March 5, 2003
School makes mark with Bible project
Trinity Lutheran shares Gospel with prisoners
By
Herald staff writer
Students at Trinity Lutheran School have found a unique way to share the Gospel. In celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week, students in third through seventh-grade are marking more than 400 Bibles this week to be distributed to northern Michigan maximum security prisoners.
"Bible marking is a way to connect the Christian story throughout the Bible by highlighting passages and then directing the reader to turn to a subsequent passage of common meaning," said school principal, Dr. Calvin Schmucker.
"Each of the 98 Lutheran elementary schools in Michigan performs some sort of service project during National Lutheran Schools Week and this is what we chose to do. We want these Bibles to go to prisoners who may not know Christ," Schmucker said.
Last fall, when Schmucker was thinking about what this year's project might be, fifth-grade teacher Dan Dockery suggested doing something to reach the prison population.
"We never do anything for jails. I felt that this was important," Dockery said.
Dockery contacted the Lutheran Prison Ministry of Concordia, Mo., who offered guidelines for Bible marking and assistance in the distribution of them. The school purchased the Bibles with assistance from their parent group.
Though sharing Bibles is the primary goal of project, Schmucker says that it has also been a learning experience for the students.
"We have talked about where the Bibles will be going. Some of the students didn't realize that prisoners would be able to read Bibles in jail. This is all about giving back something of importance," Schmucker said.