“Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deu 26:15). Praise God for people who think big! I recently video-chatted with Sahar Sadlovsky Gold, a Lutheran living in Tel Aviv. Starting off, I shared that we are all praying for his homeland, for the return of the hostages, and that Hamas might be neutralized so that Israel could live in peace on her southwestern border. Sahar thanked me, adding that they are so grateful for the support the LCMS provides for his family and for the assistance that the U.S. provides to his homeland in general. Sahar grew up in a Jewish family but converted to Christianity years ago. A family man, he is working on his Master of Sacred Theology at the Lutheran School of Theology, Gothenburg, Sweden, an excellent seminary with an online / residential program. He is a candidate for the Office under the Mission Province of Sweden (MPr). Together with the Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF), the MPr, and LCMS Eurasia, Sahar hopes to plant Israel’s first Confessional Lutheran Church. Sahar also referred to the Old Latin School in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany, the wonderful center for mission and outreach that the LCMS runs in cooperation with Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church. But here is where Sahar thinks big: his dream is that Israel too might someday have a center to provide faithful Word and Sacrament ministry, not only for local Lutherans but also for the many LCMS and other conservative Lutherans who visit the Holy Land every year. After all, he explained, if Wittenberg—the epicenter of Lutheranism—has such a dynamic center, wouldn’t we also need a headquarters for Confessional Lutheranism in the epicenter of Christianity? Let us pray for peace in Israel and that someday we could establish a faithful center for Word and Sacrament and outreach in the land of milk and honey!
The Tiews in Germany 