Report from Zambia on the Work in Ethiopia

The First Zambian Reformed Baptist Mission to Ethiopia

(By Victor Kanyense and Grave Singogo)

Ethiopia, or as it is popularly known Ityop’iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia), is situated in the ‘Horn of Africa’, in the northeast corner of the African continent. The capital city of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa (which means “new flower”), a city of an estimated 8 million people. Ethiopia is a landlocked country, bordered on the west by the Sudan, the northeast by Eritrea, the east by Djibouti and Somalia, and the south by Kenya. With an exception of Kenya, the rest of the countries bordering Ethiopia are Islamic countries.

Background Information and Short History

Ethiopia is unique among African countries. The history of Ethiopia is said to span 3,000 years, a land of plenty with a long and noble history giving rise to ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity. It is the only country that has never been under colonial rule, with an exception of a short-lived Italian Fascist occupation from 1936-41. It has more than 80 uniquely rich ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups. Hamitic peoples migrated to Ethiopia from Asia Minor in prehistoric times. Semitic traders from Arabia penetrated the region in the 7th century B.C. Its Red Sea ports were important to the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Ancient Ethiopia reached its peak in the 5th century, then was isolated by the rise of Islam and weakened by feudal wars. Coptic Christianity was brought to the region in A.D. 341, and a variant of it became Ethiopia’s state religion.

Ethiopia is renowned for its distinctive Christian tradition and association with the Ark of the Covenant of ancient Israel. It was to this land, that that Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, to whom Philip preached Christ, was coming to. Ethiopia also has the sixth largest number of people (approximately 1 million) living with HIV and AIDS of any country in the world. There are 575,000 children orphaned due to AIDS-related deaths of parents. As a result, more children need to stay home to take care of their fragmented families. Only 26 percent of Ethiopia’s children attend secondary school.

The population of Ethiopia is officially estimated to be around 85.8 million people.  Amharic, a Semitic language, is the official language. It is written with a version of the Ge’ez script known as Fidel. There is also, Tigrigna, Orominga, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, and English, and over 70 others. There are various ethnic/race groups in Ethiopia: Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigrean 32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali 6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2%, other 1%. On the religious scene, Ethiopia is made up of Islam (est. 45%–50%), Ethiopian Orthodox (est. 35%–40%), animist (12%), and others (3%–8%).

The Macedonian Call

“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’  After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:9-10).

Last year on January 20^th, 2009, Pastor Conrad Mbewe and Mr Wilson Kamanga travelled to Addis Ababa. Their visit was a fact-finding mission in response to a “Macedonian call” from that land. That Macedonian call came from Anthony Mathenia. Anthony needed help with the growing work in Ethiopia and was pointed to the Reformed Baptists in Zambia for that help.

They went to see how we, Reformed Baptists in Zambia, could help with the Addis Kidan (which means “New Testament”) Baptist family of churches. Presently has about 65 churches, mostly situated in the southwest of Addis Ababa. These churches have about sixty men undergoing modular-type training in Addis Ababa with a view that they should go into church planting across the country, depending of course on the final recommendation from the trainers.

Two of our Reformed Baptist pastors undertook the first Zambian Reformed Baptist mission to the land of the Ethiopian Eunuch: Dr Grave Singogo (Evangel Baptist Church, Lusaka) and Victor Kanyense (Mt. Makulu Baptist Church, Chilanga). They travelled to Ethiopia for a Church Leader Training programme organised by Anthony Mathenia. Let them tell the story.

We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the evening of November 4^th, to a warm and hearty Christian welcome from Anthony in the company of Yoseph, a wonderful Ethiopian Christian brother. Yoseph drove us all the time we were in Ethiopia. On Thursday morning at about 07:00 hours, Anthony and Yoseph came to pick us from the Addis Kidan Baptist guesthouse for our mission-trip to Jimma in the southwest of the country. As we finally left Addis Ababa for Jimma, we were now a team of six: Anthony, Yoseph, Grave and Victor, and joined by Alem, a fulltime worker with the Addis Kidan Baptist Association and Bisrat, both serving us as able translators during the training programme.

Jimma (also Jima) is the largest city in southwest Ethiopia. It is located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region. It was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Herbert S Lewis states that in the early 1960s Jimma was “the greatest market in all of south-western Ethiopia. On a good day in the dry season it attracts up to thirty thousand people.”

Driving to Jimma makes the trip worthwhile in itself. The scenery is great from the outskirts of Addis Ababa, with the beautiful Menagesha forest appearing on your right to lead the onslaught of scenery. The scenery continues with the Omo Valley, justifiably marked as one of the country’s scenic drives on the tourism map. Winding down and up the valley is a highlight of the trip. After about 400 km, we arrived at the city of Jimma. The Western Oromos of the area are overwhelmingly Muslim, and it is this Islamic culture that gives Jimma its atmosphere.

After we had checked into a local hotel and had had our late lunch, we headed for the Addis Kidan Baptist Church in Jimma who were the gracious hosts of the training programme. A sizeable group of Church leaders and members of the local church with their pastor, Pastor Getinet, were gathered to welcome us. Unlike us, Ethiopians came across to us as rather shy people, however very warm, friendly and welcoming.

Grave and Victor gave introductory expositions to the Bible themes they were to speak on for the next two days: Grave spoke on Christology focusing on the Person and work of our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He sketched the biblical doctrine of Christ showing that our Saviour is both God and man. He reaffirmed the fact that the work of Christ is not simply confined to His work on the cross, but spans all the way from eternity to His Second coming. In other words, though the most central and important aspect of the work of Christ on earth was His death on the cross, it is not limited to it. Indeed the work of Christ on earth is inclusive of His birth, His death, His burial and resurrection, His ascension and exaltation, His intercession, His Second coming and His final judgement. Grave then explained each of these aspects of the work of Christ in detail during the course of the training programme.

Victor spoke on soteriology, expounding some of the major Bible texts. He set the context for the studies by beginning with laying a firm foundation of what necessitated the sovereign work of God in salvation, by expounding Genesis 3 showing the nature and consequences of the fall of humanity in sin. Having laid that awful dark backdrop, the following day, Victor took up the Genesis 3:15, expounding the protevangelium, showing the announcement of a prolonged struggle, perpetual antagonism, wounds on both sides, and eventual victory for the Seed of woman. He illustrated this in his exposition of Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 55 in the two sessions on Friday, showing the sufferings of Christ and triumph of the cross for the salvation of the elect of God. On Saturday, Victor took up two passages in Ephesians. He dealt with the theme of God’s work of salvation for us in Ephesians 1, showing how the Triune God planned our great salvation: God the Father electing a people for Himself; God the Son, Jesus Christ, redeeming the elect and God the Holy Spirit sealing God’s people for eternity. In Ephesians 2, he dealt with the theme of God’s work of salvation in us, showing the absolute sovereignty of God in the work of salvation.

The response to the preached Word during the sessions was simply overwhelming and encouraging. The attentiveness of the brothers and sisters, their discipline to be seated and instructed from God’s Word was unprecedented. They sat listening to God’s Word, taking copious notes of what was been preached in all the sessions. On occasion, the response was so spontaneous to the exposition of God’s Word as the brothers and sisters broke out in singing, prayer, and praise to the Lord. There were brief tea breaks between the sessions that were mingled with beautiful Ethiopian voices singing and enthusiastic prayers and praise to the Lord.

On the Lord’s Day, Victor preached to an overflowing and enthusiastic congregation. He expounded on David strengthening himself in the LORD his God at Ziklag in 1 Samuel 30:1-6, encouraging the people of God to always trust in the providence of God. Yes, as the hymn writers wonderfully captures this in their hymn:

I know Who holds the future,

And He’ll guide me with His hand,

With God things don’t just happen,

Everything by Him is planned;

So as I face tomorrow

With its problem large and small,

Give to Him my all.

We headed back for Addis Ababa after the morning worship on the Lord’s Day. We got back early Sunday evening to a well-deserved rest.

Reflections on the Mission to Ethiopia

The following day, Monday, we spent mid-morning to late afternoon prayerfully reflecting back on the training programme and thinking together about the way forward for the work of Reformation in Ethiopia. This we did around delicious cups of Ethiopian coffee. It is very clear from talking to Anthony that he carries a heavy and deep burden for a true work of Reformation to planted, established and nurtured on the Ethiopian ecclesiastical scene. His passion and vision is very infectious and we ‘fear’ we have caught it, and heartily so. It is our earnests pray that all Reformed Baptists in Zambia may also catch this vision for a true work of Reformation far beyond our borders, in the land of Ethiopia and that the Lord may graciously grant to us this unprecedented opportunity to reach out to Ethiopia and respond to the “Macedonian call” coming from that land. Towards the end of our report, we would like to share some few reflections, thoughts, and areas needing earnest pray and possible engagement in Ethiopia.

On Monday evening, we were privileged to have dinner with some board members of the Addis Kidan Baptist Churches Association. Ray and Lauralee Lindholm, American Baptist missionaries to Ethiopia, arranged this dinner/meeting with the board members. Ray and Lauralee wanted us to share with the Association Board members our mission and ministry in Jimma. We met the board Chairman Abera, the General Secretary Kifle, and another board member. We shared briefly with them our ministry in Jimma and our sincere desire to partner with them in any future endeavour in the cause of our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the land of Ethiopia.

As may be noted above, Ethiopia is surrounded by Islamic countries, with the exception of Kenya to the south. Ethiopia stands more or less at the threshold of the 10/40 Window providing us with an unprecedented opportunity to reach the Islamic world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is important to point out here that much of Ethiopian Evangelicalism is defined by the tenets that characterise the contemporary Charismatic movement and it’s semi-Pelagian doctrinal outlook and man-centred worship. We were reliably informed that much of the so-called Christian literature so prevalent on the Ethiopian Christian scene, especially in the Amharic language, is that being produced from the “prosperity and prefect health” teaching. Sad and grievous as this may be, there is little of the solid and sound theologically Reformed works that we in the English-speaking world enjoy and take for granted. However, it was delightful to learn, as we were making our way to the airport, that a missionary organisation, Serving In Missions (SIM) is busy translating some good Reformed works. On the list of good books translated into Amharic is Richard Baxter’s magisterial work of shepherding God’s flock, the Reformed Pastor.

Allow us to share some areas that were impressed on our hearts while ministering in Ethiopia and as we prayerfully reflected together on what the Lord is doing in that land. Here are some areas calling for prayer:

*Let us pray for the Lord to open a door for us to minister in Ethiopia through the Addis Kidan Baptist Churches Association. Pray that the Lord would unite our hearts with the brethren of Ethiopia that the fruit of this fellowship will enrich our lives both for our Ethiopian brethren and for us in Zambia.

*Let us pray for the various church leaders who have been attending these special Church Leaders Training seminars that Anthony Mathenia has been conducting for sometime now. As Conrad as rightly observed in his blog, “…those who learn the truths of Scripture with respect to biblical ecclesiology will be given wisdom and courage to apply the truths in developing truly biblical churches for the good of the people of Ethiopia and for the glory of God.”

*Let us pray for the evangelisation of the various ethnic groups across length and breadth of Ethiopia. Much of the work of the Addis Kidan Baptist churches is in the southwest of Ethiopia. Let us pray for the planting and establishment of biblical churches across Ethiopia: north, west, east and south. This opportunity brings to our doorsteps an estimated 80 million people to be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

*Let us pray for this unprecedented opportunity to enter the 10/40 Window with the gospel of Jesus Christ and establish a biblical witness in those countries. This opportunity is unprecedented, as we may note for the map, Ethiopia is right at the threshold to the 10/40 Window.

*Let us pray for the Lord to either provide resources or move His church in the West to take up the challenge for the translation of solid and sound Reformed literature and theological works into the Amharic language. Overwhelmingly, most of the so-called Christian literature readily available in Amharic is the erroneous teachings of charismatic movement on material prosperity and prefect health. These writings do not address the essential need for the salvation of humanity.

*Let us pray for Addis Kidan Baptist churches across Ethiopia to embrace a true Reformation in doctrine and worship and life. We have noted from our own experience in Zambia that without a true Reformation many churches become susceptible to the poison of the contemporary charismatic movement.

*Let us also pray that the Lord may send a missionary (or missionaries) from among us in Zambia to Ethiopia to labour among His people there for a true work of Reformation.

Oh, may the Lord our Saviour be pleased to enlarge our hearts for missions to Ethiopia: “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes” (Isaiah 54:2 NIV). Amen!