— Newly Formed —

Fellowship of Baptists in ETHIOPIA

Seven Baptist groups in Ethiopia met for the first time and organized an umbrella organization, the Fellowship of Baptists of Ethiopia.

The meeting on May 5, which was facilitated by the Baptist World Alliance and the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, formed a committee to help determine the types and levels of cooperation between the seven bodies, which will cooperate in the newly established fellowship. “This was to be the very first time that leaders of these groups were gathering for discussion and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to facilitate the event,” said BWA General Secretary Neville Callam, who was present at the meeting in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital. “There was an exchange of information which involved each group telling the story of its beginnings and characterizing its current ministry.” Callam said “participants expressed joy and relief for the opportunity they had to meet each other in loving fellowship and sharing.”

The seven groups are the Ethiopian Baptist Evangelical Church,

the Ethiopian Addis Kidan (New Covenant) Baptist Church, the Ethiopian Berhane Christos (Light of Christ) Baptist Church, the Ethiopian Berhane Wangel (Light of the Gospel) Baptist Church, the Ethiopian Bible Baptist Church, the Ethiopian Bole Bible Baptist Church and the Immanuel Baptist Church Fellowship.

BWA General Secretary Callam (left back) and BWA Regional Secretary for Africa Duro Ayanrinola (center front) with Baptist leaders in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Baptist Evangelical Church and the Ethiopian Addis Kidan (New Covenant) Baptist Church are member organizations of the BWA.

The seven represent a total membership of approximately 180,000 believers with the Ethiopian Berhane Christos (Light of Christ) Baptist Church reporting 100,000. They trace their origins to mission work done by Converge

Worldwide, formerly known as Baptist General Conference, the Southern Baptist Convention and Baptist Bible Fellowship International. Duro Ayanrinola, BWA regional secretary for Africa and general secretary of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, who helped to arrange the meeting, expressed joy in the fulfillment of the promise of his previous meeting with some of the Baptists in Ethiopia.

Also attending the meeting was the leader of the East Africa Baptist Mission, a mission agency started by some Baptists in Ethiopia that offers training in mission to persons in, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. Baptist work has been affected by political and social realities in the Horn of Africa country. Emperor Haile Selassie adopted policies that favored good relationships between Ethiopia and the United States, which provided encouragement for mission work. After Selassie was overthrown and killed in 1974, the

communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam expelled missionaries from Ethiopia, but the great famine in 1984 and 1985 forced the government to allow foreigners back into the country, enabling mission workers to return.

The overthrow of the Mengistu government in 1991 by the Revolutionary Democratic Front, a coalition of four parties, has led to dynamic economic growth in some sectors of the economy, with Ethiopia having one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and the easing or removal of religious restrictions. Ethiopia has deep Christian roots going back to the early church in New Testament times. The apostle Matthew is said to have died there. It is one of the first countries to adopt Christianity as an official religion. Protestants,

including Baptists, have experienced numerical growth over the past several decades. JULY/SEPTEMBER 2014 19 rapid