# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S344
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

344

VII. FINAL REPORT OF THE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ON LUTHERAN SCHOOLS
bon Committee on Lutheran Schools” (RESOLUTION 8-03A)

At the 2013 Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS)
Convention, Resolution 3-04 passed “To Authorize a Blue Ribbon
Committee on Lutheran Schools.” Through this resolution, the Office of National Mission (ONM) was authorized to convene a Blue
Ribbon Committee on Lutheran Schools to make a comprehensive
analysis of schools offering collaborative and creative options for
the future of Lutheran education. Consideration was given to specific issues and topics for the committee to address and who might
serve to give the broadest perspectives of the future of Lutheran
education in the Synod. A working Task Force was established
consisting of individuals from all areas of Lutheran education, and
from this larger committee, four task groups were assigned. The
Committee was organized by the Rev. Bart Day and chaired by Mr.
Jeffrey Beavers with consultation assistance provided by Tara Mulder.
The entire Blue Ribbon Committee met in St. Louis for five,
two-day sessions: May 2016, October 2016, February 2017, May
2017 and October 2017. At each of these five meetings, the individual task groups met during the allotted break-out work sessions
and collaborated as a whole group.
Subsequently, after the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force
had commenced, the direction and focus of the working group was
modified and redefined at the 2016 LCMS Synodical Convention
through Resolution 8-03A. Additional direction was given through
this new resolution that guided further discussion and group objectives.

Working Purpose Statement:
“We want to maximize our ability to catalyze our
discipleship through Lutheran education for the 56
million children in the United States.”

Dr. Jon Mielke – Superintendent of Lutheran Schools, Indiana
District LCMS
Background (Scope, Focus and Process): The committee
gathered in fall of 2016 to introduce and make initial presentations;
the task force reassembled twice in the spring of 2017 to break into
individual groups and further ascertain information through email,
survey and research.
Reverend Dr. Lee Hagan conducted a conference call at a
meeting that included Val Rhoden-Kimbrough, director of human
resources, to determine the progress of the project/study that Concordia Plan Services undertook for Ordained Ministers. A salary
modeler was developed as a tool to assist calling congregations in
determining a salary reflective of the cost of living in the geographic area of the church, the years of experience and the educational
training of the church worker. The project/study enables congregational leaders to obtain a salary scale by entering zip codes and
using a county multiplier to receive detailed information.

Recommendations
•

Ask Concordia University presidents to explore and
strategize ways to continue to provide outstanding
financial aid and scholarships to those students studying
to become Lutheran church workers.

•

Provide incentives for teachers; rent coverage, a signing
bonus, debt reduction, possibly a congregation member
that is identified by the pastor to adopt the graduate
as a guardian angel (that angel could give a monetary
gift monthly for one year, e.g.), tuition breaks for their
children who attend their Lutheran school, etc.

•

Seminaries and Concordias continue to teach sound personal finance strategies to future teachers and pastors.

•

In response to the concern for recruitment and wellness
of future church workers by reducing educational debt,
the 2019 LCMS Convention create a Blue Ribbon Task
Force to explore the viability and worth of respective
university and seminary campuses, reduce debt, increase
endowments and church worker grants, assess the most
effective and financially viable ways to recruit and train
church workers, and consider consolidating the number
of church worker programs with the intent to present
findings at the 2022 Convention.

Committee Charges:
1.

Analyze, account for and address the economic needs
of Rostered and non-Rostered workers and teachers and
how those needs will impact congregations where they
serve;

2.

Establish a set of collaborative and creative options for
the future of Lutheran Schools in the 21st century;

3.

Develop and implement pilot projects that may produce
creative solutions related to the challenges currently
faced by Lutheran schools.

•

Encourage all congregations and schools to implement
Concordia Plan Services church worker salary modeler
when determining teacher and administrator salaries.

*NOTE: “The Blue Ribbon Committee on Lutheran Schools” and
“Blue Ribbon Task Force” are used interchangeably throughout
this report.

•

Encourage the LCMS in convention to recommend that
the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) and the
LCMS Foundation explore ways to minimize student indebtedness along with the Concordia University System.

Group One: Economic Needs
Task: Analyze, account for and address the economic needs
including an assessment of compensation of Rostered and nonRostered workers and teachers and how those needs will impact
congregations where they serve.

Group Members:
Dr. Steven Buuck – Chief Executive Officer, Faith Lutheran
Middle School & High School, Las Vegas, NV
Rev. Dr. Lee Hagan – President, Missouri District LCMS
Mr. Ronald Henschen – Teacher, Metro East Lutheran High
School, Edwardsville, Ill.
2019 Convention Workbook

Conclusions:
Lutheran education is a noble calling, yet it is facing significant challenges. Data support a real need for synodical entities to
bring resolution to indebtedness for church workers. With the impending retirement of many teachers and administrators coupled
with the diminishing numbers of Lutheran Teacher Diploma (LTD)
candidates enrolling in the Concordia University System, there is
an increased sense of urgency to recruit and retain qualified young
people in the Lutheran teaching ministry. The desire to enter the
vocation of education is lessening due to several factors including