# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S288
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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PARISH EDUCATION _ 287

Such things cannot be proved statistically, just as the effec-
tiveness of Christian homes or other factors cannot be proved
statistically. They are a matter of judgment on the basis of sound
principles of education. However, there are some general evidences
of school effectiveness statistically available, namely:

1. Every one of the ten so-called “Synod-Wide Roll Calls”
of confirmands since 1931 has indicated that there is greater
membership stability in congregations with schools; and the tenth,
conducted in 1955, definitely established the fact that defections
among confirmands who had attended a Lutheran school three
years or more were only 10 per cent, while defections among those
who had not attended a Lutheran school at all were 21 per cent.

2. According to a survey made by the Board for Higher
Education, 62.7 per cent of the 1956 graduates of our theological
seminaries and teachers colleges and 62.5 per cent of the students
enrolled at our preparatory colleges during the past school year,
1954—55, attended a Lutheran school, most of them 8 years;
while the parochial schools had fewer than one third of our
children of school age enrolled.

3. Every general survey of contributions has shown a higher
average per communicant for “work at large” in congregations
with schools than in congregations without schools. One of these
surveys, recorded in the Statistical Yearbook for 1944, p. 150, shows
an average of $7.34 for congregations with schools and $5.77 for
the others. A Michigan District survey in 1954 showed an average
of $9.71 as against $7.89. Naturally congregations with schools have
a higher local budget also. Thus the 101 Michigan congregations
with schools raised a total of $1,088,000 for teachers’ salaries alone,
not counting other local expenses. Parochial schools are not
a liability but an asset, both locally and generally.

But what human being will calculate those nonstatistical
benefits to the individual, the home, the church, and the state
which must be expected and are produced!

Subsidies and Loans for Schools

The Board for Missions in North and South America and the
Board for Parish Education have jointly issued a statement on
“Subsidizing Schools” and mailed copies to District Mission Boards
and Boards of Education. The statement is a basis on which
District Boards are asked to formulate their own local policies
and practices. The Board for Parish Education appreciates the very
cordial spirit of co-operation on the part of the Board for Home
Missions.

The policy of our Synod with regard to subsidies and loans
for schools is clear, and Synod has also advised liberality in such

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