“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29).
We have often talked about how many of our Iranian Lutherans here in Germany have paid a steep price for becoming Christian: in many cases, their families have disowned them for leaving Islam. Meet Ruslan Zinnurov, an outstanding student in our online pastoral formation program at Riga Luther Academy. Ruslan hails from Siberia, was baptized as an adult, and moved here with his family after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Desiring to serve as a pastor, he had already begun his studies at the LCMS-supported Siberian Lutheran Seminary in Novosibirsk under visiting professors Dr. Robert Kolb and Dr. Timothy Quill, among others. Ruslan lost his homeland due to the war in Ukraine. But sadly, he is also estranged from his father who was “against my baptism, and…stopped contacting me and disowned me precisely because I left for permanent residence in an enemy NATO country,” as Ruslan shared with me. May the Lord bless Ruslan a hundredfold in his studies and also soften his dad’s heart so that father and son would one day be united in Christ’s blood—both here on earth and for eternal life. (Ruslan granted permission to have his story told).
The Tiews in Germany 