The Witness of a Cruciform Community in Revolutionary Ethiopia

Global Missiology English, 2017

This paper attempts to examine the missionary strategies that enable the survival of Christianity in Ethiopia till today. The study was based on the library and internet materials. There were discussions on the historical background of Ethiopia, historical development of Christianity in Ethiopia, the historical background of religious war in Ethiopia and the Missionary strategies that helped Christianity to take root till today in Ethiopia. Lastly, the conclusion was drawn from the entire work. It was recommended that in this twenty first century missions to any community or country should be centred on conversion of political heads or local heads to the Christian faith as this would help a lot in the future of Christianity in that community and beyond. More so, any Christian community, nation, city, town or village that may be experiencing invasion of antichrist should quickly seek the help of other Christians in their neighbourhood or other Christians around the world. Finally, ot...

in Ficquet E., Prunier G. (eds), Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia,: Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi, , 2015

2011

Review of Tibebe Eshete, Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience (Waco Texas: Baylor University Press, 2009), xiii + 480 pp

Although the introduction of Christianity to the Kore, southwestern Ethiopia, dates to the 14 th and 15 th centuries, it remained marginal until Charismatic-Pentecost al Christianity expanded and transformed the religious landscape of the Kore in the 20 th century. This paper explores the historical and political factors behind this surge and its effects on Kore culture and belief. Based on literature review and my field observations, I argue that the religious change in Kore reflects historically varying counter-hegemonic reactions to north Ethiopian domination. Contemporary religious change, the paper will show, needs to be understood as counter-hegemonic reaction capable of reorganizing the Kore culture and belief in particular and the communities of southwestern Ethiopia in general.

Falling Walls: The Year 1989/90 as a Turning Point in the History of World Christianity, ed. by Klaus Koschorke, 2009

sion churches, the rise ofneo-Pentecostal influence, the confusion ofidentity and purpose; in the ecumenically aligned churches, and a shifting local social imaginary. These havei some global dimensions of significance for the self-understanding of the Church, and they'; also raise critical questions about a nation-state perspective in the assessment of contempo-"I rary Christianity.

2000

Grenstedt, Staffan 2000: Ambaricho and Shonkolla. From Local Independent Church to the Evangelical Mainstream in Ethiopia. The Origins of the Mekane Yesus Church in Kambata Hadiya. Studia Missionalia Svecana LXXXII. 316 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-85424-60-9.

Mennonite Quarterly Review, 2017

Under persecution during the Ethiopian Revolution (1974-1991), highly committed men and women led the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) through remarkable transformation and growth. Although persecution has been an enduring reality in the global church, leadership in that context has received scant research attention. Drawing on interviews and other first-person accounts of faithful MKC leaders in the Derg era, this essay explores the dynamics of their experience using the leadership theory of Robert E. Quinn as a conceptual lens. Persecution forced MKC leaders to clarify the priority of their commitment to Jesus and the mission of the church. Prepared to die for the sake of the gospel, they demonstrated leadership marked by a highly effective pursuit of purpose, compelling integrity under pressure, attractive love, and remarkable creativity—leading to extraordinary results. Between 1974 and 1991 the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC)—an Anabaptist Christian renewal movement in Ethiopia—experienced a profound transformation. Under pressure from a Marxist regime bent on eradicating evangelical Christianity from the country, the MKC grew from 800 to 34,000 baptized members, greatly expanded its geographic reach, dramatically increased the pool of people in active ministry, became financially self-supporting, adopted a radically new ministry structure, and nurtured a contagious spiritual vitality among its members. A remarkable group of leaders—both men and women—played an essential role in this transformation, leading the MKC with courageous purpose, integrity, love, and creativity. This essay, based largely on extensive interviews with twenty-four MKC leaders, explores the dynamics of leadership that enabled the MKC not only to survive but also to flourish under circumstances of persecution and extreme hardship. Research participants were selected based on the recommendations of various people with personal knowledge of MKC

Journal of Mennonite Studies, 1999

Joan Yoder concludes her chapter in this volume by clearly identifying the paradigm shift gender roles and relationships are currently undergoing. It is not an easy time! It is a time of exploring "new models of life-giving mutuality" (1 38), observes Yoder. With longing, hope, fascination, and wonder she invites us to listen and hear the stories of four individuals, to sense their peace, happiness, and courage as they pursue wholeness for themselves and others. As these life-giving experiences are shared, Yoder creates and protects a sense of being on holy ground and suggests that upon hearing such stories "Perhaps the best we can do is to say amen" (138). This study has a similar impact on readers who are interested in the topic, issues, and personal stories ofwhat it means to be women and men in the church. If readers are looking for a book offering final answers, you will be taken by surprise. If however, you are interested in exploring assumptions about gender roles and in shaping, or more accurately reshaping , a theology of gender, this book promises to enliven your head, heart and spirit. The Women's Concerns committee of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) have worked on issues of abuse and this volume emerges from that context. After having published several resource materials focusing on what to do after abuse has occurred, MCC is looking for ways to deal with abuse prevention. The project provides a forum for conversation and a stimulus for new thinking. This book is intended as a practical guide offering direction toward a theology of gender and I believe it begins to take the reader on that journey. Carol Penner sets the course as the editor for this study guide. Penner has designed an interesting collection of writing from various authors exploring, with insight and candour, issues around gender and faith. The format for the book is user friendly, for individual or small group study. The 13 chapters follow a standard study guide approach: content based on the authors expertise and experience followed by a prayer, a few questions to facilitate discussion and a listing ofresources to extend the study on that specific issue. The chapters are distinct units, the continuity lies in that each addresses gender issues albeit with a different focus.

What Does Theology Do, Actually? , 2020

The cover of this book features four photographs. Positioned under the title, being the statement of the question, "What does theology do, actually?", the photographs might be seen as providing four possible answers: Stack of Books. The first photograph is placed to meet stereotypical expectations. Theologians read and write books. Worshippers in Mombasa, Kenya. The second photograph also meets expectations, but broadens them, drawing the imagination beyond the written word to the operations of theo-logics in religious life. Martin Luther, Protester. The third photograph is of the statue of Martin Luther standing before the Memorial Church of the Protestation in Speyer, Germany, commemorating, not theology per se but certainly something that theology "did": The Reformation, however one marks its theological origins, gained its name from the political-theological protestation filed by six regional princes and the delegates of fourteen free imperial cities in 1529 against the emperor's silencing of Luther. Covenant of the Neighbor Love Movement. The fourth photograph documents a social movement in Ethiopia that seeks to draw Christians, Muslims, Jews, and non-religious persons together around shared commitments to love neighbors. Over 1.000.000 people have signed the covenant. The What Does Theology Do, Actually? project aims not to do theology, but to observe what theologies do, around the world today, in and for the communities in which they circulate and hold meaning. How is theology understood and practiced as a semantics of global society? What kinds of problems do theologies solve and how? These questions are pursued, moreover, with specific attention given to the "transcultural". Much might be learned both about the role of Christian religion in public life and about evolving trends in theological understanding or praxis by examining comparatively the ways Christian communities encode transcultural experiences of irritation coming from the social environment (for example, climate change, protest movements, digitalization, mass migration, or global pandemics) into their self-understanding (for example, in engagement with received tradition) and self-formation (for example, in liturgy and community ethics). This requires theoretical open mindedness and methodological agility. The project therefore follows a two-step logic. First, the project seeks to observe theological work as itself a set of social discourses or objects contingently particular to certain contexts. A focus on answering the question "What is theology?" privileges those who already possess the resources and power to shape what counts as being "really" theology or not. By contrast, the descriptive approach preferred by the question "What does theology do?" objectifies "theologies" as a kind of social artifact and recognizes a variety of reflected religious communications as communicating theology. Second, in this way, the project aims to disrupt dominant paradigms in academic theological research, to expand the category of theological work(s) beyond textual formats and classroom or conference situations to include a variety of spaces, symbols, practices, and artifacts that function as transmitters of reflected religious communications, and to contribute to work diversifying theological methodologies to include empirical, qualitative, and quantitative research methods. The What Does Theology Do, Actually? project consists of symposia and a limited book series. An international community of theologians, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, scholars of religion, and practitioners, from widely differing contexts, and at all career stages are invited to disruptive dialogue with one another in the context of symposia devoted to comparative study of theological production and communication systems. The inaugural symposium called into question such basic issues as what a context is, what counts as a theological work, and what publics theologies inevitably address and how. It addressed these questions with Protestant, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic theological interventions from Ethiopia, Nigeria,