Even though I have the heart of a parish pastor, I have served for many years as the principal of various Lutheran schools. I have had time and opportunity to think about what makes a school and its classrooms genuinely Lutheran. One incident from early in my ministry clarified Lutheran classroom management for me.

One of the teachers in my school was a woman who was teaching full-time for the first time in a Lutheran classroom. Some of the boys in that room were bigger than she was, and sure enough, one of them acted up enough that she expelled him from her classroom, sending him to my office.

The boy entered my office already penitent. He was embarrassed and ashamed to have been expelled from class. He knew he was in the wrong, and he was able to articulate how he had sinned against God and against the new teacher. I gave him some time to calm down, and we talked about how he would apologize to the teacher when the class period was over. I sent him back to the classroom when the bell rang.

He returned two minutes later, angry and confused. “She says she won’t forgive me,” he blurted out. I had him describe the conversation with the teacher. It had not gone well. I went to talk to the teacher in her classroom.

“Did he apologize?” I asked her. “Yes,” she answered, “but I don’t want to forgive him. He’s just going to do it again.”

Here is the moment in Lutheran classroom management where either we trust the power of the gospel or we don’t. Do we really believe that the grace of God trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives (Titus 2:11-12)? Are we willing to speak the unconditional gospel of forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus to a penitent sinner? Even if we think they’re likely to do it again?

It is important to structure a classroom in an age-appropriate way so that content can be delivered and skills can be mastered. We can share lesson plans and classroom management tips to help each other figure out the best ways to meet learning goals. We can teach and enforce natural consequences of following rules and of breaking rules.

But the first reason for structure in a Lutheran classroom is to give the teacher the opportunity to call students to repentance and then assure them of forgiveness. Daily. Hourly. They are going to do it again. They are going to need to hear the gospel again. Again and again. After all, what will it benefit a boy if he gains all the knowledge in the world, but forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26).

That new teacher listened carefully to me. She knew and believed the gospel. She wanted to be a truly Lutheran teacher. She forgave the student. She worked hard at developing a gospel-centered classroom. The students learned to respect her. They learned to love her as someone who cared about them, about their souls.

With their age-appropriate use of law and gospel inside the classroom, pastors and teachers demonstrate how they are genuinely Lutheran ministers of the gospel.