“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Last Sunday, I was invited to preach at a Farsi service at St. Peter’s, Hannover, a SELK congregation with a sizable Persian congregation. My original plan was to take a regional train part of the way. However, as is frequently the case with today’s German rail system, our train was abruptly canceled and so, a Hamburg parishioner and I had to take a taxi for part of the journey. I hailed a cab. The driver and my parishioner immediately started chatting in Farsi. He was a very personable and clever engineering student from Afghanistan. He noticed my clerical. I explained that I am a pastor and share Jesus with refugees and immigrants from Iran and Afghanistan. He replied that he is a practicing Shiite and proceeded to tell me all about his mosque. After a while, I asked him whether we might talk a bit about Christianity. “Of course,” he nodded. “Could you summarize the Christian faith in one sentence?” He smiled and shook his head. I quoted John 3:16, pulling it up in Farsi on my phone. He replied, “We have that in Islam too.” “But you don’t have the assurance of salvation. When you die, you hope you’ll go to paradise, but you don’t know for sure whether you’ll really get there.” He acknowledged that that is true. “And besides, Jesus—who is also God and not merely a prophet—rose from the dead. Even sources outside the Bible confirm that. With all due respect, Mohammed is still dead.” “But that verse still sounds a lot like Islam.” I replied, “Take a picture of it and reflect on it,” I suggested. “And if you have any questions about Christianity, I would love to continue this delightful conversation.” I gave him my business card. May the Lord work in the heart of that young Afghan cabbie, whom God the Father loves just as much as the rest of all mankind, for whom He sent his only Son into the world.
The Tiews in Germany 