Since the establishment of its first school in 1865, WELS has had a rich tradition of Christian education. With 327 Lutheran elementary schools and almost 400 early childhood ministries, WELS has one of the five largest parochial school systems in the United States.

But since a system high of almost 32,000 students in Lutheran elementary school in 1990, the number of students has diminished to around 25,000, forcing some WELS elementary schools to merge or close altogether. Just this school year, ten more closed their doors, and no new elementary schools have opened.

Although numbers are declining, "we have schools that are getting stronger," says Jeff Inniger, associate director of Lutheran Schools. "They are continually working on improvements and looking for ways to expand."

Take St. Paul, Plymouth, Neb., a school established more than one hundred years ago. Just a few years ago, the school had its lowest enrollment—only 19 students from kindergarten to eighth grade. This year, the enrollment is 50, with 21 students in preschool.

"We looked at all the numbers and saw that we had a lot of young families moving back to the rural area," says Tom Plitzuweit, principal. "They go off to the big city for school but then come back here to raise their families. A lot of them have become active in our congregation and school."

The 400-member congregation built and dedicated a new school this year to accommodate the growing number of children. The preschool, which had been in the church basement, also was incorporated into that building. "The preschool is on the far end of the building so [parents] have to walk past all the other classrooms," says Plitzuweit. "That's been positive because they get to see the teachers interacting with all the students."

Support from the congregation has been amazing, according to Plitzuweit. "Everybody is behind it. We get to continue to share God's Word with children in the community and within our own church and our sister congregation. That fits right in with the mission of our congregation."

Getting the congregation involved also has been key to success at St. John Lutheran School, Redwood Falls, Minn. "A lot of it comes down to the church and those in the church realizing how important the school is to the whole program," says Dave Gartner, principal.

The congregation just bought 80 acres of land on the edge of town and broke ground for a 25,000-square-ft. school in September 2009.