The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

Jesus Says ... Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. [Gospel of John 14: 1, 27]

Wherever Jesus went a crowd came to listen to him. On the day of Pentecost "when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment." And so it happened in the primitive church and wherever Christ is preached and the power of the Holy Spirit manifested. Modern churches are trying a different technique. A marketing technique, that is. Some succeed in drawing a crowd. But drawing a crowd in itself may not result in lifting up the name of Jesus or in transformed lives. More .

Land of Charles Malik Lebanon in recent years has become a hellhole for women hired as domestic workers. Many seem trapped in a cycle of abuses that infringed on their humanity and rights. The rate of suicide is rising.   Lebanon is also the land of Charles Habib Malik (d.1987), the philosopher and staunch defender of the Christian faith. It was Dr. Malik who helped draft the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In the Name of God, we urge all who are in a position to help to intervene to stop this human tragedy.

  Child adoption and the Ethiopian Church By Mitiku Adisu The church’s responsibilities to society are listed in two parts in the Book of James (1:7): To look after orphans and widows in their distress and, secondly, to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Let us look at the first of the two for now. Child adoption is a very sensitive and complex issue. It is sensitive because it says a lot about a nation’s social policy and safety net as well defines its image abroad. What are the social/psychological implications that currently Ethiopian adoptions are considered “cheap” and “easy”? Child adoption is also complex in that there are multiple actors with specific and often overlapping interests involved in its execution. There are those who having realized their inability to impact the world in a big way choose to share in a small way their love and resources with a child. This is commendable. Others simply engage in making good money in the process of doing ‘good’. The par...

One Pastor, Two Politicians The two U.S. presidential hopefuls, Senators McCain and Obama, were invited to Saddleback Church on Saturday to account for their faith and politics. The two-hour forum , designed to acquaint voters with the candidates' style and substance, was moderated by none other than Pastor Rick Warren. We should add that Pastor Warren's non-threatening and engaging format on a whole range of life matters (not just abortion) was both refreshing and commendably executed. What is troubling is that U.S. evangelicals are routinely cast as "white," "progressive," "red letter," and "Christian Right." We are repeatedly reminded that the two candidates came to Saddleback to woo " white evangelicals ." Political ideology and the color line seem to define much of what we know about the U.S. evangelical community. We just wonder what it would be like if the message of the Cross of Christ permeated evangelical interactions....

One-year old 'Rute' is having a heart surgery in Jacksonville, Florida. Please keep her in your prayers.

 Don’t Burn the Bible. Read it. By Mitiku Adisu     Burning the Bible is not new. Tyrants of every stripe have done it. Opponents of the Reformation in Medieval European church did it for fear the “book” could fall into the hands of the people and render them powerless. That was before the Gutenberg press made the backbreaking work of monastic copyists unnecessary and Scriptures accessible to the masses. In more modern times Bible burning has added few features but remained basically the same. In the Fiji Islands of early 1900s conversion to Catholicism led a priest to burn Bibles and hymnals belonging to Methodists. In the Indian subcontinent and wherever Christians are in the minority such events have now become common occurrences. Saudis confiscate Bibles right at ports of entry and consign them to a paper shredder. Never mind you are a foreign national (and a Christian) paying them a visit. The Bible is banned in Saudi. In the worst case scenario, you could be flogged...