Lutheran Education: Getting Down to the Basics (Part 1 of 8)
Ask any parent what they want for their child, and the answers come quickly: health, happiness, a good education, a steady future. You would do almost anything to give your child those things. Most parents would say so without thinking twice.
So here is a harder question, and the one this whole series is built on: what is the single most important thing a child can be given? Not the nicest thing, or the most useful thing. The most important.
God answers that question plainly, and His answer is the reason Lutheran schools exist at all.
A command older than the church
Long before there were schools of any kind, God gave parents a charge. To Israel, He said, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7). The “them” is His Word: His commands, His promises, His acts. Not a lesson reserved for one hour on a holy day, but the running conversation of an ordinary household: at the table, on the road, at bedtime, at breakfast.
The Psalms say the same thing and explain why it matters across generations. God established His testimony “that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children” (Psalm 78:6). Faith is not inherited automatically, like eye color. It is handed on, deliberately, from those who have it to those who do not yet. A generation that stops handing it on is one generation away from losing it.
When the New Testament takes up the subject, it speaks directly to fathers: “Bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). The word translated “training” is the same word the ancient world used for the whole upbringing of a young person, the complete shaping of a life. Paul puts the Lord at the center of it. And the old proverb promises that this shaping lasts: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
Put these together, and you can see the picture. The most important thing a child can be given is not a head start or an advantage. It is to be raised knowing who God is, what He has done, and that He is for them. God commands this, and He commands it of parents.
Where the school comes in
If God gives this charge to parents, why would a church run a school?
Because the charge is heavier than many parents can carry alone. Teaching a child the faith “when you sit and when you walk and when you lie down” is a full-time job, and parents already have full-time jobs. They are not always equipped to explain what they themselves were never taught well. A Lutheran school does not take the job away from parents. It comes alongside them. It is the congregation’s way of helping mothers and fathers keep the promise God laid on them. It adds hours, teachers, and a whole community to the work that begins at home.
This is why a Lutheran school is not simply a private school with a chapel attached, and not simply a place to get good test scores in a safe building. Those are fine things. They are not the reason. The reason is the command in Deuteronomy and Ephesians: children belong to God first, and they are to be raised knowing it.
“Let the little children come to Me.”
There is one more scene worth considering. When parents brought their little children to Jesus, His own disciples tried to turn them away. Too small, too unimportant, not worth the Teacher’s time. Jesus was greatly displeased. “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Then He took them in His arms and blessed them.
That is the heart of the whole matter. Jesus wants the children. He is not waiting for them to grow up, prove themselves, or earn their place. He calls them to Himself now. A Lutheran school is, at its core, a community organized around that one sentence: a place that does not turn the children away but brings them, day after day, to the One who wants them.
That is why anyone would do this. Not for advantage. For the children, and for the Lord who calls them.
In the weeks ahead, we will get specific: what makes a school Lutheran rather than just Christian, why Baptism changes everything, what the catechism is really for, what the ancient church and our own founders understood, and why all of it prepares a child for ordinary life rather than just for church. For now, it is enough to start where God starts: with His charge to bring the children to Him.
Come and see. St. John Lutheran School exists to help you keep the charge God has given you as a parent. We are enrolling now, and we would be glad to show you what that looks like for your child. To visit, ask questions, or learn about registration, contact the school office or speak with Principal Zirtzlaff or Pastor Gillespie. Bring your child to the One who said, “Let the little children come to Me.”
Next in the series: What Makes a School Lutheran? The Gospel at the Center
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.