New Life for an Ancient Land
Spreading the Seed of God’s Truth across Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an ancient land with a history stretching back thousands of years. The first biblical reference to the Gospel reaching an Ethiopian is in Acts 8 when Philip shared the Good News with an Ethiopian Jew who was returning home after worshipping in Jerusalem. In response to Philip’s testimony, the Ethiopian trusted in Christ, was baptized and “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39).

Today, nearly 20 percent of the nation’s 81.5 million people identify themselves as Christians. That same census also revealed that one out of every four Ethiopians are Muslims. It is a challenging and often difficult place for evangelistic outreach. EHC Director Aynalem Haimanot explains: “Ethiopia is in the Horn of Africa, which includes Eritrea, Djibouti, Somali, and Sudan. These are predominantly Muslim nations that are continually pressing in, moving to Islamize Ethiopia. The strategic position of Ethiopia to the rest of the Horn and the Middle East gives us a great responsibility to do everything possible to share the Gospel.”

One of the challenges of reaching every home in Ethiopia with the Gospel is providing Christian literature in the languages of the people. “We have 86 distinct ethnic groups who speak 123 dialects,” says Aynalem. “The diversity and the sheer number of groups show that we have a long way to go in getting the Gospel to every home and every person.”

EHC’s gospel booklets and Bible study materials are effective tools for sharing the Good News, but there’s an urgent need for more materials in more languages. Aynalem comments, “Many of Ethiopia’s ethnic groups do not have the Bible in their language so they are very excited to receive what we distribute. This literature enables people to read the Word in their own heart language and to understand who Jesus is.”

EHC, in partnership with local churches, has taken the Good News of Jesus to more than one million families in towns and villages across Ethiopia. To date, over 250,000 responses have been received—professions and faith and inquiries about knowing God. One major result of this harvest has been the establishment of Christ Group fellowships in 5,775 locations.

EHC is also training church leaders and equipping their congregations for strategic evangelism and ministry. More than 300 church leaders attended a recent EHC training conference in the capital, Addis Ababa. Following the conference, one pastor wrote, “I give thanks to God for giving me this opportunity. Your training has been very useful for personal and church leadership. The training has increased my capacity to exercise good leadership. I am now capable of initiating new ideas and leading others.”

This past Christmas season more than 50,000 families were reached with the Gospel in the city of Mekele. Believers from 20 evangelical churches teamed up with EHC to distribute gospel booklets in five languages. Another recent outreach was to students at a major university. “Evangelicals in Ethiopia are realizing that they must reach out to the students in the university,” says EHC Director Aynalem Haimanot. Winning young hearts and minds, and seeing lives transformed by Christ is the only hope for the nation. Aynalem concludes, “The poverty and idolatry and crises we face must be met by the power of the Gospel.”

Pray that more and more people across this ancient land will receive new life in Jesus Christ and follow Him in faith and obedience.