Alfia’s Story: A Journey of God’s Leading

Reminded of how God had used the past few years to grow her as a person, a scholar, and a teacher, Alfia was ready to walk the stage at graduation — the culmination of her Southeastern journey.

A Search for God and His People

When Alfia was growing up in the Soviet Union during the 1970’s and 80’s, Christian education was never something she considered. In fact, her entire family, like many, were atheists and had no interest in religion. However, Alfia was curious by nature and had many questions, especially when the world around her seemed so dark.

“When I asked my mom, ‘Why are we living?’ she would say, ‘I don’t know. I’m living for you, for your sakes, for my children,’” Alfia remembered. “And I said, ‘Am I supposed to live for my children when I grow up?’ And she said, ‘I suppose so.’”

“But what’s the point of all this?” Alfia would ask. Her mother was unable to answer her. So Alfia continued to search.

“I read lots of books, sort of a bookworm, and I read about all the wonderful people in my books, and I couldn’t meet them,” Alfia explained. “I couldn’t see them around me.”

I read about all the wonderful people in my books, and I couldn’t meet them. I couldn’t see them around me.

“And I remember reading the gospel for the first time.”

All she had at the time was a New Testament for children, full of pictures illustrating each of the stories. As she read, Alfia once again met a person unlike those she saw all around her. But this man, Jesus, wasn’t just different; though Alfia didn’t know it yet, this man was real, and he could change lives.

As Alfia absorbed one story after another, she grew more and more impressed with Jesus, with his teaching and his care for others, how he healed them and loved them — even those who eventually nailed him to a cross. Alfia was so amazed. She had to tell her classmates what she had read:

“And he prayed ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing’ — from the cross!”

Although Alfia was fascinated by these stories, she didn’t understand what they meant for her personally. Only a few weeks after having a dream that arrested her spiritually, she heard the gospel from her brother who had recently become a Christian. Alfia suddenly understood.

“It just clicked immediately,” she recalled. “That’s the answer I was looking for! I wanted to be with God and with God’s people.”

That’s the answer I was looking for! I wanted to be with God and with God’s people.

The first time Alfia went to church she was welcomed with a kindness and warmth like what she read of in her books. She could see the light shining in these Christians’ faces, and Alfia realized: “These are the people I’ve been looking for.”

Not long after her first visit to church, Alfia decided to fully commit herself to Christ, and she too experienced the light and life of salvation.

Cultivating the Gift of Teaching

Over the next several years, as Alfia slowly grew in her faith, she began to recognize in herself a passion for teaching and for telling others what she discovered. This passion developed into Bible studies and women’s groups and eventually into speaking and teaching opportunities. Around the same time, Alfia started working at a Bible college where she was involved in English translation work. During one season, she even had the opportunity to learn Hebrew and help with a Bible translation project in her own language, Tatar. It was clear that God had given Alfia a gift for this work and for learning as well as teaching.

However, as the years went by and life grew more and more busy with children and other responsibilities, Alfia found less time to engage in teaching and ministry. Furthermore, in her culture it was uncommon for a woman to serve on church staff or in a position of leadership, and this discouraged her from pursuing her gifts further. So, as time passed, Alfia’s teaching days grew more and more distant.

“This Was God’s Leading”

In 2019 Alfia and her husband traveled to the United States to attend a Gospel Coalition conference in Indianapolis. It was during this visit, bolstered by the encouragement of her husband, that Alfia’s interest in learning was once more reignited.

“I saw all these amazing women with master’s degrees and PhDs who were serving alongside men doing such good work. And I realized, ‘This is what I could be doing, helping my church establish an educational program or something like that,’” she recalled.

After that trip the Tiutikovs start praying for wisdom, for God’s guidance, and for opportunities for Alfia to pursue more education. It was around this time that Alfia shared her dreams with a friend living in Kazan who served as a missionary with her husband.

Unbeknownst to Alfia, this friend was a Southeastern graduate, and she quickly told Alfia, “You know, my mentor is coming soon to visit me here. Would you like to meet her? Her husband works at a seminary called Southeastern.”

The mentor was Lesley Hildreth, the women’s discipleship director at The Summit Church and wife of Scott Hildreth, associate professor of missiology at Southeastern.

Lesley connected with Alfia and invited her to come back to the States to tour the seminary and discern whether or not she wanted to pursue a degree there. Alfia agreed and, in October 2019, made her first trip to Wake Forest and the campus of Southeastern.

During that visit, her decision was made. Struck by the genuineness of the people she met at Southeastern, their love for the Lord and for his mission, she felt certain that this was the next step to take on her journey.

“It just felt again,” Alfia said, “after all those prayers, that this was God’s leading for me to come here.”

It just felt again, after all those prayers, that this was God’s leading for me to come here.

Growing Through Theological Education

Alfia began her degree the following fall semester, enrolling in a Master of Divinity in Christian ministry.

During the entirety of her time in seminary, Alfia remained in Russia, studying remotely and learning through online lectures and meetings with her professors. For some of her classes she had the opportunity to take a live course format which allowed her to video call into the in-person class and participate with her classmates in North Carolina.

Classes like Christian ethics and personal discipleship and disciple making challenged Alfia to consider how she thought about and approached certain areas of her life. She found many of her professors eager and ready to help her as she wrestled with new ideas and their application in her personal context.

Meanwhile, classes like church history and biblical languages equipped her to approach those disciplines with deeper understanding and proficiency, preparing her further for ministry.

As Alfia found things in her studies that were particularly helpful, she brought them to the women in her bible study and taught them there. When the time came to complete her semester-long mentored internship, her friend Lesley Hildreth agreed to act as her mentor and oversee her ministry work remotely.

Alfia’s journey as a master’s student was almost over, but God had one last surprise in store, and it was a big one.

A Dream Come True

The idea of traveling to the States with her entire family for graduation had seemed like an impossible dream. Yet in God’s sovereign timing and providence, he made it all possible. At the end of many prayers and a long family trip to request their visas, everything was approved. The family, giddy with excitement, couldn’t wait to see their mom graduate and receive the fruit of years of hard work.

On December 13, in front of hundreds of people, Alfia crossed Binkley chapel’s stage to receive her diploma while her husband and children stood in her honor.

“It was a dream coming true in front of our eyes,” Alfia said. “We remembered, ‘Wow, God is so good.’ And it’s a very special gift to me to be able to be here in person and to have my family with me. It’s amazing.”

It’s a very special gift to me to be able to be here in person and to have my family with me.

During graduation, Alfia had the opportunity to meet many of the Southeastern professors who had helped her along the way and equipped her on her academic journey.

Now as Alfia and her family look to the future and what God has in store for them, they ask for prayer for guidance and for wisdom.

“Pray for God to strengthen us to continue to be faithful to him,” Alfia requested. “We strongly feel called to stay and serve the people in Russia because they need the gospel just as everybody else does.”

Alfia longs to see the people of her country seeking truth and hope, and her prayer is that churches would be ready to respond with the gospel and with love for the lost.

Like many Southeastern graduates, Alfia has a passion for the Great Commission and for the local church. And like her fellow alumni across the world, gospel proclamation and ministry are unique in her context. In hard-to-reach places God is at work among his people, moving hearts, changing lives, and preparing laborers for the harvest.