WELS schools are back in session

This is the time of year when schools begin a new year. Parents have been shopping for school supplies and clothes, kids are saying goodbye to summer vacation, and teachers are ready to put their summer preparation to work in the classroom.

This should be a time when all members of our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod pause to reflect on the amazing blessings of our Lutheran schools. Our synod operates one of the largest private school systems in the country, operating 340 early childhood ministries, 276 elementary schools, and 30 area Lutheran high schools. In addition, we are blessed to have two synodical prep schools that prepare students for a lifetime of service in the church, a college of ministry, a seminary, and a Lutheran college that prepares laypeople for Christian vocations. These schools serve nearly 48,000 students.

Our schools are a blessing because of what happens in them. They offer many of the things that public schools offer, but they also provide something that public schools can’t: daily instruction in the truths of God’s Word and classes that are taught from a biblical and Lutheran perspective. Our Lutheran schools certainly do not replace the vital and primary role that parents play in bringing up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord, but they do offer our children years in which the foundation laid in the home is built upon and supplemented. In our schools children grow in their faith and learn to know their Savior better.

WELS schools are also a blessing because of what they do for the students who eventually graduate from them. They produce young adults who are ready to enter a world in which they will live as children of God, serving him, serving others, and being the salt and light that God intends them to be.

With WELS school enrollments experiencing significant growth over the past few years, we are facing the challenge of a shortage of qualified teachers. That situation is being addressed by a special task force, or “think tank,” comprised of representatives from the WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools, Martin Luther College, area Lutheran high schools, elementary schools, and members of the Conference of Presidents. We ask for God’s blessings on their work.

Serving with you in Christ,
President Mark Schroeder