As a kid, I hated school. I skipped out on homework. I viewed summer reading lists as optional. And, my preferred method of studying was reading the teacher’s guide. I suppose you could say, I was not the most delightful student one could have. Thankfully, my mom never gave up on me even during the dark days when I had to repeat second grade and review phonics for about the 10th time. She proved to be a great teacher and home school mom. I am super thankful for her!
And as most of Dodge County and America in general gets ready to start back to school, I believe even the worst of kids has a reason to be thankful for their teachers.
Teachers make the salvation possible. No, I am not talking about teachers leading Bible studies or FCA events. No, I am not saying that every teacher is a spiritual leader or even a Christian. And no, I do not believe that the school system should take the place of the church.
So what do I mean? Teachers make the gospel accessible. Without teachers, we would not know how to read (At the very least, I would not.) We would struggle to understand, study, and apply the Scriptures to our lives. As the axiom goes, “Knowledge is power.” And knowledge is the key to spiritual power. As Paul writes, salvation comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17). And only those who can read and memorize the Bible can share the good news with the world. If we lacked basic literacy skills, we would struggle to access the power of the gospel. We would be left to look at stained glass windows and to trust priests to interpret things for us.
Thankfully that is not our world. Our kids get to go to school. They get to learn. They get to learn about subjects and verbs. They get to do arithmetic homework and memorize the periodic table. They get to acquire the skills needed to read the Bible and to understand the world God created. And all this is possible because men and women are willing to champion the banner of teaching!
Sure, we may not love every teacher our kid has. We may disagree with some methods. But we should be thankful that our kids have teachers that teach. Regardless of whether or not our kids go to public or go to private school, we should be thankful for those who teach our kids. And we should be thankful for the home school moms who faithful teach at home. As the Reformer Martin Luther remarked,
I know that next to that of preaching, this is the best, greatest, and most useful office there is."
- "A Sermon on Keeping Children in School (1530)
And we should encourage our kids to be thankful. Because of their teachers, our kids will have the chance read God’s words and to grasp his beautiful universe. Teachers bring blessings to their students.
Who’s ready to approach this school with a thankful spirit?
God has done amazing things in and through our church over the last few weeks. I want praise him for everyone who made our Back To School Connection a success and for George Smith’s vision for the Back To School Connection. By God’s grace, our church donated hundreds of backpacks, pencils, crayons, folders, and glue. And when we asked for additional supplies this past Sunday, FBCE responding by bringing the supplies needed to fill an additional 85 backpacks. 
as we were able to, we invited our guests to come back on Monday. And they did. We gave out the additional 87 backpacks. In total, we have handed out 566 backpacks over the last few days! In other words, we were able to outfit almost an entire school’s worth of children! To God be the glory!
must continue to invite our community to church, we must continue to meet the needs of our neighbors, and we must continue to preach Christ crucified. And we must continue to do so, expecting God to work, expecting God to seek and save the lost! Are you ready to keep sharing the hope of Christ with our community? Are you ready to keep seeing God do amazing things? 
Witkowski Blog 