# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S347 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) VII. FINAL REPORT OF THE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ON LUTHERAN SCHOOLS and summarizing findings with recommendations. Information gathered includes but is not limited to the items below: • Barna Research Release 2017: What Parents Look for in Christian Schools. • 2016–2017 LCMS School Ministry Statistics Lutheran school enrollment from early childhood to high school. • 2016 LCMS Statistics on available incoming LCMS Lutheran school teachers versus teachers retiring with a view to the impact on the strength, vitality, Lutheran ethos and identity of Lutheran schools. • Survey results from LCMS education executives (5 respondents) on the perceived key reasons for decline in enrollment within Lutheran schools. • Survey results from LCMS homeschooling families (167 respondents) as to why parents teach their children at home rather than sending them to Lutheran schools. • 2016 National Home Education Research Institute results with general reasons homeschooling parents choose home education over schools. • Observations on the reasons for decline in both the number of Lutheran schools and in enrollment from Terry Schmidt, the LCMS School Ministry Director (ret.) and National Lutheran School Accreditation (NLSA) Executive Director (ret.) who visits and oversees Lutheran schools. • 2016 Demographic Study on the overall numerical decline in the LCMS and a summary of reasons for this decrease. • 2016 National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) report detailing attendance within private and religious schools. • Council for American Private Education (CAPE) research on the perceived and actual benefits of private schools, along with other items at capenet.org with a view to marketing under-appreciated benefits of private education to prospective and enrolled families. • NLSA School Shepherd Award (2016) list of characteristics of supportive Lutheran pastors. The characteristics were noted by schools and congregations of their pastors who provide exceptional support for Lutheran schools, to learn ways to encourage greater clergy support for existing and new schools. • Presentation of “25 Ways Toward an Interwoven Ministry,” from the 2009 National Lutheran Administrators Conference. Recommendations: • Strengthen Lutheran schools in academics and educational philosophy, strong and distinctively Lutheran faith instruction, safety, Christian culture and character formation. • Emphasize diligent faith instruction and its importance in the congregation and the home. 347 • Equip and encourage young Lutherans to become strong Lutheran teachers in academics and in the Christian faith. • Promote the value of Lutheran schools and other forms of Lutheran education using modern media outlets and existing publications. • Establish and promote cost-effective yet theologicallysound forms of Lutheran education, no matter which format it takes (e.g. traditional day schools, online education, homeschooling, cottage schools, community co-ops or combinations thereof) to seminaries, pastors, congregations, homeschooling families and neighboring communities through radio, television, social media, bulletin inserts, printed Bible classes and regional conferences with information regarding the temporal and eternal value of strong Lutheran education. • Encourage mutual support and unity among church, school, home and community. • Share recommendations developed by LCMS School Ministry with pastors, seminarians, deaconesses, congregations and schools of how to best encourage, support and interact with their existing congregations and educational ministries. • Actively market the benefits of private religious education to the community and congregation. Conclusions: You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. Psalm 40:5 (ESV) I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3–5 (ESV) The reasons for decline in Lutheran schools and enrollment are multifaceted. This report discovered and enumerated many. Some are internal; others are external. Internal reasons include aging population, size of family, lack of denominational loyalty (younger families leaving for non-denominational churches), weakened catechesis, ineffective leadership, lack of strategic planning and decreased funding. Additionally, in a drastic decline from historic trends, only one-third of those working in Lutheran education are on the Roster. External reasons include cultural shifts such as increased divorce, breakdown of the family, weakened economy, a substantial increase of educational alternatives during the last two generations of students, secularization of America and increased funding for public education. The recommendations for growth in Lutheran education explored in this report are as multifaceted as the reasons for decline. We encourage reading and selecting those recommendations appropriate to the reader’s context (rural, suburban, urban). We also commend and encourage all who teach faithfully in our churches, schools and homes and we urge renewed support for Lutheran education in all its forms (Lutheran schools, online education, home 2019 Convention Workbook