Our Mission

To partner with families in providing a true, good, and beautiful classical education built upon the foundation of God’s Word and the Lutheran Confessions so that we may present every person complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28).

 

Our Vision

Our classical Lutheran school embodies both the sound doctrine and the educational model that are essential to training up our children in the faith and cultivating in them wisdom and virtue, a love of learning, sound reasoning, and the ability to confess and defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Why Classical Education?

 

Classical Lutheran education, which is the educational model adopted by Faith Lutheran School (FLS), reflects the principle of ad fontes in a return to ancient, medieval, and Reformation roots. It builds on the enduring lessons of the Great Books and the foundation of Western civilization. It embraces the crucial importance of critical thinking, and the time-tested benefits of the classical model.

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Classical education is an intense course of learning that seeks to endow students with the ability to master any subject. Through an integrated and focused curriculum, this method supplies children with the tools necessary for higher academic achievement. One of the primary emphases of classical education is the development of language. Studies in phonics, Latin, and English grammar are critical to establishing the child’s vocabulary and reading skills. Language is the medium whereby thought is transmitted. By perfecting language proficiency, this course of study increases the child’s capacity to comprehend new material.

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Classical education, however, does not limit its focus to language. On the contrary, the curriculum is both diverse and comprehensive. Our approach is practical but also historical. During the Greco-Roman era, citizens were instructed in the seven liberal arts, which focus upon the development of language and knowledge of culture. Their schooling prepares them for future civic duties as well as for positions in local government. Some of history’s greatest thinkers such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle are products of this society.

In the Middle Ages, the seven liberal arts were further divided into two stages. The first, known as the trivium, comprises the disciplines of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Grammar teaches pupils the basics of language—vocabulary, rules, and syntax. Following this phase, they are then able to advance to the more complex forms of thinking and expression, which are encouraged in the logic and rhetoric phases. This classical education in the years that follow the Middle Ages produces such influential theologians as Luther and such notable scientists as Copernicus and Galileo as well as the Renaissance masters.

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The second level of a liberal arts education is the quadrivium. As the name suggests, the quadrivium consists of four parts: astronomy, music, arithmetic, and geometry. Once students are proficient in these arts, they possess the academic maturity necessary to study for one of the three primary professions of that time: law, medicine, or theology.

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Today, classical education continues to provide students with an accessible and impressive foundation of knowledge. By engaging pupils in a “conversation” with the past, classical education familiarizes them with the developments and culture of Western Civilization. Through this process, they become well-versed in works of literature, music, and art. Furthermore, their specialized language skills enable them to become proficient in just about any other subject. They more easily and quickly assimilate the vocabulary and grammar of foreign languages and comprehend the terminology used in the sciences.

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Rather than checking standardized boxes of required study, or “teaching to the test,” classical education is concerned with fostering a love of learning in students, and equipping them with critical-thinking skills. Independent thinking is not easily measured by standardized testing, and so it may be undervalued by some educators. But, at FLS, the goal is to help the child learn how to think, not what to think. FLS embraces the freedom of the mind in the pursuit of truth. In other words, it is not as much about downloading formulaic content into the mind, as it is about training the free mind to think well. The teacher is the vessel for imparting knowledge and truth to the student through lecture, Socratic dialog, repetition, drill, and demonstration.

 

FLS students are equipped with critical thinking and rhetorical skills, which are vital for their advancement both academically and professionally. Honed skills in logic and rhetoric are essential elements in leadership, for example. Indeed, throughout history, classical education has produced the world’s greatest leaders, thinkers, writers, artists, inventors, scientists, and theologians. This is one reason for the increasing desire among employers and college administrators to recruit students who have been classically educated. Research consistently shows that students who have been educated classically make greater strides in their academic and cognitive abilities as compared to those who have been educated in a progressive context. In fact, our FLS students do very well on standardized testing. 

 

But FLS looks far beyond college admissions and career opportunities as the primary purpose of lower education, seeking also to cultivate human excellence, and to prepare servant-leaders for the Church and the world. Achieving mastery in the liberal arts, as opposed to checking standardized boxes, has lifelong benefits. Classical Lutheran education is concerned with wisdom and virtue, and the development of the whole child in all his or her future vocations such as parent, spouse, church member, and citizen. The ancient Greeks and Romans recognized that free citizens require an education that enlarges the mind and cultivates the soul. In this vein, classical Lutheran education fosters wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty.

 

FLS understands that Western civilization is unique in its view of mankind as the Image of God and strives, therefore, to help preserve and restore its eroding foundations. In keeping with Western thought, FLS holds that absolute truth is not relative and is not self-generated. Truth is knowable, it is revealed to us by God, and it can be discovered by the truth-seeking student. With its roots in Western civilization, classical education is imperative in counteracting the moral confusion, spiritual delusion, and cultural upheaval that stem from the relativistic Postmodern view.

 

FLS encourages students to take part in the Great Conversation—the ongoing process of writers and thinkers who build on and refine the work of their predecessors. There is much to learn from millenia of philosophical thought, human achievement, and scientific discovery. Reading the Great Books—the canon of works of Western Civilization that have withstood the test of time—and participating in conversation-based learning about these works increases the level of retention, comprehension, and mastery in students. The skilled classical educator will draw out the student’s understanding of these works through dialogue and will encourage the student to build on this understanding through critical analysis. As opposed to conditioning the student to adopt predetermined ideas and opinions,  independent thinking is required.

 

In sum, FLS rejects the ever-evolving manipulations of behavioral psychology, the winds of every false teaching, and the lies of moral relativism, to embrace the transcendental, timeless truths of Scripture. And because Scripture is foundational to classical Lutheran education, sound doctrine must be unwaveringly upheld at our school.

 

At FLS, we wholeheartedly embrace classical Lutheran education, which can be defined as the classical liberal arts with Lutheran catechesis. Dr. Gene Edward Veith has suggested that “The liberal arts can equip a child for effective service in the world; catechesis can equip a child for everlasting life.” The liberal arts cultivate the student’s mind and character with academic rigor, tools for learning, and formative content. Lutheran catechesis instructs and nurtures matters of the soul through the Holy Scriptures, the Lutheran confessions, and the liturgy and hymnody of the Church. With the seven liberal arts, and the Small Catechism’s Six Chief Parts, classical Lutheran education prepares servant-leaders for the Church and the world.

 

Classical Lutheran education embodies both the sound doctrine and the educational model that are essential to training up our children in the faith and cultivating in them wisdom and virtue, a love of learning, sound reasoning, and a saving knowledge of the Word. If our doctrinal foundation is not strong, the Scriptures will not be supreme in our school, and our students will not be equipped to  confess and defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is imperative that classical Lutheran educators value above all else the sound teaching of the Scriptures. For in the words of Johannes Bugenhagen, “If you know Jesus well, it is sufficient, if you do not know other things. If you do not know Jesus, it is nothing, if you learn other things.”

 

The classical Lutheran education provided at FLS develops wisdom, eloquence, and virtue through the formative elements of the liberal arts while nurturing our students in the historic Christian faith. What could be more important?

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