Lutheran High School of Sioux Falls: Vision, Mission, and Values

 
During High School, a time when society is especially challenging to our youth, imagine a place where our sons and daughters find a unique experience—an education focused on excellence in academics, integrated with Godly wisdom, and supplemented by servant learning and servant leading. In a changing and complex world, imagine a place dedicated to helping parents and church raise young adults to be like Daniel, like Esther, like Ruth—capable, faithful leaders, even in the face of adversity.  Imagine your student having the skills to serve God and the world, with strength of character and purpose, knowing that they are loved and saved by Christ, forgiven by God, and heirs to His Kingdom.  Imagine them World Ready and Faith Secure.

At Lutheran High School of Sioux Falls we value youth, faith, strong relationships, servant learning, community experience, and excellence in academics, with a global perspective.  We partner with parents and Church for the development of the whole student, with a Christian worldview.

We celebrate youth, with a vision. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12. We believe that our students were created by God to seek His Kingdom and to serve His World with all the gifts He has given them; that parents, school, and church hold these young people in trust, to lovingly develop their gifts and make sure they know their Creator.  We believe in the future of each student as a light of the world and as a member of God’s kingdom.  Mt. 5:19.  Jeremiah 29:11.

We embrace faith, with a purpose. We believe that worldly knowledge and wisdom are gifts from God, but that they cannot by themselves make our youth wise about salvation.  We believe that teaching scripture is an integral part of developing the whole child, in body, mind, and spirit; that faith is crucial in the formation of strong character traits of honesty, integrity, courage, self-control, unselfishness, determination, hope, forgiveness, and empathy.  We believe that daily exposure to God’s Word and Jesus’ love will help our students develop a Christian worldview that will serve them now and for eternity.  Isaiah 7:9.
 
We treasure relationships, with a direction.  Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12.  We believe that the School, along with one’s church, can and should serve as a support and ally for students and parents, for daily growth through the nurture of well trained, loving, and caring Christian teachers and staff.  Pr. 22:6; Dt. 6:4-7; Eph. 6:1-4; 1 Tim. 3:4-5 & 5:4,8.  We believe that relationships are developed top-down: first vertically, from God’s love for us; then horizontally with a Christ-centered love for others.  Jesus was welcoming, encouraging and loving. We believe that such relationships among fellow students, their families, staff members, and our community can change lives in a troubled world.

We emphasize servant learning and leading, with community involvement.  “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13. We believe that we can and should support our community, not only through service, but also by developing servant hearts in our youth.  We believe it is important for our students to learn the value of servant leadership through service projects and church attendance, to cultivate early plantings of next generations of church and community leaders.  We believe that the community enhances service learning opportunities by providing a real world context to “love one another,” by caring and advocating for the poor, the less fortunate, and “the least of these.”  John 13:34-35; Mt. 25:40.

We excel academically, with a global perspective.  “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings.” Pr. 22:29. Scripture encourages us to excel in gifts that build up the Church and world. 1 Co. 14:12.  God chose people with skill, ability, and knowledge to build His Tabernacle. Exodus 35:30-35. Daniel served foreign kings for 60 years, with education and skill as a youth, wisdom and diplomacy as an elder.  Daniel 1:3-4; 6:3.  We offer unique academic, service and career learning opportunities, with a possible four day weekly class schedule and a fifth day for staff superviesed extended service projects, career learning-through work, and extra curricular activities.  A strong academic program is enhanced with a large selection of dual-credit high school and college courses plus classes in global issues from a Christian worldview.  We believe that our students should have the ability and flexibility to explore the world, as individuals and in groups, with the supervision and assistance of highly-qualified and supportive faculty.

We integrate a unique academic approach with scriptural understanding, for an extraordinary education of mind, body and spirit: student focused, faith based, relationship directed, servant oriented, and community involved.  We believe that each student deserves a complete education, by teachers highly trained in both secular and Christian education. Our church tradition focuses on strong academic fundamentals, supplemented by scripture and servant learning, geared toward giving each student the opportunity to grow and reach their highest potential.  We believe that students should grow strong in character and wisdom.  We believe in sparking a passion for life long learning, in staff and students alike. This integration—of excellence in academics, servant leadership, and scripture—makes our education extraordinary. “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3.  “Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you….” Prov. 24:14.


Our vision is to help raise our youth to be like Daniel and his three companions, like Esther and Ruth—servant leaders gifted by God and blessed with wisdom, strength, and courage, using their gifts and the fruits of the Spirit, in faith, to touch a troubled world with God’s grace.

Though uprooted from their homes and surrounded by the corruption of the Babylonian royal court, Daniel and his companions—Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego—studied diligently to learn all the secular knowledge of their day.  They then served their captors so well, and yet remained so faithful to the God of their fathers, that they were able to both help their own people and witness to a heathen King, who sang praises to the God of Israel.   Daniel, particularly, was so courageous, confident in the Lord, prayerful, grateful, humble, and bold in his witness that Ezekiel mentions him, along with Noah and Job, as a man of righteousness.   Daniel and these three young men anchored their wisdom in the context of their faith in, trust of, and love for their God, for whom they were willing to sacrifice all.

Similarly, Esther shows how God can overcome impossible obstacles—through the use of a young person with patience, wisdom, self-control, and faith—to accomplish His will.  Esther, like Daniel, demonstrates great humility and courage in troubled times, risking her own life to boldly stand up for her faith and save her people.   Esther’s intervention preserved the Old Testament people in the Persian Empire—a people through which the Messiah would come. 

Ruth serves as the gold standard for love, sacrifice, and loyalty through faith.  “Ruth’s kindness and selfless loyalty toward Naomi, and her faith in Naomi’s God, have long endeared her to the faithful” and reflected God’s praise “for his merciful choice of one so unexpected.”   Ruth left her Moabite family to serve Naomi in a different land.  This Gentile, through God’s grace, would become the great grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus.   The book of Ruth is also a classic example of how community and family can reciprocally care for and protect God’s people.  The people of Israel cared for Ruth, as Ruth cared for Naomi.  Like Daniel and Esther, Ruth was wise in her approach and cross-cultural in her outreach, grounded in faith, and faithful in difficulty.  Like Esther, Ruth exhibited the fruits of the Spirit.

This vision is one not limited to these servant leaders:  the Bible is filled with such biographies, stories that are important for young people to study and absorb--including, of course the study of the greatest life, the life of Jesus the Christ. Without diverting our eyes from Jesus, we see these lives as examples of ordinary young people willing to learn, strong in character and steadfast in faith.  Therefore, our vision is to help raise our youth to be like Daniel and his companions, like Esther and Ruth—servant leaders gifted by God and blessed with wisdom, strength, and courage, using their gifts and the fruits of the Spirit, in faith, to touch a troubled world with God’s grace.

Our mission is: Developing Capable Christian Leaders, in a Complex World: World Ready, Faith Secure.

 All scriptural references are taken from the Concordia Self-Study Bible, New International Version, Concordia Publishing House (CPH), 1986.
  Daniel 2:47; 4:34,35; 6:25-27.  Daniel, People’s Bible Commentary, Jeske: CPH, revised edition, 2005.
  Ezekiel 14:13,14,19,20.
   “Daniel and the Three Young Men” are commemorated for their faithfulness in the Calendar of Saints, December 17th , biography:  http://worship.lcms.org/LHP/Commenorations/CommBios.httm
  “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish.”  Esther 4:16. 
  Esther is commemorated as a matriarch in the Calendar of Saints, May 24th biography:  http://worship.lcms.org/LHP/Commenorations/CommBios.httm
  Ruth is also commemorated as a matriarch in the Calendar of Saints, July 16th biography:  http://worship.lcms.org/LHP/Commenorations/CommBios.httm
  Ruth 4:17; Mt. 1:5.