Once Iran is free, how many Lutheran Pastors Will We Need There?

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Timothy 3:1). One of our Iranian Lutherans soon to study at Riga Luther Academy (our online seminary in Latvia), recently asked me: “Once Iran is free, how many Lutheran pastors will we need there?” A grand vision! “We’ll need at least one in every city and probably ten in Tehran because of its size,” I replied. *** All eyes are on Iran and the end of the evil mullah regime in that country seems to be in sight (yet again). For years I have been sharing with you that the goal of us LCMS missionaries is to “Make Iran Christian again.” Why again? Because Persia is one of the regions in which Christianity first took hold, only to be pushed out by Islam in the 7th century. At least one third of Iranians today are believed to be secret Christians in their own homeland. That is why, once the people of Iran are liberated and the Gospel can once again be freely proclaimed, we will need so many Lutheran pastors. To prepare Iranian pastors is one of the goals of our “Persian Project.” Here you can see three of them at the forefront of this effort. I introduced them to SELK bishop Rev. Dr. Hans-Jörg Voigt (center, standing to the right of my friend and missionary colleague Rev. Pasi Palmu) who recently visited us at Zion Lutheran Hamburg. The bishop was delighted to meet these future seminarians because he is well aware that Persian Lutherans are a growing demographic within the SELK. There is even a fourth Iranian who has been studying at Riga Luther Academy for years (not pictured). All of them aspire to the office of overseer (pastor) because, having been adopted into the family of our Triune God years ago in Holy Baptism, they want nothing more than to share Christ’s gift of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with their fellow Iranians. May God grant it that their homeland would very soon be liberated from the cruel dictators currently crushing them and that the Gospel would once again be able to flourish in Iran!