Introduction
Mennonite Mission in Ethiopia
Meserete Kristos Church

Ethiopia. World Factbook, 2006

Located in eastern Africa, Ethiopia has an area of 460,000 sq. mi. (1,191,400 sq. km.) and an estimated population in 1987 of 45 million. The people subscribe to Christianity, introduced in A.D. 335; Islam, begun in the 6th century; and traditional (animist) religions. Evangelicals began to evangelize in the 17th century but did not prosper until the 20th century. In 1987 40 percent of the population belonged to the Ethiopian Orthodox church and only 3 percent were evangelical.

The country has been independent except for the five-year domination by Italy in the early 1940s; consequently the people do not hold bitterness toward colonial powers as in some other parts of Africa.

Much of Ethiopia is a high plateau with a pleasant year-round climate. Early rains come in April; the heavy rains begin in July and last through September. The northeast is desert-like lowlands reaching from the inland mountains to the Red Sea. Here nomadic tribes live. In the mountains and deep river valleys people farm for a living, grow their grain and vegetables and raise cattle. Coffee and hides are important exports. The living standard in 1987 was one of the lowest in Africa with an average income between $100 and $200. In 1974 a socialist government succeeded a monarchy of many centuries duration.

Mennonite Mission in Ethiopia

Mennonites first went to Ethiopia in 1945 as relief workers sponsored by the Relief Committee of Mennonite Board of Missions (MC). Samuel Yoder and Paul Hooley made initial contacts and found the country to be in need of medical and educational work because the Italian occupation left the country bereft of an educated class. Even so the government was reluctant to admit foreign missionaries. So the Mennonites tried to prove themselves as people of service and not as intruders in the nations's politics nor as proselytizers of Orthodox Christians.

Mennonites contracted with the government to renovate a cotton gin into a hospital at Nazareth, a town of 30,000 located at an elevation of 5,000 ft., 60 mi. (97 km.) southeast of Addis Ababa. By 1947 renovation was complete for a 40-bed hospital, a training school for medical assistants (dressers), and an outpatient clinic. The place was named Haile Mariam Mamo Memorial Hospital in honor of a statesman killed during the war with Italy.

Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities, Salunga, PA sent Daniel and Blanch Sensenig in anticipation of being able to obtain permission to do mission work. Emperor Haile Selassie I invited Mennonites to function as a mission and do educational and medical work among Muslims in Hararge Province. A hospital and the first elementary school was built at Deder in Hararge Province, a school and clinic were opened at Bedeno, and an evening school was established in Dire Dawa. A School for the Blind, directed by Clayton and Martha Keener, was opened in Addis Ababa in 1952. In 1959 a Bible Academy was opened at Nazareth. A staff of 30 missionaries—doctors, nurses, teachers, pastors—were appointed by Eastern Board to maintain these institutions. Congregations were formed around these institutions. When the Meserete Kristos Church was organized in 1959 there were 400 attending worship at these places.

Meserete Kristos Church

Missionaries considered it a part of their work to establish churches. Complete freedom for this was given in Muslim areas such as Hararge Province, but restrictions were placed on such activity at Nazareth, a strong Orthodox area. The first believers were baptized in 1951; they were from Nazareth but were taken to Addis Ababa for the ceremony because of the government restrictions. The service programs set up by the mission opened doors and helped establish confidence with the people and the government. Jobs in teaching and medicine brought young people into contact with the missionaries. Doctors prayed before treating patients and national evangelists were hired to minister to patients.

The church officially began in 1959 when 11 Ethiopian lay leaders met with missionaries to set up a structure to coordinate the work of the five congregations which had formed on the mission stations. An annual Christian Life Conference helped make the church known to other evangelical groups. Under the direction of Daniel S. Sensenig and Chester L. Wenger a General Church Council was organized in 1959 with lay "counselors" chosen to each represent 20 members in the fellowship groups. By 1964 Ethiopians had replaced missionaries in the executive offices and missionaries then served as assistants. The council met semiannually to plan for nurture and evangelism and review institutional work. The name Meserete Kristos Bete Kristian (Christ Foundation Church) was chosen because the term "Mennonite" had no local meaning. The church took over the administration of the schools and hospitals begun by the mission in order to minister to the whole person. It organized a medical board, board of education, and evangelism board. These institutions helped the church become established. A number of leaders in the 1980s came to the church from contacts made during medical and secondary training. On Sundays eager Christians went into the surrounding areas to witness to the gospel.

Congregations were established at Wonji, Shoa, and Meta Hara among people from other areas who moved to these places to work on sugar plantations along the Awash River. A church was built in the Bole area of Addis Ababa for the fellowship that met at the School for the Blind. By 1973 Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) had 8 congregations with 800 members, 11 elementary schools, 2 junior high schools, 1 boarding high school, 2 hospitals, 2 clinics, 2 guest houses, a bookstore with several branches and a literature program which produced a newsletter, Zena.

From 1966 to 1974 MKC joined with the Baptist General Conference Mission to form Globe Publishing House which published Sunday school materials and leadership training courses for evangelical churches.

In 1973 a spiritual awakening took place, after a long period of slow growth. It started in Nazareth where people started flocking to church and confessed their sins. Many zealous Christians gave their time to God's work. Each congregation has its own history of how God's spirit started to move among them. In the 1970s the number of congregations increased to 15. In 1973 the government closed the Pentecostal churches in Addis Ababa. The MKC Bole chapel tried to accommodate the influx of Pentecostals seeking a place to worship, by building lean-to shelters and by conducting services in three shifts.

During this time choirs and the writing of music began to proliferate in evangelical churches. A new type of music—neither western nor Orthodox—was developed and spread throughout the country by cassette tapes.

With the coming of the new military rule in 1974 workers who felt oppressed under the monarchy began to demonstrate and demand more rights and better pay. The church, unable to meet the worker demands, transferred the hospitals to the government. The Menno Bookstore was nationalized in 1977; the Bible Academy in 1982. In 1982 also the government closed all 15 congregations of the Meserete Kristos Church and detained five of its leaders for four years. The church does not officially exist since that time. Mennonite Central Committee continues to carry on agricultural development work, reforestation, resettlement of refugees, and distribution of food in times of famine.   

In 2003 there 275 congregations with 98,000 members.       

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 273-274. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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