how could most laypeople afford the same education for their kids?
pastors generally make far more in income than the average layperson.
As the daughter of a pastor, I’m not sure if Jeff’s comment is true.
Obviously it depends on the area and circumstance but most of the pastors I know hardly make more — much less “far more” — in income than the average laymember.
Even so, it shouldn’t be something that is paid on a curve. Some areas have laymembers with high salaries. Some areas have laity with low salaries. But a pastor is someone with an incredible amount of education, an incredible amount of responsibility, and no hours away. My father was literally on call 24 hours a day and people would phone our family home throughout the night. Apart from his daytime work, he would be in meetings most nights of the week and counseling folks or otherwise engaged the others. It was a struggle for my family to even see my father — although he always rushed home or ate a quick dinner with us — for which we were thankful. We could never even take a vacation without having to come home so Dad could do the funeral.
The amount of work he had relative to his pay and headaches certainly influenced me in thinking I would never want to be a pastor’s wife. Although that is probably just be a personal flaw on my part.
Pr. Esget,
No need to elaborate more, now that I know you weren’t calling me a thief!
Mollie, I assume Jeff is joking.
It would be interesting to know how many pastors leave the ministry to seek higher-paying jobs. My anecdotal evidence suggests many pastors (and their wives) who leave got tired of a grueling schedule with constant criticism and low pay.
At Immanuel, however, I’ve been astonished at how generous some parishioners have been towards me. It’s almost always someone with a pastor in the family, since they’ve experienced the very things you mention.
I had to laugh about your comment about not wanting to be a pastor’s wife. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to apologize to Kassie because I came home, or kept her at church, three hours after I promised I’d be done.
We pulled our two daughters out of the Lutheran school I attended as a child, not only because they were not meeting my oldest daughter’s needs (she has a high IQ and the teachers dumbed everything down) but because the church has largely gone to a happy-clappy, rock band, church in the gym with an overhead worship style.
A year ago I knew absolutely nothing about Classical Lutheran Education, I did not even know it existed. I also have this crazy idea that I am raising theologians, so I knew that our kids would attend a parochial school. I always assumed it would be a Roman Catholic school.
I was very happy to find ILS, and to send our oldest child there for Kindergarten. There seem to be more families choosing ILS, and hopefully that trend will continue. I also hope that the school and the church will continue to focus on classical education and an understanding of the faith.
Well, all I know is that ILS did very well for all three of my children, including the one that’s currently at Concordia in Chicago. It might be a good idea to investigate additional programs for highly talented children, but I know that there is only so much that can be done on a parochial-school’s budget. My kids might not be talented a the genius level, but they’re bright enough and I do know that for the most part they weren’t bored with the classical curriculum at ILS.
Paul, were you referring to my comment? Because I don’t even know what ILS is.
BTEG, Paul is referring to Immanuel Lutheran School, our parochial school. I think he’s just saying that our school is still a good one (and we hope to keep it that way).
I guess I’m another PK that shares the same flaw of which Mollie speaks. I always knew I was not cut out for the supporting role of pastor’s wife!
Although my family has had to make countless sacrifices over the years, we’ve also been blessed with lifelong bonds with parishioners that have rivaled familial relationships. When pastors don’t have that kind of support network, it makes those familial sacrifices incredibly difficult, in my experience.
As a product of Lutheran elementary and college education, as well as a product of a public high school, I am an immense proponent of Lutheran education. I had wonderful teachers in elementary school and in college who taught me better than I realized. To this day I wish I could emulate them.
Public high school taught me how it is actually the secular humanists who run education in America, and though they call Christians closed-minded, they are truly the ones closing the minds of their students.
As a Lutheran teacher, I know how difficult it is to balance giving children an education, public expectations, meanwhile holding firm to the Lutheran faith. Parents want a comparable education, teachers want enough time to teach, pastors want the teachers to teach in accordance with doctrine (we hope the pastors do!), and the congregation wants a balanced budget.
Not to make excuses. I agree classical education is the way to go. Make well-educated students who can stand up to people who say Christians are illogical, namby-pamby do-gooders. We should make our schools better rather than take “Lutheran” off our signs to attract students.
(Sorry, Pastor Esget, for going on so long.)
Don’t apologize! Great comment.