by Deborah E. Hauser — January 12, 2011

Peace Lutheran’s sixty-nine year history of sharing Jesus with children has indeed been richly blessed. Our school first opened on September 9, 1941, in Saginaw, Michigan, with thirty-one students ranging from first through eighth grade. What is the secret to our success, particularly in 2010-2011, when Lutheran schools are closing worldwide at an alarming rate? Why is our Lutheran school, in economically challenged Saginaw, Michigan, blessedly increasing in number? …

Peace Lutheran’s sixty-nine year history of sharing Jesus with children has indeed been richly blessed. Our school first opened on September 9, 1941, in Saginaw, Michigan, with thirty-one students ranging from first through eighth grade. We hired two teachers in our first year. As the school experienced growth, more teachers were added and in 1962, we added a kindergarten program to our school. God richly blessed our school through visionary leadership, and in 1974, preschool classes were added. Our leadership believed then, as they do today, that growth starts at the bottom and works its way up. Today our school employs a thirty-member staff, which includes teachers, support staff and school administration.

Throughout these six-plus decades, now almost seven, our day school, along with our early childhood program, has educated thousands of young minds. This school year (2010-2011) we have 325 children enrolled ranging in grades from three-year old preschool through eighth grade. What is the secret to our success, particularly in 2010-2011, when Lutheran schools are closing worldwide at an alarming rate? Why is our Lutheran school, in economically challenged Saginaw, Michigan, blessedly increasing in number?

Throughout Peace’s church and school history, we only have to look back at the vision of Peace’s first pastor, Lorenz Weber and those that have built upon the pastoral office since then. Those early, visionary leaders and the pastors believed that Christian education would always be a high priority for the church and its membership. Matthew 28:19-20 states, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.” So in 1941, Peace built its school first.

Their present sanctuary wasn’t built until 1962. Instead their members worshiped in classrooms and eventually the school’s gymnasium. Then Peace stepped out in faith again in 2003, and relocated to Saginaw Township, from the city of Saginaw. We purchased farmland and built a new “state-of-the-art” school. That, in and of itself, generated a great deal of interest.

The previous city location, where the school was originally built, is currently an aging neighborhood. Back in 1941, when Peace’s church and school was planted on the west side of the city, the neighborhood was filled with young families. That is not the case today. Many of the homes that surround the church and “old school” have people of retirement age and beyond living in them. So when we relocated our school to Saginaw Township, surrounded by young families in a somewhat middle-class neighborhood, the phone just kept ringing. Once again, Peace’s bold vision paid off, like it had when our school first began.

We retained the majority of our church families, when we made our move, but we also gleaned new families because of our new location. Realtors don’t say, “Location, Location, Location”, for nothing. Location does matter. Sadly, many American cities today have fallen into disrepair, where Lutheran schools fifty years or more ago, were planted. This has certainly had a negative effect on school enrollment numbers nation wide, let alone worldwide. Our fellow Lutheran schools here in the Saginaw Valley, have steadily declining enrollment in part, because of their original city locations. This then adversely affects staffing… less students equals less staff. It becomes a depressing vicious cycle. Unfortunately, not every Lutheran congregation can financially afford to build a new school in a new location. So then what?

One answer is found in Matthew Chapter 19, where Jesus exhorts His disciples to allow the “little” children to come to Him. Peace believes the future of any successful Lutheran School starts with a vibrant, progressive early childhood program. Young parents today no longer live across town from their parents. Families are searching for substitute “extended family” within driving distance and we believe that’s where the market begins to grow or maintain new or existing Lutheran schools.

Decades ago, Lutheran congregations didn’t really have to formally “market” their schools. Adult members of Lutheran churches almost automatically enrolled their children into their “home” school. This is not the case today. For one thing, many Lutheran schools are tuition-based. As a result, parents are shopping for their children’s education and they have many choices as to where to spend their hard-earned income. The choices vary from public schools, to charter schools, from private schools, to parochial schools. Peace is unique in that we do have third generation families attending our school. We still, however, intentionally market our school… from local radio spots to open houses, from signs strategically placed throughout the community, to free school concerts. From a marketing perspective, we are always “reinventing the wheel,” to target the needs of our surrounding community.

One year after Peace relocated to Saginaw Township, the church leadership hired their first full-time Early Childhood Director to oversee and grow their early childhood ministries. Prior to that time, we had a preschool teacher who taught preschool only. Once we made the move, however, we began to dream bigger. Our goal was to have double grades beginning in kindergarten and continuing throughout the school. Peace’s leadership saw the wisdom in hiring a full-time director to help develop their early childhood programs to lead more young children to Jesus via their day school. It was in 2004, that I was offered this newly created position and I continue in this role today.

When I was hired, I set out to market our current preschool program for three and four year old children. Not much marketing had been done at our old address. This was a new location and it was part of my job to let the community know that we were here. Our three and four year old preschool programs flourished. That’s when we began having double kindergarten classes. Beginning from that point in time to today, we now have double kindergarten, first, second & third grade classes. Next year (2011-2012 school year) we will be adding a double fourth grade.

In 2003, two members of Peace began a Latchkey program at our new school site. This program was small at first, but not for long. Today we have upwards of 40 children who attend our after-school program every day. Based on this program’s continued growth, in 2008, we offered a Summer Camp for school-aged children beginning in June through to the end of August. It too has been very successful. These programs represent a visibly viable outreach to the parents of our school’s community. We actually have parents driving from ten miles away just to attend. Both of these programs have been an enormous blessing to the families who use them. Peace tries to listen closely to the needs of their parents. Often it results in new ministries for all of our children.

In 2007, because of the growth in the two preschool classrooms, Peace dedicated another classroom for licensing of young children for child-care. Within two years, we were at capacity. Our child-care room currently provides care from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for children ranging in age from 31 months old to five years old.

Statistically, our early childhood programs provide just over half, of our current kindergarten-student enrollment. This school year 2010-2011, we again will have two kindergarten classrooms. Total enrollment is at 39. Twenty-five of those children came from our preschool and child-care ministries. Once we had success with our early childhood programs, our families tended to remain with us. Our school administration consciously works at building relationships between our new families. We also attempt to introduce the intimate connection between our church and school to them. As a result, the Holy Spirit has led many of our new children and their parents to baptism and church membership. Our church and school families strive to work in harmony to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission. We were never about being the biggest. We are, however, driven to bring as many young children and their families to Christ. Just a few years ago, our church and school motto was, “More People with Peace.”

Numbers never lie. The double classes in our school began when we relocated and when we invested significant resources into developing our early childhood ministries. Would our school’s numerical success have happened, if we stayed at our old location? Would we have had success with growing enrollment numbers without expanding our early childhood department of our school? We just don’t believe we would have. Our old school was in an aging neighborhood and our early childhood ministry needed overhauling. When these two things came together in 2004, things began to change, in a very noticeable way.

Jesus brings the children to Peace that are intended to be here, but it helps to be prepared. As the Holy Spirit guides these young families to our door, the more ministries we have to offer these young children, the better off we are. Today many young families do not have seasoned grandparents in the area to help pick up the parenting slack, as was true in the past. They are in need of solid Christian caregivers and teachers who are willing to stand in their stead and make the difference. Our staff provides just that!

I can honestly say that Peace’s teaching staff is the most dedicated group of people I’ve ever worked with. It goes without saying that in the absence of dedicated workers, any church or school will eventually fail. That doesn’t seem to be the reason why so many Lutheran schools worldwide are closing.

Our present staff has a rich blend of seasoned teachers, along with newer graduates. Within the past few years, Peace has become a prime school for the mentoring of student teachers. We currently have five teachers on staff who at one time were students of our school. They came back home to serve at the place where they first “got Jesus.” What a special blessing!

So the growth here in Saginaw, Michigan at Peace Lutheran School was the coming together of just the right elements to bring about change, born out of visionary church leaders who took a gigantic leap of faith, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They decided to do things in a new way, at a new location, for a new generation of children to learn all about Jesus and His love … and God was watching.

Deborah E. Hauser is the Early Childhood Director at Peace Lutheran School in Saginaw, Michigan.