Iranians in Diaspora #5: What Happened Between Trips on the Autobahn
What Happened Between Trips on the Autobahn
By Richard Knauss
GRACE Church, Bethlehem, PA
The Outreach Foundation is on a week-long visit with our Persian friends in Europe. The second leg of our visit brings us to Germany where we are spending time with Sargez and Mehrdad along with their families. Sargez and his family are living in exile from his home country while Mehrdad and his family have refugee status and are awaiting permission to reside in Germany. We are here to enjoy their hospitality, listen to their stories, and encourage them.
Our day of discovery started with a terrific breakfast at our hotel. Meeting with Sargez started with prayer and some story-sharing. I thoroughly enjoy this man of faith! His maturity and wisdom are so apparent, and by the end of the conversation, I understood from where these qualities come. Sargez led us on a tour of the old city where we’re staying with its ancient stones, brick walls, and canals. The cathedral in the center of the town was beautiful and we enjoyed tasty German sausages with sauerkraut with him and his daughter, Agape, and one of the members of his congregation, K. Conversations with each one were delightful and I can see them becoming fast friends.
After a SLOW drive on the Autobahn due to unexpected traffic we arrived at the home of Sargez and his wife, Annette. I have heard of the abundant hospitality Persians shower upon their guests but wow! Don’t ask me to tell you what I ate, but it was delicious. The content for the evening was to hear the history of the Presbyterian mission among Nestorians in Persia dating back to the early 1800’s. They shared the love of Christ, established hospitals and schools, and planted churches. Sargez is a direct descendant from this mission, his grandfather started one of the churches in that region.
The presentation featured not just the history, but the present work Sargez is doing and the vision he is working toward. Sargez is renown in the global church, representing Christians from his region to many global councils. Despite being offered a position in the United States, he accepted a much more modest call to serve his people in the diaspora of Germany. He is a wonderful pastor to them, and many have come to Christ through him. More than this, he has a strategy for his church to bring unity to the diverse groups of refugee Muslim background believers, offering discipleship and training up the next generation of leaders.
After our meal, our evening concluded with Mehrdad’s moving testimony of how he accepted Jesus as Lord, was arrested for his participation as an emerging leader of the Farsi-speaking church (illegal), and how he led four criminals, three on death row, to Christ! “I wondered why God would allow me to be imprisoned, but now I know he was with me and gave me courage to witness in that dark place.” He shared how a handful of people from Cape Town, South Africa, traveled to the prison and prayed for him without him knowing about it. That’s the gift of showing up!
After praying over Mehrdad and Sargez and their families, we gave a gift from our church – a Moravian Star of Bethlehem. Annette placed it in a spot of honor, but they occupy a space of honor in my heart. My evening ended with a FAST drive on the Autobahn! What a rush that was. What a day we had. We were blessed.
