27 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Our theme in this season is “New beginnings.”
Recent graduates of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, with faculty and board members. New beginnings for the 20 graduates from the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) on June 14. Three students received post-graduate diplomas, six Masters of Theology and twelve Masters of Divinity, five of whom concentrated in missiology.
These students will be teaching, doing pastoral work, and coordinating projects in their denominations. Anne had the privilege of “acting” for the acting dean at graduation and in that capacity noted that these 20 graduates are among the most highly educated persons in the churches in Ethiopia today. “To whom much is given much will be required, to whom much has been entrusted, much will be demanded.” We look forward with prayerful expectation for the contributions these EGST graduates will make in the church and in the society.
Dr. Ermias Mamo is returning to Ethiopia to head the program on missiology that Anne and John founded four years ago. New beginnings for Dr. Ermias Mamo, who just completed his studies at Fuller Seminary’s School of Intercultural Studies and is returning to Ethiopia. We are excited to welcome Dr. Ermias back to the EGST faculty. We look forward to his expanding and enhancing the missiology program at EGST.
New beginnings at EGST as we begin an M.A. in management and leadership next year. This has been in EGST’s plan for a number of years and is scheduled to start this August under the leadership of Dr. Tekeste Teklu, who is returning after years abroad to join EGST’s faculty.
A related theme to new beginnings is “transitions.”
EGST is in the midst of many transitions. The first phase of our building project is progressing. It has grown “above ground” over the past month, and it is very exciting to see our five-storey road-front building take shape. By the beginning of 2009, EGST hopes to move into that building so that the house and other temporary buildings at the back of the property can be torn down to make room for phase II. Two-thirds of the funds for the whole project are in hand. With costs of cement and other building supplies soaring, we hope that the remaining funds can be raised and that the contractor will work steadily and speedily. With three new programs beginning at EGST, we desperately need the space.
Another EGST transition involves faculty. This month, the end of the academic year, has seen another mass exodus of faculty sent by various missions or churches. People have come to the end of their terms and others will be away for a year for different reasons. We have had farewells for six such faculty. We also are bidding farewell for now to Lila and Paul Balisky, retired SIM missionaries who came back for six months and taught three courses at EGST last semester. As we mentioned, Ermias Mamo and Tekeste Teklu join the faculty. If you do the math, 8 minus 2, you realize the importance of EGST’s faculty development plan, whose goal is having a faculty that’s 70 percent Ethiopian within 10 years. Several Ethiopian teachers have been identified and permission is being sought from their churches to release them to take doctoral studies in preparation for teaching at EGST. This will take time (and funds), and so in the meantime EGST still relies on partner churches providing qualified faculty.
We were among the six faculty that EGST has said farewell to for now. We are coming the end of our three-year term, which has turned out to be a four years. It has been wonderful to be here long enough to begin the missiology emphasis at the M.Div. level and to see now six graduates from EGST with that training and perspective moving back into their teaching and leadership positions in their churches. We are blessed at God’s timing that we were able to hand over the program to an Ethiopian missiologist. This has been our request to EGST since we came four years ago. God is answering another of our earnest prayers in bringing Ermias Mamo back at this time. We would ask your prayers for Ermias and his family as they resettle in Ethiopia and find schools for the children, and as Ermias becomes acquainted with EGST and prepares to give leadership to the missiology program.
Our transition involves returning to the United States for a year. We are moving out of the house we have lived in for the past three years—no small task. We will be speaking in PC(USA) churches through November (see below for general schedule). Then, from 1 December we have requested to take a sabbatical which involves a leave of absence from PC(USA) through August 2009. During that time we will be in discussion with PC(USA) about future ministry possibilities, including part-time teaching at EGST, as we seek God’s direction for His calling at this stage of our lives. With our combined 43 years of experience in mission ministry focused in Kenya and Ethiopia, we have sensed different nudgings from God and have felt we need some time and space to see what these are about. We appreciate your prayers as we take this time to listen carefully.
There are opportunities today in mission in the Horn of Africa and East Africa that we believe call for both urgency and a deep commitment by mission personnel and the church. We want to be a part of that as God leads.
8-14 September Houston, Texas
19-22 September Ohio—Akron, Cleveland
23-30 September Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1-7 October Eastern Pennsylvania—Lancaster
10-13 October New Jersey
14-21 October Virginia
25-30 October Florida
3-17 November Southern California
Through the end of the year we will be basically living out of a suitcase, so the best way to communicate with us will be by email at annejohnet@earthlink.net.
Places we may eventually connect up with mail could be: c/o Dr. Frank Wheeler, 620 Sand Hill Rd., #313E, Palo Alto, CA 94304 and c/o 5906 Arboles Drive, Houston, TX 77035.
We leave Ethiopia on July 26, so if you have been sending anything to us here in Ethiopia, please change our address for now to the Houston address above.
We will be in touch again before the end of the year. But for now may we wish you all a blessed summer and thank you for your prayers, support, and involvement in mission with us and with others.
Partnering in mission for the sake of the gospel of Christ,
Anne and John Wheeler-Waddell
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 12 |
