Who We Are at OSL
Our Mission
Our Saviour Lutheran School is an educational community that inspires academic success, cultivates holistic growth, and instills faithful Christian character in a caring, thoughtful, and engaging learning environment.
Our Vision
As an educational community, Our Saviour Lutheran School serves as an extension of the faithful work and service of our supporting congregations: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Saviour and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, both in the Bronx, New York. We believe that students of various backgrounds can learn and grow within the contexts of a Christian community. In cooperation with leadership and those who care for our students, we seek to provide the resources and motivation by which our students are encouraged to gain and increase faithful character as well as high levels of knowledge and skills, engaging each in holistic growth. Each person is valued and beloved, first as a creation of God, with individual potentialities. Every person is encouraged to share in the love of our faithful God – Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. In this, we expect each person in our school community to show & receive respect, recognizing their value and the value of others, leading to the development of exemplary character founded upon the Christian faith and ethos. With this philosophy and expectation, students will recognize the example set for them and be uplifted to work towards the betterment of society in an ever-changing world.
Our Family Values
Identity: We are founded upon our Lutheran-Christian heritage, centered on Jesus and guided by faithful, Scriptural principles.
Integrity: We strive to remain respectful, kind, and helpful in every area of our community.
Intentionality: We embrace the diversity and hard-working nature of the Bronx while carefully, thoughtfully, and faithfully seeking to better our communities through the formation of future impact makers.
Virtue: We are committed to exemplifying excellence in character, intellect, and athletic ability.
Vocation: We strive for every person of our community to have a faithful, compassionate influence in all areas of their earthly lives.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging at OSL
At Our Saviour Lutheran School, we have always believed that a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is a key component of maintaining a caring, familial environment where students are encouraged to gain and increase faithful character as well as high levels of knowledge and skills, being engaged in holistic growth.
“OSL” should be a place where people of all backgrounds can come together, reason together, think together, believe together, learn together, create together, and succeed together.
Therefore, we are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging because we are compelled by our purpose, our mission, our vision, our values, and because of our faith, a faith in which we are called by Christ to love and serve God and our neighbors.
Our History
Our Saviour Lutheran School is an educational ministry of its supporting congregations: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Saviour and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, both in the Bronx, New York. Founded in 1942 – first as an elementary school, then as a high school beginning in 1955 – the work of our school has been one of important impact in the Bronx and beyond. The school’s mission and ministry efforts reach out to students and families throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester County, New Jersey, and internationally, serving a student population from over a dozen countries.
Affectionately known in the city as “OSL”, the school community desires to live out the mission of Christ’s Church through education. Guided by our faith, the leadership of our school has been historically consistently regarding an intentional focus that the Church throughout the world has overlooked for far too long – that of racial justice & equity. Being located in the Bronx gives the school a unique mission opportunity to serve BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color) communities that are far too often underserved and overlooked, especially by the wider Christian church. Since 1955, the school was inspired to reflect the community by which it was surrounded, not only in the Morris Park section of the Bronx, but the Bronx as a whole borough. In the early years of the school, this desire was further encouraged by the Civil Rights Movement, which allowed the school to maintain the posture of aligning racial justice and equity with the foundational values of the Christian faith. Today, OSL continues to engage the needs of those who have been affected by historic injustice, oppression, and inequality, through intentional planning, education, ministry, and service in the Bronx and beyond.
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, residents of New York City quickly began moving to suburban areas, making it difficult for congregations and parochial schools to remain financially supported solely by membership and tuition. Our Saviour Lutheran School was shrewd in navigating the times, being thoughtful and creative with strategies that would allow for the school to continue serving. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the school’s supporting congregations made the faithful decision to partner together in mission and ministry, which has allowed for the work of Our Saviour Lutheran School to grow and flourish, especially as we enter a new season of life in the City of New York.
Student Life at OSL
The OSL Observer
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