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February 4, 2009
Letter #9 from Ethiopia
Dear Friends and Family,
These last few weeks have been very important for the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), and it has been a privilege to be a witness and participant in recent activities here in Addis Ababa.
First, there was the thirtieth annual meeting of the Committee of Mutual Christian Responsibility, consisting of the EECMY and all its partner churches. It was fascinating to meet church representatives from Scandinavia and Germany. Since English served as the common language, I was asked to serve as recording secretary. As a native English speaker I could usually hear the various accents with reasonable accuracy, though I quickly found that the Danish laptop I was borrowing had some strange keys! Discussions centered on how to better fulfill the ideals of partnership. Everyone shares the vision of the EECMY moving from being the recipient of donations to being a full and equal contributor, a giver of gifts in theology, in evangelism, and in mission both at home and abroad, but the exact pathways toward that goal can be elusive. There is progress being made. The Berlin Mission, together with the EECMY seminary, hosted a three-day seminar on the missiological writings of Gudina Tumsa, an EECMY General Secretary and martyr; the Finnish Mission made a commitment to hold a future missionary orientation in Ethiopia; and we all celebrated the historical partnerships of the EECMY.
The first modern mission to Ethiopia began with the arrival of missionaries from the Church of Sweden in 1868. Other Scandinavian and German missions soon followed, and the Lutheran roots of the Western church in Ethiopia were well established. The EECMY became an independent, self-governing church in 1959.
Presbyterians were asked to come from Sudan to the western part of Ethiopia in 1919 to help against the influenza pandemic. Dr. Charles Lambe accepted the invitation, provided that he was allowed to start a school and a church as well. The Presbyterian missions became known as the Bethel Synods. Seeking solidarity against the persecutions of the communist government that had overthrown Haile Selassie’s empire in 1974, they joined the EECMY in 1979.
The joy of Jubilee: passing the flags to the next generation.. The second big event of the past weeks, then, was the celebration of the golden jubilee of the EECMY. The high point of the festivities was a Sunday morning worship service in the Addis Ababa Convention Center for about 6,000 people, complete with wonderful choirs, impassioned preaching, women trilling their praise, and a ceremonial procession of EECMY couples who had been married 50 years or more. The old husbands and wives were draped in black velvet capes with gold embroidery so that they looked like royalty, and their weathered faces gazed steadily into the spotlights and flashbulbs with deep dignity. These were pastors and leaders of the church, men and women together, who have endured the privations of poverty and famine, have survived the persecutions and torture of the communist regime, and have prevailed to see the church grow from 25,000 members in 1959 to over five million members today. The service concluded with a flag ceremony, where pastors from the nine provinces of Ethiopia paraded with regional flags, knelt together in prayer, and then passed the flags to children dressed in the traditional costumes of each area. Such a celebration of diversity, together with a commitment to the future of the church!
The following week was devoted to the EECMY General Assembly, which is held only once every four years. It was primarily concerned with reports from committees such as evangelism and development, with considering several amendments to its constitution, and with the election of new officers to lead the church for the next four years. Morning devotions were inspiring, discussions were peaceful and respectful, and decisions were generally by consensus.
The joy of reconciliation: church leaders embrace.. The most remarkable story of the church in the past year, though, is one of forgiveness and reconciliation. Twelve years ago, there was a schism in the EECMY. The root cause was a conflict over the language of worship: would Amharic, the dominant language of both the nation and the church—and a force for unity in the church—be used to the exclusion of other languages? Each side had valid reasons for their position, and each side defended those positions with vigor and belligerence. When the two factions split into two churches, the bitterness only increased. Congregations were torn apart. Eventually, even some of the partner churches took sides in the dispute and directed their mission efforts exclusively to one or the other church. Through the years there have been 26 separate initiatives attempting reconciliation between the two sides, but failure after failure only created deeper divisions.
Last summer, in the Ethiopian diaspora community in Minnesota, the first reconciliation took place. Both sides admitted that the original issue about language had been made worse by pride and anger. Both sides admitted that countless human and material resources had been wasted in the conflict, while opportunities for growth and mission had been squandered. Pastors from the two competing churches met in worship, embraced and cried, and washed each others’ feet in a public ceremony of penitence and humility. The news and spirit of that reconciliation swept across the world to Ethiopia, and reconciliation ceremonies have been held in congregation after congregation, with former enemies admitting how badly they have behaved toward one another and humbly asking—and granting—forgiveness. The leaders of the two churches have met and agreed on the necessary steps to be taken over the next year to complete the full reunion of the two churches, with the agreement that worship is best in the language of the heart.
These events of the past few weeks have all been marked by the spirit of reconciliation. At the partners meeting, the representative of the Church of Sweden apologized for her church taking sides in the conflict and embraced the EECMY leader that her church had shunned for 12 years. At the jubilee, participants were members of both churches, now joined to celebrate their common heritage and their common future. And the General Assembly found carefully crafted and thoughtful solutions to potential areas of conflict. The spirit of jubilee, when old injustices are overthrown and anything that bound us is cast aside, was truly observed. The EECMY has been faithful to the jubilee call: “And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants” (Leviticus 25:10).
This, then, is the great gift of the EECMY to us in the West who are used to seeing ourselves as the donors, the ones who are blessed, the ones who have it right. Perhaps we are the ones who have been enslaved by our pride, by our self-satisfaction, by our willingness to divide our own church.
Please pray that we are meek enough to accept this gift, to follow the simple admonition, “You shall not wrong one another” (Leviticus 25:17), and to proclaim the Lord’s jubilee.
Love and peace,
Bruce and Lora Whearty
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer &
Study, p. 35 |
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