Time to go home…

(written March 27, 2015)

Our final day in Ethiopia is just beginning. The call to prayer woke me early this morning…but I didn’t really sleep well in the first place. My mind has been busy these last two days trying to process and summarize and come to terms with the experiences of the past 3 weeks.

I imagine this process will take some time…and will continue long after I return to the routine of life at home.

I have been changed by this experience…the challenge will come in seeing that change take root as I have already begun to think about the agenda that awaits me at the church, the assignments with approaching deadlines, and even some renovation ideas for our home that I was thinking about this morning! Strange what comes to one’s mind in these early hours of the morning!

Ethiopia is a rugged and beautiful country, but it is also a place of tremendous need that breaks your heart…so many times Fanosie and I have talked about how the need calls out to us…but we can’t help everyone…often it seems impossible just considering where one might begin.

However, two pieces have stuck with me…Bibles and motorbikes…

In the weeks and months to come I will wonder more, process more, share visions and ideas, and then wonder some more in prayer about what God plans to do in me…and maybe the congregation I serve…through this experience…

For now, it’s time to go home…

Wolliso

(written March 26, 2015)

Approximately 140kms west of Addis Abba, you’ll find the community of Wolliso. We made the journey to this community to visit with Pastor Tamru.

Tamru was the pastor who first discipled Fanosie when he came to faith in Christ! At the time Tamru was serving as a leader in the Sire congregation. Today he serves as an unpaid volunteer leader in the Meserete Kristos Church in Wolliso.

Tamru’s wife works in the local hospital and they have a combined family income of 3,000 Birr/month (approx. $187 CDN/month). At the end of the month when they receive their pay, Tamru and his wife have a unique tradition that they have followed for as long as Fanosie could remember. They take all the money they have, place it on the floor and together stand on top of the money, declaring, “This money will serve us! We will not serve this money!” 

 

Tamru led us on a tour the congregation’s compound – a large sprawling place by Ethiopian church standards! Like many of the outlying congregations they also host a Compassion ministry office that seeks to work with the children in the community…as we toured the grounds a group of boys launched into a vigorous game of soccer.

The Wolliso church is a “Mother Church” for the region.

The congregation was originally planted out of the Meserete Kristos mother church in Nazret. As of today the congregation has birthed 18 established churches, has three local congregations under its direct supervision, and is actively working in 14 church planting centres (including one that worships under a tree because they can’t afford a building!). To save you doing the math, that’s 35 congregations birthed out of this one congregation!

Our driver Adiso

As we traveled through the streets of Wolliso, Tamru pointed out the palm trees that line many of the boulevards of the community. Each of these trees was planted by the Wolliso Meserete Kristos Church as a gift to the community! Tamru was quiet and humble about this action taken by the congregation, but did admit that the congregations active participation in the beautification of the community had greatly increased the respect the congregation and its leaders have in this community…and now we understand how the congregation was able to secure such a large compound!

Suffice it to say, this visit challenged me! Lots to think about…

W.A.R – Women at Risk

(written March 23, 2015)

On our last day in Nazret, we had the unique opportunity to visit the ministry in which Fanosie’s brother Tsega serves as – to use a Canadian term – a social worker.

Tsega works with W.A.R. (Women at Risk), which works to rescue, rehabilitate and train women trapped in the sex trade.

Child care for W.A.R. clients

On an almost nightly basis, Tsega goes out to the streets with 3 others – 2 women, 2 men – seeking out the prostitutes who work the streets of Nazret. They begin conversations with the women, express their care and concern and very soon make the invitation for a way out of the sex trade.

Many of the women don’t understand! Often they ask, “Why would you care about me/us?”

The question opens the opportunity to share the love of Christ. We are inviting you to experience rescue because we know that God loves you very much and the love of Christ compels us to love you and help in whatever way we can!

In 10 years, this small organization – they only have a handful of staff and minimal funding – has been able to rescue, rehabilitate, and train approximately 250 women!

Training includes preparation for the workforce as tailors, making handcrafts, food services, and a range of other skills. Many of the women also leave the program as committed followers of Christ, members of local churches, ready to begin a new life!

Thanks be to God!

Sire

(written March 23, 2015)

“Say goodbye to the asphalt!”

When Fanosie made this declaration from the backseat of the Toyota Corolla we were traveling in, I expected the washboard gravel roads that I have traveled countless times in my years on the prairies…suffice it to say, I was not prepared for what I experienced for the next hour or so – this was hands down the worst road that I have traveled upon in a car.

 

Massive tire busting stones jutted out from the road bed, combined with deep gulley’s that threatened to swallow the car or at minimum leave us hanging in the middle of the road.

Travel was slow, but Solomon managed to find a way to get us to Sire in time for the morning worship service at the Meserete Kristos congregation in the community. We were ushered to the front bench. Minutes later Fanosie was asked to preach! Sire is Fanosie’s hometown and he served as pastor of this congregation for a period of time. As Fanosie jokingly noted several times throughout the morning, this really is a Mennonite Church because everyone is related to everyone else!

The choir welcomed us in song and Fanosie gave a stirring sermon from Matthew 25…at least I think it was stirring by the reaction of the congregation!

 

 The rest of the day was spent visiting Fanosie’s family – his parents, grandparents, and his youngest brother who was recently married.

  

At the end of the day we had the opportunity to make one more visit to a pastor’s home. Fanosie was making a culturally mandatory visit as the pastor’s wife had recently experienced the loss of two family members.

During our visit, Fanosie invited the pastor to share his story of ministry with me. The pastor serves a congregation that lives in and around Sire and up to a distance of 10kms away in every direction. The pastor often spends hours walking or riding a bicycle to the homes of church members – they own neither a car nor motorbike.

Sadly there is often open hostility towards the church in these rural communities – Fanosie mentioned that there was a time when his home congregation in Sire was the target of stones thrown onto the roof to disrupt times of worship. So I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when the pastor shared that while traveling the roads to visit his congregation he had been beaten…with the scars to prove it!

I struggled to come to terms with this scenario…a minister of the gospel, beaten simply for being a minister of the gospel! In Matthew 10:34 Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” These words have begun to make sense to me in this context…evangelism is dangerous! The gospel is dangerous! But only because the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change lives forever!

Since hearing this pastors story I have heard the stories of several other pastors who share the same experience…no car, no motorbike, and walking or riding a bike in rural communities visiting church members puts their lives at risk…so many have experiences of being beaten and having their lives threatened…

This is the place where I began to fervently ask God why it has to be this way. And the answer that has come back consistently over these weeks is another question: What are you prepared to do about it?

A kiss…an embrace…always an extended hand – the gift of hospitality!

(written March 23, 2015)

In Luke 10:4, Jesus sends 72 of his followers with the instructions “do not greet anyone on the road.” The more Fanosie and I visit and connect with friends, family and ministry partners, the more I realize that this must have been a nearly impossible request for the disciples to accept!

Everywhere you go in this country there is always an extended hand of welcome, often followed by an embrace, and numerous times a kiss on the cheek, but not just once, 3 and sometimes 4 times! And if you are anywhere close to someone’s home the invitation of coffee or a meal is always extended.

Hospitality oozes through this culture. You cannot help but feel welcome!

At first I wondered if everyone simply knew each other…but then I was included as well! While traveling in rural areas yesterday, our driver (Fanosie’s brother-in-law) even flagged down passing buses to say hello to the drivers he knew…and it seemed strange to no one!

So why would Jesus ask his disciples to ignore this precious gift of hospitality? Could it be that the urgency of sharing the gospel in the places Jesus himself intended to go so completely superseded even the welcome of close family and friends? Is there this kind of urgency in our understanding of the Kingdom of God?