Reviving Saint Paul Lutheran High School

In the middle of the country, in the unassuming town of Concordia, Mo., a high school campus is a slice of Lutheran history.

Saint Paul Lutheran High School—a residential high school with both domestic and international students—was founded in the 1880s by Franz Julius Biltz, the town’s postmaster. The school was established as a pre-seminary high school and college to prepare men for pastoral ministry, and today, it remains one of the most influential schools for young men and women in the history of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

“It’s an impressive place,” said Paul Mehl, executive director of Saint Paul. “The 40-acre collegiate-style campus is the first significant place you see when coming off I-70, and the school hosts students from more than 15 countries.”

Of course, the road from 1883 to 2024 has sometimes been rocky—a lot can happen in 140 years.

A long road

There were several LCMS high schools like Saint Paul in the 1950s. As times changed, many of them closed. But not this one—barely.

“Back in the early 1990s, Saint Paul was slated to close, but a hearty group of Lutherans stormed the gate and said not to,” said Tim Kurth, vice president, Ministry Solutions at Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF). “The school was allowed to stay open, but with some stipulations. They were on a 25-year tether, a financial restriction that limited their ability to take on any debt beyond a certain limit. If they failed to meet these conditions, they’d lose their property and close.” This financial restriction significantly impacted the school’s ability to make necessary upgrades and improvements.

Saint Paul managed throughout those years, but it wasn’t without sacrifice. The school endured decades of deferred maintenance because it couldn’t take on significant debt, meaning upgrades were non-existent. For 25 years.

But in 2022, that 25 years was up.

Time for a refresh

“We have old buildings,” Mehl said. “We have no debt but nine old buildings. Saint Paul is big and beautiful, but it takes a lot of money to maintain. Our dining hall was built in 1964—and it looks like it, too.”

The trouble was that when prospective students and their parents visited the campus, they focused on the areas that needed the most remodeling—places of comfort, like the dorms and the dining hall.

“When they would go into the boys’ dormitory and see group showers, they’d want individual showers,” Mehl said. “But we knew it would cost $500,000 to retrofit and remodel the dorms for individual showers. We said, ‘That’s a campaign thing.’”

Saint Paul contacted LCEF, which brought in Ministry Solutions to assist the school with a feasibility study, help establish goals and targets and mentor them through the process of starting a capital campaign that would ultimately give the campus the long-awaited refresh it needed.

“Our overarching goal was preparing the campus for the future of Saint Paul,” said Dr. Beth Pester, member of the school’s board of trustees and capital campaign chair, “and after many years of careful financial stewardship, we knew it was time to dig in and take an inventory of the spaces on campus that needed a renovation. We’re in a place now where we can dream a little bigger and do more.”

In addition to renovating the boys’ dorm, that dream included updating the science and STEM labs and the school’s dining hall. With LCEF’s guidance on a capital campaign, Saint Paul raised more than $3.5 million for the projects—more than it had ever raised in the school’s history. This significant fundraising effort has allowed the school to make much-needed improvements, enhancing the student experience and ensuring the school’s continued success.

Throughout the process, they kept the future in mind—a future that connected the school back to its roots as a place of formation for professional church work students.

A future for church workers

“The goal has always been to be a campus, a viable institution, that is the Lutheran school of choice for people to go into professional church work, and we want to maintain that excellence,” Mehl said. “We have a robust program and feel we have the best route for professional church work.”

This commitment to maintaining the school’s Lutheran identity and its role in fostering future church workers is a key part of Saint Paul’s mission and resonates with the Lutheran community.

Mehl explained that, at any given time, more than a quarter of the student body intends to go into professional church work. Each year, the high school sends students to Concordia University schools to complete that track and become teachers, pastors, deaconesses, directors of Christian education and more.

“We know from the Synod’s Set Apart to Serve initiative that many kids begin to think about church vocations in junior high and high school,” Mehl added. “We think Saint Paul is an important school to encourage individuals to go on to professional church work.”

Pester attended Saint Paul in the late 1980s, became a teacher and now teaches at Concordia University, Nebraska.

“It was one of the most formative experiences of my life, spiritually, emotionally and academically,” she said. “It was a tremendous time of growth for me, and part of my heart will always be there because I grew in my faith, knowledge and love for all of God’s people.”

She also sent her two children to Saint Paul.

“With my own kids, I didn’t send them away, I let them go,” said Pester. “All the adults at Saint Paul love Jesus and want the kids to grow up and love Jesus and His people. It is such a joy to introduce people to this place—here you get a completely unique experience, and it’s available to everyone, no matter where you live.”

Whether Saint Paul students come from Japan, Massachusetts or Concordia, they become part of Saint Paul’s living history and, in Christ, part of the future of His Church.