Source: Wikipedia Commons

Ethiopia. World Factbook, 2006

Introduction

Located in eastern Africa, Ethiopia has an area of 426,371 square miles (1,104,300 sq. km.) and an estimated population in 2008 of 78,254,090. 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.

In 1974 a Soviet-backed Marxist-Leninist military government succeeded a monarchy of many centuries duration. During the 1980s the country was devasted by wide-scale droughts and resulting famines, leaving approximately 1 million people dead. In 1991 the Marxist-Leninist government was removed and a new constitution was adopted in 1994, resulting in free elections in 1995.

Mennonite Mission in Ethiopia

Mennonites first went to Ethiopia in 1945 as relief workers sponsored by the Mennonite 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. As a result, the Mennonites tried to prove themselves as people of service and not as intruders in the nation'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.

In December 1947 Daniel and Blanche Sensenig of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference arrived in Ethiopia, sent by the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities. Their goal was to obtain permission to begin an evangelical mission service. In 1948 Emperor Haile Selassie I invited Mennonites to function as a mission and do educational and medical work among Muslims in Hararge Province. This was the start of the Ethiopia Mennonite Mission. 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 services in five locations: Deder, Bedeno, Dire Dawa, Addis Ababa, and Nazareth.

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 1972 the government outlawed the Mulu Wengel (Full Gospel) church. This Pentecostal church was started by a group of high school students learning English and a Mennonite doctor, influenced by the teachings of the Finnish Pentecostal Mission. Many members of this church joined Meserete Kristos Church congregations and had a significant influence on the denomination. After what had been a period of slow growth, a spiritual awakening began in 1973. As a result, the Meserete Kristos church is far more charismatic and Pentecostal than most of its sister Mennonite churches. Churches practice faith healing, exorcism of demons, and speaking in tongues.

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 communist military rule (known as the Derg) 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 the government closed all 15 congregations of the Meserete Kristos Church and detained five of its leaders for four years. The church no longer officially met during this time, choosing instead to meet in small cell groups. Mennonite Central Committee continued to carry on agricultural development work, reforestation, resettlement of refugees, and distribution of food in times of famine.

Even though the church was in hiding during the Derg years, membership grew dramatically. In 1982 the church had 5,000 members. In 1994, after the fall of the communist government, 50,000 Meserete Kristos members gathered in a stadium to publicly congregate for the first time in 20 years. In 1994 the Meserete Kristos College was established to produce new church leaders. Originally established in Addis Ababa, the college moved to Debre Zeyit in January 2007.

In 2006 there were 398 congregations and 785 church-planting centers in the Meserete Kristos Church with a total of 144,604 baptized members, making it the world's largest Anabaptist conference. By October 2008 there were 484 congregations and 834 church planting centers with 172,299 baptized members and a total of 337,123 faith community members.

Bibliography

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

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