Most young people learn their faith from their parents. A 2019 Barna study discovered that 64% of young adults leave the church after leaving home, which raises an important concern for our school: how do we instill faith ownership in our students so their faith continues to grow after graduation?
We believe the answer lies in discipling them to become Christ-like leaders.
Christ-like Character
At LuHi we have created a community of love, respect, accountability, and grace because we want those same traits to overflow to our students. When students know they are loved, they learn to love. When they are forgiven, they forgive.
Our safe environment gives students the courage to explore, ask questions, fail, and keep going. It’s a temptation in our society’s culture to keep our hands on young people’s steering wheels, but when we believe that God empowers them with His Spirit, we can let go and free them to do the great things God has planned for them. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
When we expect great things from our students and equip them with resilience, they will become leaders in their pursuits.
Christ-like Relationships
LuHi is a family. We believe every person is a valued child of our Father and saved by the love and sacrifice of Jesus. We strive to maintain unity between our teachers and students, faculty members, and peer to peer. When issues arise, we teach students how to practice biblical conflict resolution as seen in Matthew 18.
Our campus club Thrive is one way for students to learn leadership skills, including how to mentor and be mentored. It gives our high schoolers fellowship outside of class, encouragement, leadership training, communication and relationship skills, and conflict resolution tools.
There are many other opportunities for students to form relationships in our tight-knit community. Over 90% of our student body is involved in extracurricular activities, including clubs, sports, and music and arts groups. We also host a freshman and senior retreat each year and our student body hosts fantastic dances and events. We aim to create a culture of positive peer pressure and “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).
Christ-like Service
Servant leadership is at the core of who we are for one simple reason: Jesus was a servant. Philippians 2:5-7 says, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
Our students participate in our Saved to Serve program, volunteering twenty hours of their time each year to various organizations in the community. We offer national and international mission trips and we host LuHi Serves, a day for students and staff to demonstrate servant leadership locally.
In these ways we hope to develop the humble posture of Christ in our students as they impact the world.
Christ-like Living
It’s imperative to teach young people that faith isn’t compartmentalized, but intersects with every aspect of their lives. Two LuHi classes that are particularly helpful for students are Men’s Christian Decisions and Women’s Christian Decisions. Students learn about health and sexuality, family leadership, and making Biblically-based life decisions in a modern world.
Students also take a Theology course each year to give them a complete understanding of the Bible, and a Biblical worldview is the foundation of every class. Students learn how to incorporate worship in their lives by attending chapel three times a week, and can also participate in the Chapel Leadership class.
These four years will go fast, and they are crucial for faith formation. When we teach our students to follow Christ in his character, relationships, service and living, they’ll be equipped as student leaders to go wherever God calls them. May they cause a domino effect on the world!
