Christ Community Lutheran School

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The pastors and congregations of our zone, as Lutherans, know how important Christian Education is to the life and health of the Church.

Within the mind of many of you there may be a fading memory of Saturday morning Christian education for children of all ages. Some of our congregations even operated small parochial Lutheran Schools. Wednesdays have traditionally been set aside for Christian Education along with Sunday mornings for teaching, preaching and worship. The challenge of telling the next generation is enormous. Sadly, the last 10 years of cultural and political forces have brought forth obstacles to moving young hearts with the Gospel of Jesus that we didn’t imagine possible in the United States, at least in our lifetime.

It is with great joy that we share with you an important, essential and exciting development in our zone. The desire for a Lutheran School somewhere in our circuit has existed throughout the history of our area congregations. In the last five years there has been a growing conversation and organizing to make a Lutheran School a reality to serve area congregations. There have been some circuit forums and a number of meetings and conversations with the North Wisconsin District of the LCMS concerning a future Lutheran School.

There has been formed in recent months a School Steering Committee to work towards the opening of a Lutheran School. We ask for your prayers for focus, wisdom, unity and perseverance.

These are some of our present goals:

*Open in the Fall of 2023

*Be an independent Lutheran School accredited by the Consortium of Classical Lutheran Education and the National Lutheran Education Association

*Call a head administrator who is an Ordained Pastor (we feel this may be important for a school that is not specifically connected to a local congregation and pastor.)

*Be centrally located in the circuit (The Almena area along Hwy 8)

*Be able to provide resources and services to Lutheran families and congregations within 30 miles of the school and farther with technology and remote learning

*Continue conversations with prospective administrators

*Be open to all Christians from various denominations

*Decide on a name

*Apply for and obtain nonprofit status

*Encourage God’s people to support and become patrons of a future school

More information will be provided to the congregations in the coming months. How you can support this endeavor will also be explained in the coming weeks.

Joyfully in Jesus,

Ken Koch, Christ, Pipe Lake

Jake Miels, Treasurer – St. Paul, Cumberland

Rev. Preston Paul, Chair & Pastoral Advisor – St. Matthew, Almena

Scott Petersen, Recording Secretary – Our Redeemer, Webster

Brian Scheps, St. Matthew, Almena

Shawn Schradle – Zion, Turtle Lake

John Steele – Salem, Barron