“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock…” (Acts 20:28). One of the most caring pastors I know is my Finnish missionary colleague, Rev. Pasi Palmu (pictured), with whom I am privileged to do Persian ministry in Germany. We recently had a very difficult pastoral care situation in which Pasi exemplified the pastors described above: sadly, the Muslim wife of one of our Iranian parishioners, “Mohammad,” fell in love with another man about a year ago and wanted to divorce Mohammad. Heartbroken, after much deliberation, he agreed to the divorce, and the German court system terminated their marriage. There was only one tricky addendum: the ex-wife wanted to keep her options open to return to Iran with her new husband—and German divorce decrees do not count in Iran. So she demanded that Mohammad travel to the Iranian embassy in Berlin to obtain an Iranian divorce decree. But Mohammad was absolutely terrified to do so because he had converted to Christianity years ago (highly illegal in Iran) and was mortified that they would arrest him in the embassy, hustle him out of the country, and jail or execute him back in the homeland. What to do? Pastoral care was necessary— to provide the shepherd’s physical presence and the comfort of Christ’s written Word. Pastor Pasi rose to the occasion and drove Mohammad to Berlin, where they spent the night, so Mohammad would be able to make his 9 AM appointment. During that whole time Mohammad was at the embassy, Pasi waited at the hotel, praying. The ordeal took six hours, but Mohammad did obtain an Iranian divorce decree—without being kidnapped. If you attend an LCMS church (or, as in this case, a German sister church) you can count yourself blessed because—with a pastor to parishioner ratio of approximately 1:280—LCMS pastors can provide individual attention. This is not always the case: in one of the largest denominations in the U.S., the ratio is 1:2,000. Praise God for denominations with a low pastor-parishioner ratio and for shepherds willing and able to pay careful attention to all the flock.
The Tiews in Germany 