Please . . . give ’em more time!

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By Greg Schmill

While this may sound like the plea of a frustrated American tax preparer and payer on April 15, I regularly hear of another group seeking more time. They are our WELS teaching principals —principals who also carry out significant teaching roles. These educators face the daily challenges of a myriad of urgent and important tasks, of role ambiguity and role conflict and its accompanying stress, and of trying to lead the school from the classroom. It is imperative in this time of great challenge and change for our schools that our congregations provide the time for administrators to administrate, for supervisors to supervise, for leaders to lead, and for the visionaries to cast a vision. Continue reading →

Is It Time for You “To Be Continued”?

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What year are you getting your students ready for? Are you getting them ready for when they graduate from college, or when you graduated? Was that the 80s when the soda (or pop) world tricked us with NEW Coke? Was that the 90s when grunge meant more than just a dirty man in the garage? Was that the turn of the millennium when Netscape and AOL changed the way we found information? Continue reading →

Should WELS Schools Serve ALL Students?

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV 2011).

As we read in the Bible passage above, God has a plan for each of us. What a blessing it is to remember this as we work with God’s children. God is guiding us every step of the way, ensuring that these children receive the message of God’s Word in a loving, caring environment. Our children come from many different backgrounds, with differing abilities. Continue reading →

What Exactly Is Professionalism in the Teaching Ministry?

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The word “professionalism” is overused and vague, and it is inadequate to describe Lutheran teachers who are also gospel ministers. Consider this example: A family business, which employed 20 people with differing tasks and skills, had a financially successful year. A formal celebratory gathering was in order. To heighten its significance, the naïve host suggested “professional dress” on the invitation. Imagine the embarrassment of host and guests alike when they arrived in every variety of attire, each of them thinking they were wearing “professional dress.” Continue reading →

Teaching Science in the Spirit of Wittenberg

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How about using science to support the Biblical teaching that God is triune? We would never do that, but this is an example of what the scholastics did before the Reformation.[i] Martin Luther had little time for this sort of reasoning. Following the posting of the 95 Theses, Luther was asked to present his views at Heidelberg in 1518. Here Luther warned that God is known only by seeing Christ on the cross.[ii] “The theology of the cross” is saving knowledge: the center of the Christian faith. In contrast, a theology of glory, attempts to know and satisfy God through human understandings and efforts.[iii] Continue reading →

The WELS School Leadership Crisis – Part II

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Dr. LeDell Plath, former Commission on Parish Schools assistant administrator, recalls the recommendation of a synod committee during the 1970’s regarding the assignment of DMLC graduates as principals. Dr. Plath shared, “The committee concluded that it would be preferable to not do such assignments” (Plath, 2012). Continue reading →

Can WELS early childhood ministries fulfill their outreach promise?

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“Let the Children Come. . . . But Will the Adults Follow?”

            “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!” We have all heard that proverbial advice and perhaps experienced it for good or bad in our lives. In the spirit of that axiom, some are asking if the congregations of the WELS are beginning to put all their “evangelism eggs” in “one basket” called early childhood ministries. Continue reading →

Is the funding model of WELS Lutheran elementary schools sustainable?

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Sustaining and advancing the Christ-centered mission of WELS schools is a critical issue…perhaps today more than ever, regardless of the level – elementary, high school, or college. The recent recession, rising health care costs, struggling church finances, and a host of other economic realities impact our ability to fund what we hold so dear – a CHRISTian education. There are no easy answers, but engaging in dialogue is critical. Certainly this 700-word blog won’t do it justice. Continue reading →

Should WELS Preschools Accept State Funding?

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In states where voucher programs fund private or parochial school options, a new model is meeting parents’ demand for tuition-free 4K. The objective is to open public 4K classrooms without increasing the district’s tax burden.[i] These programs are attracting attention within the WELS. But in an era of unlikely partnerships, this particular model deserves scrutiny because of the way in which the two very different educational models are positioned. In terms of philosophy and curricular content, the educational part of this 4K model essentially remains a public school venue while the classroom itself is housed in a facility that identifies with, and is dedicated to, the educational model we know of as Christian education (CE). Educators of every ilk know that, “Whoever tells the story shapes the culture.” [ii] Continue reading →