As you know, I recently returned from ten days in Nairobi, Kenya, where we held our annual Riga Luther Academy intensive and I co-taught a course (Didactics and Catechesis). While in Africa, I also interviewed some candidates who are applying to our seminary for the upcoming academic year. I am amazed by the way the Lord has blessed this online seminary, which five years ago had fewer than two handfuls of students and today has over fifty students from almost twenty-five different countries. As Lula recently wrote, Riga Luther Academy forms men to become pastors, and allows existing pastors to become even better pastors. It is a privilege to walk alongside these men and see them grow in their faith and understanding of Lutheran Christianity, and now to even witness the ordination of our fourth-year seminarians as the Lord’s undershepherds. Admittedly, an online program cannot compete with a residential program, especially not with our fantastic seminaries in Fort Wayne and Saint Louis. But at Riga, we do get the job done and our annual in-person intensives can partially make up for the fact that our students rarely see each other (or us professors) in person. I’m grateful to serve in the Lord’s Kingdom in this way, even to combine my missionary work for Persian refugees in Germany with my RLA teaching. * Thank you so much for your continued love and support, which makes all this possible.
It is a privilege for Lula and me to serve on your behalf, out here on the front lines.
God bless you all! – Rev. Christian Tiews
The Tiews in Germany 