From Indiana District President Stuckwisch

https://in.lcms.org/an-intersection-of-the-church-and-the-home/ 

An Intersection of the Church and the Home

Having gone from our own Indiana District Administrators’ Conference to the CCLE Conference at CUW in Mequon this past week, I’ve been thinking even more than usual about the blessing of our Lutheran heritage and history of education and the role and purpose of our Lutheran schools. Going back to Dr. Luther himself and the sixteenth-century Reformation, we are the recipients of a long legacy of significant contributions to the philosophy and practice of Christian pedagogy – for young and old, rich and poor, boys and girls – for the strengthening of faith and love, for the service of the Church and the community, and all for the praise and glory of God in Christ Jesus.

Among the many excellent presentations that I was privileged to attend at the CCLE Conference, one of them provided a powerful case in point: Dr. Susan Mobley, one of the classical education professors at Concordia Wisconsin, presented on the contributions of Philipp Melanchthon, one of the foremost Lutheran reformers, to the classical liberal arts tradition. He built upon the past with a robust knowledge and understanding of humanity, informed and illuminated by the Holy Scriptures, and he restored theology, as well as history and poetry, to positions of prominence.

What has become especially clear to me over these past couple years, as I have been giving careful attention to the history and practice of Lutheran education, is just how foundational and central the Word of God has been to that entire enterprise. That certainly shouldn’t be surprising in any sense, and yet the full significance of what I have in mind is rather striking nonetheless.

The first and foremost reason for having Lutheran schools at all is the teaching of the Word of God in all its truth and purity – not in a simplistic or minimalistic fashion, but conveying the full counsel of God (Acts 20:27) and training disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ to observe all that He has commanded (St. Matthew 28:20). Everything else that we do bows before and flow from that priority of purpose. Which means, in turn, that everything else that is taught within our schools is embraced by and understood in light of God’s Word and the preaching of it. History and science, mathematics and literature, the arts and athletics – all are received as good gifts of God, and they are consequently exercised to the glory of His holy Name and for the good of His people. What is more, they are understood in accordance with the divine revelation of His Will and purpose in the Holy Scripture, just as the students are understood and taught in the light of His Holy Word.

In serving these sacred purposes of God’s Word and faith and love – for that is what we are all about in all of this – our Lutheran schools stand at the intersection of the Christian Church & Ministry and the Christian home & family. On the one hand, a Lutheran school is an extension of the Church’s ministry and mission of making disciples of all the nations, specifically by teaching the Word of God, the Law and the Gospel, unto repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, and thereby pointing students to the washing of water with the Word in Holy Baptism – and then continuing with the ongoing catechesis of all that Jesus has commanded (St. Matthew 28:18-20; Eph. 5:26). And on the other hand, as Dr. Luther discusses (and exemplifies) in his Catechisms, a Lutheran school is enlisted by fathers and mothers to assist them in training up their sons and daughters in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Accordingly, our Lutheran schools teach God’s Word and faith, exercising the necessary skills and rehearsing the discipline to love and serve the neighbor, and instilling in students an appropriate respect for God’s good creation along with a lively hope that is fixed on the Resurrection of the body to the Life everlasting in the Body of Christ Jesus.

When we recognize this role and purpose of our Lutheran schools – and Lutheran education – how shall we not give thanks to God and strive to preserve such faithful and steadfast service?