RE: “Will enrollment declines and increasing costs force schools to close, or can our schools radically rethink how they operate in response to contemporary challenges?”

I would imagine that in some locations creative rethinking may indeed be necessary if Christian education is to be sustained there.

A few years after hopes to build a Lutheran school on a site in my area came to an end largely for lack of adequate support, a growing and broadly-supported conservative Christian school already operating several miles away built an impressive new facility on that very site. That school continues to thrive, evidently, and Lutheran parents — an LCMS pastor among them — have spoken highly of the quality of the education that their children have received there.

The school’s board members represent a variety of church affiliations and together serve on the board out of a shared zeal for Christian education. Consequently, the school stands out to me as a good example of how conservative Christians can work together to support Christian education where an exclusively Lutheran program would not be feasible or nearly as strong.

Of course, any prospects for cooperation among variously affiliated Christians to sustain a school raises valid concerns about how the school will be governed and what the religious life and education of the students will entail. In the interest of addressing those concerns well, perhaps this question can be kept front and center: What will serve the children best?

Many Christians outside our church body uphold an uncompromising belief in Scripture’s divine authorship and likewise hold firmly that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Various models for governing Christian academies effectively are available, as are examples of succinct statements of faith that provide a clear and compelling biblical basis for a unified educational effort (www.acsi.org/about-acsi/statement-of-faith).

So with Lutheran convictions and sensibilities in mind, how might concerned Lutherans best pursue, shape and evaluate prospects for sustaining a broadly-supported Christian school where keeping a church-sponsored Lutheran school open faces increasing challenges?