Missions to Ethiopia

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Ethiopia has been shaped by mission work, particularly Christian mission work. Sometime around 10 BC, the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba, having heard reports of the wisdom and wealth of King Solomon “concerning the name of the Lord”, traveled to Jerusalem “to test him with hard questions” (1 Kings 10:1-2). When she came to Solomon, the king “answered all her questions” (1 Kings 10:3). The Queen of Sheba blessed the one true God: “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness” (1 Kings 10:9). She then returned to her own land. Thus the knowledge of the living God was brought to the land of Ethiopia. Solomon might rightly be called the first “missionary” to the Ethiopians.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

Some one-thousand years later, in the first century, the gospel of Jesus Christ was brought to the Ethiopians. When a great persecution arose against the Church in Jerusalem, the disciples of Christ were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, preaching the gospel as they went. Philip, a deacon of the Church, proclaimed the good news about Jesus Christ in Samaria. Then an angel said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26). Philip rose and went. He found there “an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians” (Acts 8:27). This Ethiopian man had traveled to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. (It seems, based on this man’s interest in the Lord, that the knowledge of the Lord, which the Queen of Sheba had brought back to Ethiopia, was still intact. Moreover, this Ethiopian eunuch possessed at least a portion of the Scriptures. This seems to confirm the fact that the knowledge of the Lord was indeed alive in Ethiopia, even in the first century.) He was returning home, seated on a chariot, reading aloud the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit commanded Philip to join him. Philip ran to the chariot, overheard the man reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian responded, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” “And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The passage he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth’” (Acts 8:31-33). Beginning with this passage, Philip told this Ethiopian “the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). He believed and was baptized. According to Ethiopian tradition, this man returned home and spread the gospel among his countrymen. 

“Philip with the Ethiopian”

Frumentius and the Conversion of King Ezana

In the fourth century a young Roman citizen from Tyre named Frumentiu boarded a ship set sail for India, taking course along the African coast of the Red Sea. When the ship stopped at a port on the African coast to gather provisions, the passengers were attacked. Everyone on board was massacred except for Frumentius and one of his relatives. They were taken to the Ethiopian king in Aksum, where they served in the king’s court. Now there were Roman merchants in Aksum, many of whom were Christians. Frumentius, whose mind was turned to the things of God, began to seek out these Christians and help them spread the gospel. The young King Ezana himself became a Christian, and Christianity became the official religion of the Aksumite kingdom. Frumentius, who came to be called the “Father of peace and Revealer of light”, was consecrated the first Bishop of Aksum (“The Church of Ethiopia: A Panorama of History and Spiritual Life”).

Protestant Missions

Almost twenty percent of the population in Ethiopia is identified as Protestant. Protestant missions to Ethiopia began in the seventeenth century. (Catholic missions to Ethiopia began in the sixteenth century: Jesuits came to Ethiopia in 1557.) The first Protestant missionary to Ethiopia was a German Lutheran - Peter Heyling. Heyling arrived in Ethiopia in 1634. “Heyling’s primary interest was to work with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with the aim of ‘revitalizing’ the institution so that it would focus on its scriptural origins, reform, and be endowed with a heightened sense of evangelization in accord with the doctrine of salvation” (Eshete). 

Missionary work in Ethiopia reached its peak during the reign of Haile Selassie in the 20th century. From 1974 to 1991, mission work subsided, due to the Marxist government which controlled Ethiopia. In 1991, that government was overthrown, and missionaries returned to Ethiopia, where they continue today.

Sources:

Eshete, Tibebe. The Evangelical Movement In Ethiopia. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2009.

“Philip with the Ethiopian.” http://kumulanichapel.org/wordpress1/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/philip-and-ethiopian.jpg

Professor Sergew Hable Sellassie and Professor Tadesse Tamerat. “The Church of Ethiopia: A Panorama of History and Spiritual Life.” Addis Ababa: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, 1970. http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/ethiopian/prechristian.html