Rev. Robert Rahn shares a
Reformation history book
with a young girl in India
| LHF Founder and Ambassador When the Iron Curtain came down, Rev. Robert Rahn took up the challenge of spreading the Christian faith to people who’d had little, if any, opportunity to hear God’s Word. He founded the Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF), an organization dedicated to translating, publishing and distributing confessional Lutheran materials worldwide. Rev. Rahn will tell you amazing stories of Christians surviving genera-tions of hostile atheistic government domination in the former Soviet Union. Pastors were imprisoned and executed; church buildings, Bibles and other Christian printed materials were destroyed. Without the printed Word to sustain and grow their faith, the Christian confession was all but dead. But when the Soviet Union’s doors opened to the West, Rev. Rahn saw the opportunity for God’s Word to flourish once again. Establishing Lutheran translation centers throughout Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, he spearheaded projects to translate Luther’s Small Catechism, The Book of Concord, and other books integral to the Lutheran faith. Today, four seminaries operate in Latvia, Siberia, Ukraine and Russia, their classrooms stocked with books produced by LHF. After his experiences in the former Soviet Union, Rev. Rahn realized there were other walls ready to come down. In 1994, he was contacted by Rev. Andrew Mbugo Elisa, who worked for the Anglican Church in Sudan, Africa. Rev. Elisa had heard about Lutheranism and wanted to learn more. LHF sent five copies of Luther’s Small Catechism and a Book of Concord. From there, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan (ELCS) was born. Today, Rev. Rahn serves as congregations’ connection to this incredible work that the Lutheran Heritage Foundation is doing in more than 70 countries around the world. Would your congregation like to hear more?
Contact the Lutheran Heritage Foundation to schedule Rev. Rahn as a special speaker at your congregation. You can hear Rev. Rahn’s inspiring accounts of God’s church persevering and growing under the most adverse circumstances, and how you can take part in this “second Reformation.” E-mail the LHF office, or call the LHF World Mission Center at (800)554-0723.
| Download Rev. Robert Rahn's biographical information formatted as a church bulletin insert. PDF: Rev. Rahn insert
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