Our Why: Forming Students for Life and Eternity

When browsing school websites, we often see smiling children, lists of curriculum, descriptions of student support, and reports of where graduates continue their studies. Many schools highlight mission and vision statements, yet even these are frequently framed in utilitarian terms — schools as stepping stones to college or career, “college preparatory” being the dominant messaging. None of these elements is inherently wrong; each has a purpose in showing what a school values. The problem is that when education is treated only in this way, its value is reduced to utility. School becomes good only insofar as it prepares one for the next stage of life.

But is that all education is? Is choosing a school for your child nothing more than a consumer decision? When every institution frames its purpose in these utilitarian terms, schools become indistinguishable from one another. What is lost is the most important question: why. Why does a particular school exist in this time and place? What ultimate purpose drives its work? It is the focus on this why that makes Faith Lutheran School distinctive.

At Faith, we are not chiefly concerned with marketing ourselves as “college preparatory,” though our graduates are well prepared. Nor do we define ourselves primarily by our programs, sports, or support services, though these are important. Instead, we deliberately emphasize our purpose: the formation of the whole person. We are not simply educating children to pass tests or gain admission; we are forming men and women of faith and character. This means we begin with the end in mind: What kind of people do we want our students to be when they leave our halls?

We want them to have a deep and enduring faith in Jesus Christ.

We want them to love learning and delight in God’s creation.

We want them to pursue virtue and cultivate character for a lifetime.

These three commitments are our why. They drive every decision we make — from the teachers we hire, to the subjects we emphasize, to the culture we cultivate within and beyond our school community.

To serve this why, Faith Lutheran School employs the model of classical Lutheran education. Through the study of the trivium and quadrivium, our students learn how to think, reason, and express themselves. Through history, literature, and philosophy, they examine the greatest leaders, poets, authors, and thinkers — learning by example the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. All of this, however, is directed toward something higher: to see Christ as the source of wisdom and the measure of all virtue.

Without embracing this why, we cannot achieve our mission to “present every person complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Other schools may focus on what they offer or how they do it. Those questions matter, but they are secondary. Unless they are rooted in a clear and faithful why, they cannot make a lasting difference in the lives of students. At Faith, our why is clear: to form Christians who, grounded in Christ and shaped by wisdom and virtue, are prepared not only for college or career but for life and service to their family and neighbors, but also for eternity.