Camping adventure in Branson

Seminary Homeschool Recital

In the Presidents Room - What an honor!

Der Herr segne uns

This weekend Chris was invited to lead the "Gottesdienst" and preach at the Tomball German Heritage Festival. What a wonderful opportunity! This festival started 7 years ago as a little fundraiser for our youth mission trip to my hometown and Tomball's sister city in Germany and now it's a two day affair with over 30,000 visitors.
Chris reported how great it was to be back and how much he liked to visit with old friends - German and Texan.

New life

Spring is finally here and everything just looks beautiful!


Just like the trees that used to look dead and dark, so were we lost in our sins.

But thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we have been redeemed and were made alive.

He is risen!

Welcome to New Mayberry?

Maybe it's growing up in Germany and/or watching too many movies from the 50ties, but I long for the time when I could walk to the store, church and restaurant. Here in St. Louis we get to walk a lot, thankfully, since the seminary is a little 'Dorf' (village) with chapel, re-sell store, foodbank, bookstore, library, post-office, bank and park. The kids can bicycle and enjoy the pleasures of just walking to the playground to meet other children. Why has this become so rare? In Texas there is hardly a place were you can go without a car.

Others seem to feel the same way. There are many new neighborhoods popping up, called Tradition Neighborhood Developments that are designed with humans in mind, not cars. Where you can walk and have opportunities to meet your neighbors. These developments seem to be pretty successful - at least in terms of real estate sales. There's one here in St. Charles, called New Town. I haven't really met people who live there though. It sometimes looks like a movie set. Makes you wonder whether people actually just like the idea of neighborhood, community and a more wholesome life or whether they are beginning to really LIVE it? Since home prices are pretty high, you might need two income families to be able to afford this "back to the future" approach and that would be counterproductive. If there's nobody home all day, how can you build relationships with your neighbors?
Anyhow, developers of these new villages know that a church is good for the looks of the town square and that they need one or two to help building real relationships among the citizens there. I wonder what kind of churches they invite? The ones that proclaim "Christ crucified for us"? Maybe we need to rediscover the ancient church!

More old that's new again

And then there is good old-fashioned food and my new favorite cookbook "Nourishing traditions" by Sally Fallon that finally endorses the food I always preferred: cream, whole yoghurt and milk, animal meet and fat, raw cheeses.

On Mission Track

Chris has been accepted to participate in the seminary's special training program for missions! What a blessing. Not only will he be able to learn even more about outreach and planting new congregations, but it also allows us to stay here in St. Louis for another year and serve in a vicarage assignment during the last year of his education instead of leaving the campus this summer and come back again a year later.

Happy Birthday, Lillian Esther!

Give thanks to the LORD for HE is GOOD!
We are so grateful that we could celebrate the first year with Lilly.

In Amerika ist vieles anders

It's true in America things ARE different. We are free to educate our children ourselves. In Germany a homeschooled girl was forcibly admitted into a mental institution - Chris has the sad task to support the fight against this outrage with translating and interpreting.
In light of this it's no surprise that our (homeschool) family life here at seminary seems so unusual that the portrait below was published in a February issue of IDEA Spektrum magazine. Please pray for Melissa and her family and all homeschoolers in Germany.

Warum ein Geologe mit 48 noch Theologie studiert und seine Kinder zu Hause unterrichtet

Von Matthias Pankau
Es ist 9.30 Uhr. Die Carlotta (8), Jeremiah
(5) und Mariam (3) haben gerade
Mathe. Sie alle sitzen im selben
Klassenzimmer, nämlich im Wohnzimmer
ihrer Eltern in St. Louis (US-Bundesstaat
Missouri). Christian und
Lula Tiews unterrichten ihre vier Kinder
zu Hause. Vier? Ja, die achtmonatige
Lillian sitzt auch schon dabei und
spielt vergnügt. Die drei „Großen“ haben
montags bis freitags von 8 bis 13
Uhr Unterricht.
Mehr Zeit für Kinder
„Es ist Aufgabe der Eltern, ihre Kinder
zu erziehen“, erklärt Christian
Tiews. Dazu gehört seiner Ansicht
nach auch der Unterricht. Die Tiews
wollen, dass ihre Kinder mit einer
christlichen Weltanschauung aufwachsen.
Sie sind entschiedene Gegner der
Evolutionstheorie, die an öffentlichen
Schulen – so ihre Kritik – zunehmend
zu einer absoluten Wahrheit erhoben
werde. „Wenn die Evolutionstheorie
stimmt, dann ist die Bibel bereits nach
dem ersten Satz tot.“ Zwar brächten sie
ihren Kindern auch diese Theorie bei,
zeigten dabei aber klar deren Defizite
auf. In den USA werden derzeit etwa
drei Millionen Kinder von ihren Eltern
zu Hause unterrichtet. Und es kommen
jedes Jahr rund 300.000 dazu. Der
Hausunterricht habe aber auch noch
andere Vorteile. So verbringe die Familie
viel mehr Zeit miteinander. „Laut
Statistik ist der amerikanische Durchschnittsvater
drei Minuten täglich mit
seinen Kindern zusammen.“ Viel zu
wenig, findet Tiews. Dabei hätten er
und seine Frau sich vor zehn Jahren
nicht träumen lassen, dass sie ihre Kinder
mal zu Hause unterrichten würden.
Bewußt Geologie studiert
Christian und Lula stammen aus
Deutschland. Beide waren zwar Kirchenmitglieder,
gingen aber in keine
Gemeinde. „Da ging es immer um Umweltschutz,
die Dritte Welt, aber nicht
um Jesus Christus.“ Tiews entscheidet
sich bewusst für eine Naturwissenschaft
und studierte Geologie in München und
Kiel. Anschließend ist er erfolgreich im
Vertrieb einer Softwarefirma. 1996 gehen
die beiden in die USA, weil Lula
ein tolles Angebot von der Computerfirma
Compaq bekommen hat. In
Houston (US-Bundesstaat Texas) erleben
sie zum ersten Mal, wie es ist, in einer
Gemeinde zu Hause zu sein. „Hier
sind wir in einen lebendigen Glauben
hineingewachsen“, erinnert sich Tiews.
Das Ehepaar leitet Kindergottesdienste
und organisiert Gebetskreise. Als die
Geschäfte von Christian nach den Terroranschlägen
vom 11. September 2001
plötzlich nicht mehr gut laufen, stellt
sich für die Familie die Frage, wie es
weitergehen soll. „Außerdem wollte ich
meine Begabungen noch besser für das
Reich Gottes einsetzen.“
2.000 neue Gemeinden
Der Familienvater entscheidet sich –
nachdem er ein Stipendium erhielt –,
mit 48 Jahren noch mal die Schulbank
zu drücken und am Concordia-Seminar
der lutherischen Missouri-Synode in St.
Louis Theologie zu studieren. „Zum ersten
Mal passen alle Puzzlestücke meines
Lebens zusammen und ich merke,
wie ich von dem profitiere, was ich zuvor
gemacht habe“, sagt er heute. Dank
der humanistischen Schulbildung könne
er seine Kinder in Latein unterrichten
und habe keine Schwierigkeiten mit
dem neutestamentlichen Griechisch.
Die Berufserfahrung im Vertrieb komme
ihm im Umgang mit Menschen zugute
und die deutsche Sprache sei für
einen lutherischen Theologiestudenten
„wie ein Joker“. Wenn er in zwei Jahren
fertig ist, will er an einem Gemeindegründungsprojekt
der Missouri-Synode
mitwirken. Die etwa 2,5 Millionen Mitglieder
zählende lutherische Freikirche
hat in den USA derzeit rund 6.500 Gemeinden.
Das stolze Ziel: Bis zum
500jährigen Jubiläum der Reformation
im Jahr 2017 sollen 2.000 weitere Gemeinden
entstehen. Dazu wird die Kirche
in den kommenden Jahren Absolventen
der beiden theologischen
Seminare in St.Louis und Forth Wayne
(US-Bundesstaat Indiana) vor allem in
die Vororte der Millionenmetropolen
aussenden, um dort Missionsarbeit zu
betreiben und neue Gemeinden zu
gründen. Einige werden auch ins Ausland
entsandt, um dort zu missionieren.

The (future) Pastor as educator

As part of a seminary course Chris had the pleasure of teaching first grade religion class at Trinity Lutheran School, Il for three weeks. The kids especially enjoyed his dinosaur time where he told them the whole dinosaur story from a creationist point of view. J.J. was invited to join him two times and had such a great time. Here he presented the class with his model of Noah's ark complete with dinosaurs inside.

Young Scientists

 

The Seminary Homeschool group organized a science and art exhibitions for all homeschoolers on campus. 

Joy to the world, the LORD has come!

 

Froehliche Weihnachten!

Here I stand...One year later

What has remained the same since we arrived in St. Louis? In every respect time has flown because we have learned so much since August, 2005. Well, we are still sinners (Rom 3:23) and every day realize anew that we have nothing to bring to the table regarding the salvation that the Father has granted us through Christ’s work on the cross. But precisely because we are sinners, we rejoice (Rom 5:11) in being reconciled with our Lord and because of all He has done for us. Furthermore, we continue to have a passion for sharing the Gospel with those who don’t yet know the Lord. While this is true for our little ones as well, it is especially the case for Lula and me because we can both clearly recall the years not so long ago when we were still very distant from Him. What have we learned here at the Sem or, put another way, how are we different from fifteen months ago? As “good Lutherans”, we are continuing to realize that the more we learn, the more we have yet to learn.
One of the key concepts I have become acquainted with is that we sometimes need to “let God be God” and should not try to peer into His mysteries as we humans are prone to do. Whether it’s divine mysteries such as how the Trinity might “work” or more practical applications such as “Why did such and such happen in my life?”, there is a limit as to how far we can and should delve into His mysteries. After all, it’s no coincidence that, when asked by Moses to reveal His glory (Ex 33), the Lord replied that He would let His goodness pass before Moses—and then showed Moses His back. All we really need to know about God has already been revealed: in Christ’s suffering on the cross on our behalf. Another thing we have learned, which has come as a surprise to me—having grown up with everything from the Beatles to Van Halen—is our newly found appreciation and growing love for the richness of Lutheran liturgy and hymnody. If you think about what liturgy—or more precisely—worship is, namely receiving the gifts of God, which are His Word and Sacrament, then it comes as no surprise that, as we learn to understand Lutheranism better, we would also come to increasingly cherish the Divine Service—a most important component of our denomination.
Lastly, one other thing has certainly changed since we have come here. We have another mouth to feed—Lilly’s, although since she is still breast-fed, that task is at this time still more or less Lula’s. It is amazing how the six of us are quite comfortable in our snug 700 square foot apartment, one third the size of our house in Texas… Yet, while we had three acres to run around on back then, with no neighborhood kids, we now have the 72 acres of beautiful Concordia Seminary Campus—with some 200 playmates… The Lord truly provides!
What’s next? On November 30 we were exactly half way through our time in St. Louis. God willing, my studies here will be followed by one year of vicarage, which could be anywhere from Alaska to Florida. Ordination should be in the spring of ’09. If I am accepted into the church planting program for which I have applied, we would stay in the same region as our vicarage congregation, which would then be the “mother church” from which we would launch our church plant. We will see what the Lord continues to have in store for us. Regardless of whatever that may be, we are excited to be part of His program.

Chris

The German connection

 
The Tiews Family's boots on the morning of December, 6th. Filled with candy by St. Nikolaus!

Bring out the Lutheran beverages (beer), bratwurst and sauerkraut! It doesn’t come as a real surprise that one can find many German links here at the “Vatican” of the Germanic Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. This German connection just might have something to do with Luther’s nationality and the Saxon immigrants who founded the LCMS in the 1840s. As such, not only has Chris had the opportunity to translate dozens of historical church documents and articles from German theological publications this past year, but German has also turned out to be a “secret” weapon in many of his classes. And then he also got his whole family to work, with all of us helping to publish a book of German household phrases and record it on CD.
This year Chris also joined fellow students practicing the German language at the weekly “Stammtisch”, helped several Ph.D. candidates study for their German finals, and filled in as a radio announcer on a local German music radio show. We also had the honor of getting acquainted with Gillian and Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto, the director of the Concordia Institute on Lay Vocation who has a very interesting German background. Plus, the Tiews were interviewed by German Christian news service IDEA on homeschooling and our life here at the Sem.
"Ist das nicht eine fette Sau, Ja, das ist eine fette Sau"…
The Tiews practiced their German and learned the famous Schnitzelbank song while visiting the annual Fall Festival at Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Perry County, MO (see below).
In fact, the children enjoyed the Schnitzelbank song so much that they prepared all the props and presented the song at the Seminary’s Oktoberfest. And here another German connection: mark your calendars for the Tomball (TX) German Heritage Fest 3/30-4/1/2007, to which Chris has been invited to preach bilingually in the fest’s beer tent that Sunday. Prost! 

  

Events in the Life of the Tiews family - 2006

February 13: Lillian Esther Cisternas Tiews is born—at home on the campus of Concordia Seminary.
June 5th: Greg Hintz starts his time in seminary with Summer Greek. Nine years ago the Hintzes, the Stocktons, and the Tiews started a small group at Salem. A year later the Hintz family moved to Wisconsin. Now they live across the street from us on campus. Doesn’t the LORD work in wonderful ways?
July 19-23: Along with some 100,000 other residents of St. Louis, the Tiews family is without electricity for five days after two whopper summer storms knock out power.

August 12: Sitting in the back row of our Suburban as we drive through Colorado on our camping trip, Me-Me cuts off her bangs, while everybody else is admiring the Continental Divide. Speaking of hair, Carlotta is contemplating donating some of her hair to “Locks of Love”, while Chris is contemplating his growing bald spot.
August 13: Carlotta gets locked in an outhouse at State Forest State Park, CO—at night.
August 27: The dining room of the “Steamboat Inn, CO” breakfast is interrupted by cries of “HELP! In the bathroom!” coming from down the hall. This time it’s JJ who has locked himself in.
November 12: Chris completes his last Old Testament exegetical and is done with Hebrew at the Sem—and the beard is off. Baruk YHWH! (Praise the Lord!) Lula

Church Planting

“Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned…I was in danger from my own people, ; ...And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” 2 Cor 11:25-28. No, this is not a description of life at the Seminary. But since Paul, a church planter, wrote this, I pray the LORD will keep us from similar trials should our application to become mission church planters be accepted. With the steady stream of immigrants into our country, many parts of America are drastically changing. Mission work can increasingly be done in-country, with less need to go overseas. What’s more, our postmodern society continues to buy into the lie of the theory of evolution, tossing the value of human life overboard in the process. The story goes like this: “Once upon a time our ancestors accidentally started the process of life in primordial ooze and over billions of years “by chance” they evolved into trilobites, fish, birds, and, finally, mammals. We humans are simply new and improved monkeys.” Largely gone is the view of the human race being created in the “image of God”. Rather, the theory of evolution is diametrically opposed to the Bible, invalidating Scripture’s veracity on page 1 and diluting the Gospel message in the process. The message of evolution’s “survival of the fittest” doctrine is for us to simply rely on ourselves and “look out for No. 1”. With the Bible becoming increasingly irrelevant in our culture, there are growing numbers of people who have never heard the Gospel or who discard it as a myth, because they have fallen for the lie of evolution. As once did Lula and I. We therefore hope to plant a church to reach out to our new immigrants and this lost postmodern generation, proclaiming the true story of the cross and its hope. Even if we are beaten or are stoned like Paul, which is why we hope you would continue to keep us in your prayers.
Chris

"Powerless" Winter Days

Wow, we mailed our year end report a little too early. There were more adventures planned for us in December. The icestorm hit St. Louis and we had the opportunity to experience a power outage in winter. The seminary took great care of us so we didn't have to be accounted among the 'frozen chosen'. We camped out in a guest room in Loeber hall, which Chris called the "SS Loeber", because it looks like the hall of a cruise ship. We were treated with free breakfeast, lunch and dinner, courtesy of the foodbank and food services! And we were able to experience breath-takingly fast sledding in our own Concordia park. Nevertheless we are thankful for restored power. Other than in summer, when we were without electricity for five days, this winter adventure only lasted 36 hours.

"Sugarcoated, MTV-style youth ministry is so over"

... according to TIME magazine. This goes with my earlier post about parents' desinterest in their childrens' faith. Could it be that they were the ones attending this type of youth ministry a while ago? Ok, so we need a different style of youth group? How about catechism instruction around the dinner table in a family "small group" setting? What a novel idea ;)

"Youth ministers have been on a long and frustrating quest of their own over the past two decades or so. Believing that a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging was the way to attract teens to their flocks, pastors watered down the religious content and boosted the entertainment. But in recent years churches have begun offering their young people a style of religious instruction grounded in Bible study and teachings about the doctrines of their denomination. Their conversion has been sparked by the recognition that sugarcoated Christianity, popular in the 1980s and early '90s, has caused growing numbers of kids to turn away not just from attending youth-fellowship activities but also from practicing their faith at all. ... Scholars who have looked at young Christians say their spiritual drift is in part the result of a lack of knowledge about their faith. "The vast majority of teens who call themselves Christians haven't been well educated in religious doctrine and therefore don't really know what they believe," says Christian Smith, a University of Notre Dame sociologist and the author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. "With all the competing demands on their time, religion becomes a low priority, and so they practice their faith in shallow ways."
TIME Magazine -- In Touch With Jesus

What's Happening on Home Base?

I recently read an LCMS family ministry newsletter where they associated some good adjectives with it: "Family Ministry: Home-based, Church Supported".

In our field work church Chris is currently teaching confirmation class for students attending public school. And Carlotta is happy to be part of this class. Even though she is a bit younger than the other students, she can more than keep up.
It's sad to see, though, that most parents don't see class attendance as a necessity and only send the kids when it's convenient. What does this tell the young people about the importance of knowing about the faith that they want to confirm? Where is the multi-generational vision of passing on the Good News?
Professor Kloha from the seminary said something really sad in Sunday school the other day: "This culture doesn't have a story anymore. There is no beginning (we are just accidents), there is no purpose, no hope. Life becomes so cheap."
But there is glorious hope in Christ - what is more important to know? Do we want our children do be successful in this world by this world's standards? Then let them play baseball on Sunday mornings, so they may develop some more self-esteem, as if they need it. But can this ultimately give them a hope and a future? They need to know that they are a child of God and loved so much that Jesus died for them.