news from Pastor Tiews

Sharing the Gospel in Germany

Latest posts from on 04/26/2025

Mary Poppins on the Mission Field

By Rev. Tiews on 25/04/25

“And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). What was Mary Poppins’ main task? To teach emotionally distant parents how to love their children. And once she succeeded in a particular place, she would be redundant and could move on to help the next family in need. Can you watch that final scene—as Dad, with a hole in his hat and his collar all askew, joins the kids in flying their home-made kite—without getting a lump in your throat? Duplicate yourself and make yourself redundant. Like Mary Poppins… That is much like the task of a pastor. In addition to serving his flock with Word and Sacrament and seeking the lost, a pastor will always try to duplicate himself by raising up new men to serve the Lord vocationally. As LCMS missionary pastors, we seek to grow the Kingdom by planting and/or revitalizing Lutheran churches; supporting the theological education of future pastors; and providing mercy care in close proximity to Word and Sacrament. We do this in numerous countries across Eurasia—from Germany with its large population of Persian immigrants and also American expats, to the Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, to the Ingrians spread across Finland and Russia—and beyond. The method is always the same. But a key component of church planting is to also raise up those future pastors who will someday replace us—not as foreigners trying to fit into a strange culture—but as locals who will share Jesus Christ with their fellow citizens in their mother tongue. May the Lord help us as we seek “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” I think dear Mary Poppins would recognize this concept—and smile knowingly.

The Place of a Skull

By Rev. Tiews on 18/04/25

“And He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha” (John 19:17). A few years ago, Lula and I led a group of LCMS travelers on a wonderful trip though Israel and Jordan. Our hotel was located about a mile away from the Old City of Jerusalem and so, with our group safe in the hotel, one evening Lula and I decided to venture out on our own. After a while we reached the Damascus Gate, which is located on the northern side of the Old City and serves as the main entrance to the Muslim quarter. Wandering through the maze of the bazaar, we soon had no idea where we were. What made matters worse, night had fallen and the tourists had disappeared. Looking around warily, I commented to Lula, “This is not a good.” We then noticed a sign pointing to the crown jewel of Jerusalem: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which, as tradition holds, was built above Jesus’ tomb and the crucifixion site. “Let’s try and find it,” I suggested. During the day, the church is jam-packed with thousands and thousands of tourists and pilgrims. You have to stand in line for hours to see these most important sites in Christianity—and, of course, the throngs of people make it difficult to get into a meditative mood. But that evening there was hardly anyone in the church and so we were able to get right up to where Jesus died and rose again—without the crowds. At one point, we heard beautiful chanting. We followed the voices down some steps and came upon a chamber directly below Calvary. Orthodox Christians were worshipping at an altar. We sat down and listened to their hauntingly beautiful melodies, reflecting on what had happened directly above us some 2,000 years ago. I managed to take a video, which you can watch here. The next morning, we told our local guide about our little adventure. He dryly remarked that it was not smart to walk through that part of the Old City by ourselves after dark. Thankfully, the Lord protected us. May you have a blessed Good Friday, as we reflect on what our Lord and Savior did for us at The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

Muscular Christianity

By Rev. Tiews on 11/04/25

“Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God…” (1 Kings 2:2-3), said old King David to his son Solomon, as he was about to pass the torch to the young man soon to become Israel’s greatest king. You have often heard about the slow decline of Christianity in North America and Europe. But something new is afoot: yearning for spiritual substance in their lives, a growing number of young men on both continents are discovering historic Christianity for its beauty and faithful propagation of the Word—centered around Jesus Christ. These young bucks want “muscular Christianity,” as it is known, are eschewing the light-weight versions of the faith that also exist. This has been a phenomenon in the U.S. for some years now, with some churches that offer the historic liturgy being packed to overflowing. We are starting to see this in Europe as well. More and more young men and women wish to be connected to something bigger, and desire to build spiritual muscle. Their search begins on the Internet, where they often come across one of the most winsome and prolific pastors of our day: Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller (Sr. Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church and Jesus Deaf Lutheran Church, Austin, TX). Intrigued by his wonderful teaching, they realize that he is Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and then look for an LCMS sister church in their home country. Case in point: quite a few men now undergoing pastoral formation at Riga Luther Academy (our online seminary for Eurasia), and who are also part of my ministry here in Hamburg, have taken this route. Another example of the resurgence of historic Christianity is Corpus Christi, an organization of young Northern European adults espousing confessional Lutheranism. On a related note, this week I started our first Zoom class on the Augsburg Confession with young men from four different countries, many of whom discovered the historic faith as outlined above. These days, at least for some young men, to “flex” means not only to build up physical muscles at the gym but also to “show yourself a man” by embracing faithful Christianity and the ancient liturgy.

To Be Safe

By Rev. Tiews on 04/04/25

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Lula and I are currently in Gothenburg, Sweden, attending the faculty meeting of Riga Luther Academy’s “English stream,” in which we form our international students to become future pastors. We are meeting at The Lutheran School of Theology (Församlingsfakulteten), located in a gorgeous 19th century villa—complete with wood paneling, floor-to-ceiling theological libraries, leather couches, and a fireplace. The school offers a Master of Sacred Theology degree program in collaboration with our very own Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana. Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet the Gothenburg faculty. Afterwards we took a coffee break and were standing around in the seminary’s cozy kitchen and snack bar area. I noticed a hulking white safe underneath the kitchen counter and asked one of the students what was up with that. “Oh, that’s a refrigerator,” he said. “A fridge that looks like a safe?” I asked incredulously. “No, it’s a safe that is really a fridge,” he explained with a grin. “Years ago, the owner of this villa had placed that safe right there and bolted it to the floor. When this villa became a seminary, they couldn’t move the safe. So, they just repurposed it and placed a small refrigerator inside. It works great, except that you need to know the safe’s combination to open the door and grab a Coke,” he added with a twinkle in his eye. Hmmm…That reminded me of how God very often uses our past that can’t be changed—“warts” and all. In fact, sometimes the warts can even be helpful as we share Jesus Christ with others—especially with people who have “warts” themselves. This morning, I asked a professor about their safe-fridge set-up. It turned out that the student yesterday was pulling my leg. “That safe is simply a safe,” the professor pointed out with a smile. Oh well, a late April Fool’s joke and I fell for it. But God still reuses our warts for His purposes—working all things together for good—even if that’s not true for the hulking safe in Gothenburg’s Lutheran School of Theology.

The Lord is Near to the Brokenhearted

By Rev. Tiews on 28/03/25

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). For the past few weeks, my Finnish missionary colleague and friend Rev. Pasi Palmu and I have been assisting two Persians requesting emergency church asylum here in Germany. One case ended well (see my last two posts), but, unfortunately, we were not able to help the other man, an Iranian Christian who had requested asylum in another European country. He had two local pastors and a clever lawyer on his side, and his application process was advancing. But rather than await a probably positive outcome, he panicked. Someone had ill-advisedly suggested that he bolt from that country and come here. But even if his request for asylum in that country had failed, he would at least have received an official document ordering his deportation back to Iran. With that paper, he could have requested church asylum in Germany, after which he would probably have been granted asylum here. But since he fled, he never got that document—and that destroyed his chances in Germany.

Rev. Pasi and I met with him several times but could never quite figure out why he had taken that poor advice. So, we asked him straight-up. He was afraid he might be arrested, he replied somewhat sheepishly. “But this is Europe! The police can’t arrest you before a verdict is handed down,” we tried to explain. Then Rev. Pasi put his finger on it: “He doesn’t realize that the European legal system is fair towards everyone,” he whispered to me. “He only knows Iran, where the police [IRGC, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] often act without restraint.”

Sadly, traumatized people do sometimes act irrationally. Praise God, we know that the “Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” At the same time, we pray that Jesus Christ would still work out a temporal solution for this man. May he be spared deportation to his homeland, where a dire fate awaits those simply wishing to live out their Christian faith. And may He also have mercy on us all, as we try to help those in need amid difficult and confusing circumstances.

[Image: at a Hamburg McDonald’s, trying to work out a solution with the man].

Recent Articles:

Dear Friends,
Everything Points to Him
Wheat Among the Weeds
Satan Disarmed
Justified Through Faith

Thank you to all who have already signed up to support this wonderful mission work that is being done by our many LCMS missionaries in Eurasia and around the world. Thank you also for partnering directly with us—the Tiews family. If you are interested in joining us on this path, you can do so in various ways as listed below.

Praise the LORD that
Jesus took a sinful agnostic guy, forgave him, and is now using him to bring the Gospel to a land in which so many people do not know Jesus Christ.

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