Dreaming of a Brighter Future: Education


Lutherans have always valued education from our very beginnings. Martin Luther our “founder” called and worked for the education of all child, both male and female. He believed that a rudimentary education, particularly literacy would make for a better Christian, citizen and a better nation. His belief in education is one that is still held by Germans today. 

Luther also believed in the education of clergy so that those who were called to lead churches had the intellect and training to do the Gospel justice and so today we have some of the best educated clergy in the world. In the United States, Lutheran have run and continue to run universities, high school and grade school of high caliber. However what about the education we provide here at St. John? How might we join in the tradition of educated and equipping Bellville in order to serve God and serve our neighbors?

Certainly we have a strong Sunday school program and faith formation for our adults and young adults, but I am dreaming beyond that. Might we offer a series of insightful speakers to come to Bellville and talk about current topics in the church and the world?  Might we be a place that offers ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for our growing immigrant population? As Bellville grows, could we be the place for another quality preschool or day school that helps provide education and faith to our youngest residents? We could create the space for these programs with our present buildings. 

Might we even be an outpost for solid theological education for adults? I don’t mean a bible study. I mean full-fledged courses on Christian theology, church history or spirituality. Something open to the whole community and worth the time and money needed. There are surely more ideas, but that’s all I have for now. What about you? How might you connect our heritage of education with St. John Lutheran today? How can we strengthen our current reality with our dreams of the future?

 Let me ask you again this month. What is your dream for the future? I’d love to hear it sometime over coffee or lunch or in my office. For my part, I will continue to share my dreams for this church, in this newsletter and on my blog. Some of those dreams will seem very easy. Some of them may cause you to wonder what I put in my coffee when I write. However, as a pastor, I am called to dream big even if in the end that dream is impossible. 

Dreams after all are not a list of demands, but a way of exploring what God may be calling us to. I encourage you to share your dreams, with your group of friends, in Sunday school, or with the church’s leaders. I believe we can help find an amazing future for our church, and most importantly start to see God’s plan played out in our pews and in our lives. So keep dreaming big people of St. John and God Bless


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