On the Road to Faithful Authenticity
CCLE XXV at Concordia University Wisconsin
In spite of the seemingly endless parade of depressing and goofy nonsense that frustrates biblical, conservative, confessional, liturgical Lutherans in the LCMS, there are bright spots indeed. Even amid the gloom of the concerning poll results, the worldliness of many of our laity, liturgical monkeyshines, bad music, ecclesiastical gender confusion, and the experimental entrepreneurial misguidedness of a lot of our confused, corporate-speaking clergy - there is joy on the horizon!
Nearly every summer, I attend the annual conference of the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education (CCLE), an RSO of synod. It is always a boost of optimism for the future! This year was the 25th conference. The CCLE began with something like nine people meeting in 1999 - when classical education was a novel rarity in our midst, being attempted by pioneers who decided to light a candle rather than curse the darkness of the stranglehold of progressive education.
Homeschoolers and small Lutheran classical schools - often groping in the dark to figure out how to give a classical education with almost no mentors, curricula, or precedents within our own tradition, even facing hostility from not only the secular world, but at times, even from the LCMS educational establishment - figured things out, sometimes by trial and error. They began to give their children the education that they themselves had not had, often learning a couple weeks ahead of their children/students - if not at the same time.
In spite of these challenges, classical education took off like a rocket. And even as it was in the days of the Reformation, a small group of Lutherans opened the way for the restoration of a classical education rooted in the Liberal Arts, the Scriptures, and the Confessions.
And now, for the past decade or so, CCLE has not only been hosting conferences, but training and accrediting schools and teachers. The conferences have outgrown CCLE’s former venues, and now must be held on college campuses. Four of our Concordias offer a study track for students to pursue rostered status as classically trained teachers, who will themselves be teaching in classical schools. There were three District Presidents in attendance this year, and many professors, pastors, and rostered teachers.
The worship is always top-notch, making use of the historic prayer offices found in our hymnal, the Psalter chanted according to the LSB chant tones (as well as the occasional use of Gregorian pointing), and great Lutheran hymnody as found in the hymnals within our magnificent heritage.
I’ve been teaching at Wittenberg Academy - a non-geographical classical Lutheran High and Middle School - since 2013. It has joint accreditation by CCLE and the NLSA - and is an RSO of synod. I have watched many of my former students go on to become my colleagues in education, and now, one of my students is a seminarian. What was once seen as quirky and unrealistic has become not merely normalized, but desired. The old canard that classical education is only for the elite is being disproved every day. Even students with learning disabilities are classical students. We routinely do what our detractors claim is impossible. Even the secular world wants classical education, while seeking the impossible: to separate it from its Christian undergirding.
I also serve as Wittenberg Academy’s chaplain, and lead the worship services at our well-attended annual family retreat. Our worship is, of course, unapologetically and authentically Lutheran. It is a beautiful thing to see and hear people of all ages heartily and joyfully chanting the liturgy (including the Psalms), singing the hymns, and hearing evangelical preaching that does not try to ape the preaching of those who don’t confess the Real Presence.
New classical Lutheran schools are emerging, and existing schools are making the change to the classical model. CCLE is providing the advice and expertise needed to make this leap. We are now having attendees from around the world.
And the classical education movement goes beyond mere pedagogical methodology. It is more than simply adding the Latin language and Greek philosophy to the curriculum. There is a simultaneous joy and seriousness of study that is not just refreshing, but energizing. We are seeing young people doing what everybody used to “know” that they could not do. Their ability to read and comprehend Latin (and sometimes Greek as well) translates to mastery not only of English, but also of coherent and compelling writing and speaking. They read books that their elders would argue are over their heads. They’re not.
They jump in and play the organ. They arrange and sing chorales. They sing in choirs. They recite poetry. They pray Matins, Vespers, and Compline - along with the traditional Divine Service of the church. They are joyful and comfortable talking to adults. They also play games with one another, and enjoy their childhood. They look and sound delightfully normal. There is a beautiful wholesomeness and innocence - as well as a great maturity - in the culture of the classical education world. I have cheerful and impressive young people coming up to me to tell me that they look forward to taking in my class. Every year, very young children, who love pastors, greet me with joy. Their parents are likewise supportive and grateful.
The entire CCLE conference is grounded in the cycle of worship. While children have their own classes and curricula - everyone gathers in the chapel for the Word of God, prayer, and preaching. There is no “children’s sermon.” Nothing is dumbed down. Children are fully integrated in the worship life with everyone else - and they like it that way. It was wonderful to hear the very young children enthusiastically sing a Latin hymn in the choir with only three days of rehearsals under their belts. The older youth in attendance had their own choir as well, and once again, with only three days to prepare, sang chorales in beautiful euphonic harmony, and with excellence. Thank you to Mrs. Claudia Nieminen and Dr. Kurt von Kampen for their encouraging and amazing work in inspiring and directing these young people!
Some of our graduating high school students students go on to our Concordias. Others are starting at Luther Classical College this fall. Others go to trade schools. Still others go right into work and/or married life. They actively seek ways not to go into debt. The consensus among our former students is that the education they received in their classical Lutheran schools has made their college studies much easier - often actually easier than their high school studies were. Our young people are being prepared for the real world through the training of the mind in the Liberal Arts, and of the Spirit in the Word of God and the Confessions of the church.
And there is another blessing going on as well: we are seeing an entire generation of young people who want to be husbands and wives and fathers and mothers. They are marrying younger, with the intent to start families. We see the trend toward large families everywhere in the classical education movement. We love children! Children are not liabilities, but rather a blessing from the Lord. We understand that each child is a gift of God, and we want each one to reach his potential, not only academically, but also spiritually and vocationally. Our boys are boys, and our girls are girls. We encourage them to find their identity in Christ, in Baptism, and in justification by grace through faith instead of in sports, the youth culture, the world’s expectations, or in the kind of “education” that looks like public school with a cross on the wall. And we encourage them to seek out the vocation of marriage and family life.
And while it is likely that our numeric demographic decline in the west will continue for the short term - and perhaps even devastatingly so for a while - there is a generational backlash coming. And like the CCLE itself, this movement to reclaim marriage and family life is small, but growing: it is a seed, bearing within itself the exponential power of multiplication. The CCLE and classical Lutheran education are the vanguard. They are the bright future of our churches.
If you want more information about classical education, browse or search CCLE’s blog and YouTube channel.
This confessional revival among young people is not only happening in the US, but also in Europe. Here is a snippet of a Service of the Word held in Prague under the auspices of the Corpus Christi Conference, an annual event that gathers young adult confessional Lutherans from all over Europe.
This is inspiring for many reasons.
As Europe falls further and further away from Christendom, being essentially conquered by Islam and secular unbelief, we see this simultaneous resurgence of serious confessional Lutheranism happening all over the continent, even in countries where the Reformation was wiped out by the Inquisition. These young adult Europeans are interested in the authentic Evangelical Catholic faith: genuine Lutheran doctrine and practice - independent of not only the unionistic liberal historical state-controlled ecclesial bodies of Europe, but also not acting as a colony of American pop-Lutheranism.
The American mainstreaming of entertainment-based worship, the use of non-Lutheran and non-hymnic pop music in church, the use of laymen (of both sexes) to perform the functions of the Office of the Holy Ministry, etc. are all absent in this movement. There is no desire to adopt American democratic polity, opting instead for what our confessions speak of: our “greatest wish to maintain church-polity and the grades in the Church [old church-regulations and the government of bishops], even though they have been made by human authority [provided the bishops allow our doctrine and receive our priests]. For we know that church discipline was instituted by the Fathers, in the manner laid down in the ancient canons, with a good and useful intention.” (Ap 14:24). The overwhelming preference in polity for emerging European confessionalism is episcopal.
We do not see the multiplicity of lay offices using the term “call” - thus confusing the lay vocations with the vocation of the ministry. We do not see a confusion of the roles of men and women. We do not see irreverent pastors showing up for ordinations and installations wearing a red stole over their Hawaiian shirts. As we say in our confessions, such pastors should be “pelted with dung” (LC Preface 13). We do not see activist woke pastors seeking tolerance for sexual deviancy or advocacy for women’s “ordination.” We do see young women dressing modestly without being bullied by their pastors about it. We don’t see women who piously cover their heads being accused of being divisive or Pharisaical, and pressured to bare their heads like the men (unless, of course, the men are wearing their ballcaps). It is a matter of evangelical liberty, as it should be.
The return to authentic Lutheranism and the restoration of the treasures that past generations have squandered are emerging both here and abroad. And it is a youthful movement, not only in terms of the freshness of this phenomenon, but also in the youth and vigor of those leading the way back to the road of faithful authenticity.
And to cause your soul to rejoice, here is a clip of the choir singing as the faithful partake of the Most Holy Sacrament in Latvia at the 2023 Corpus Christi conference:
You can browse Corpus Christi’s website here.