Ethiopian Evangelicals - From Mengistu's Dungeons to Addis Stadium:

An Ethiopian Cinderella story

When some members of Ethiopia’s Meserete Kristos and Kale Hiywot churches were imprisoned and tortured by the previous governments, when some members of Ethiopia’s Mulu Wongel church were killed or when other Evangelical Ethiopians were declared illegal by the Derg regime over two decades ago, nobody expected to see Ethiopia come this far. Nobody expected to see Ethiopia give such freedom to her sons and daughters who chose other denominations of Christianity !.

But years later –after so many cries, tears and prayers – the Ethiopia we have today can only be identified as a miracle compared to the dark ages before 20 years ago. All Ethiopians have their own list, their own special reasons to celebrate and be joyful and thankful, including those who remember the death of nearly 1 million Ethiopians during the famine of 1984. But it would be a big mistake not to add the flourishing freedom of religion in today’s Ethiopia, and as respected by our government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi; to their long list of reasons to celebrate. For our various evangelical churches in Ethiopia , it is a freedom that can’t taste much sweeter than these todays.

This freedom couldn’t have been more exemplified than by the recent astounding festivities and mass worship gatherings at our country’s center stage – Addis Ababa Stadium ! This magnificent stadium used to be the place where we used to display our patriotic spirit and our Ethiopian nationalism in support of our victorious athletes, but only to be accused of being “un-Ethiopian Pentay” the next day, and lose our places of worship, the day after.

This magnificent stadium used to be the place where many of our fellow evangelicals enjoyed their last laughs with non-evangelical Ethiopians; before being detained, tortured and sometimes killed – by the same non-evangelical Ethiopians working for the government. And all this, because of their religious preferences! But today, numbering over 12 million people, Ethiopian evangelicals can only afford to give praise to God for delivering them from the suffering they and their forefathers and their churches have went through! And no better or no more symbolic place to display this progress than at the Addis Ababa national stadium. Filled with tens of thousands of Ethiopian Evangelicals and their numerous choirs and Pastors from various Protestant denominations, today’s worships in our nation’s stadium can only be a reminder of the sacrifices of Ethiopians who changed our nation and the compassion of our lord & savior Jesus Christ. Even if evangelical Christians in Ethiopia do not like to be involved in politics, it is no secret that we give thanks to authorities and to people whom our God used to do his miracles.

Many local and international organizations, including the American State Department reports, have praised the achievements of the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and millions of Ethiopian evangelicals are the daily testimonies of it. These achievements can also be exemplified by the new status of Ethiopia as a safe heaven and a refugee place for evangelicals and other Christians persecuted in neighboring countries like Somalia and Eritrea. But as Obama said to his American audience, I say to our leader PM Meles Zenawi and to the Ethiopian people too, “we have come so far…but there is so much more to do.” While our government today respects all freedom of religion and our freedom to worship, some people in the rural have indicated sporadic problems our churches face at local levels in the southeastern of the country and at old-fashioned communities who still look at non-Orthodox Christianity very negatively. It is important that our government and our leaders keep improving the freedom of religion they have established, not just generally at the central government level, but also at the local level or at the grassroots.

In January of 2007, Georgetown University honored and awarded our First Lady Azeb Mesfin for her leadership in Africa against HIV/AIDS.. When we saw Mrs. Azeb Mesfin going door to door to many of the remote places of Ethiopia to gives advice to families on HIV prevention methods and bad cultural practices to our people in Ethiopia, our evangelical churches only dreamed of the First Lady setting similar examples against bad cultural and behavioral practices in Ethiopia where many Evangelical youth are being kicked out of their homes and looked down upon by their own families just for choosing another religion. So it is important that the achievement our government registered is replicated at the local level and family level. Together, we will get there and we can do more with the help of our leaders. While Ethiopian Evangelicals ask for more to be done at the local level, we can never overlook, for even one second, how far we have come as a country, how great the current Ethiopian government has been for religious freedom and how much of our prayers have already been answered. Ethiopia has come a long way. Ethiopia has truly become a light in this dark region of the world. A refugee for the persecuted. Our job is to worship God and give thanks to the lord always. At the same time, we will never forget the sacrifice and the work of those people and leaders which God has used to bring miracles to Ethiopia . As our Evangelical churches grow even faster and proceed in this new Ethiopian Millennium, we know that Ethiopian evangelicals are truly a symbol of an Ethiopian Cinderella story.

God Bless Ethiopia

Melaku Tesfaye, Member of Kale Hiywot Church

Related Story:- The contours of Justice: A Christian Call to Action

NEW:- Have Your Say In Our Comment Section.

"" 

BACK TO ETHIOCROSS FRONT PAGE