National Lutheran Schools Week - Part 2

  

 

    Earlier this week, I wrote about the log cabin school which was built on my property. These are pictures of that log cabin as it exists today on display at Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum in Altenburg, Missouri.  The top picture shows a list of the original eleven students who attended this school during that first year in 1839.  My personal favorite is J.A.F.W. Mueller, who around these parts is referred to as "Alphabet" Mueller.

   In 1842, this building was moved closer to where Pastor Loeber lived in Altenburg.  When it was moved at that time, it was disassembled and then reassembled.  Shortly after that, the purpose of this school was changed from that of a coed school to one whose purpose was to train young men to be ministers.  In other words, it became a seminary.  This building then housed the beginnings of what became Concordia Seminary which was later relocated to St. Louis.  It is my understanding that there were five graduates of Concordia Seminary, Altenburg before it was relocated.

   I really think that one of the driving forces behind the establishments of these early schools in America was that these German immigrants had just come from a place where the state was determining what their children were learning,  In addition, their pastors had been in a situation where they were being told to change their teachings to correspond with dictates of the state.  These Germans did not want this to happen again.  They wanted to make sure that their children knew the basic tenets of their faith while preparing them to live in this new country.  They also wanted to make sure their doctrinal beliefs were passed along to the next generation of pastors.  They also recognized that these new pastors were going to be necessary for a church body that they believed would thrive and grow in America.  And it did.

   Lutheran schools continue to fulfill these functions today.  Students get a quality education in an environment where the Law and Gospel permeate everything they do, preparing them to be good American citizens.  Lutheran schools also have become the best breeding grounds for producing the next generation of professional church workers and congregational leaders.  Happy National Lutheran Schools Week.