Good publicity but something more. The front-page headline from yesterday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Lutheran schools thriving after staying open during pandemic.”
“Since the fall of 2019, public school enrollment fell by 5,5000 students in St. Louis County and nearly 3,000 in St. Louis city amid a nationwide drop in enrollment. Some private schools saw a small bounce, but many, across both the region and country, lost enrollment…. But Lutheran schools in the St. Louis area saw the opposite trend. Since 2019, overall enrollment has increased 19%, according to the Lutheran Elementary School Association, a consortium of 36 Lutheran schools that together make up the second-largest private school system in the area.”
Educators had several explanations for the jump, one reason being that most schools stayed open during the pandemic with safety precautions. A more fundamental reason was offered by Principal Jonathon Butterfield of Lutheran High School South. “Our core values are in stark contrast to the ways of the world. We are rather countercultural, and that is what many of our families are seeking in a Christian education.”
It's a great opportunity for parochial schools and the church, to expose the deceits and vanities of so much in American culture today. It’s not anti-American. It is rather for the good of individuals and our nation that we be formed to see what is true and what is false in American life both politically and spiritually, shining the light of truth on the darknesses of our times, forming individuals to be faithful Christians and good citizens in public. And we encourage and pray for our fellow believers who are teaching in public schools. Although they do not explicitly teach faith, they can model Christ-like lives as they bring love and care to all God’s children.
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