The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beauti...

We are venturing on an approach to reporting that we hope will reflect the state of churches in North American and at the same time provide useful information to Ethiopian evangelical leaders. Here are some of the headlines. Sad: Declining Lutheran Denomination Liberalizes Sex Teachings Black, White Churches Merge To Save Money Parish rift forms at prominent Florida megachurch Megachurches have become one-stop centers, with food courts, sports leagues, and automotive repair shops alongside concert-caliber praise bands and strong preachers. Next up: seminaries. Church's radical act: Sell building, use money for outreach Episcopals to meet about direction Southern Baptist missions chief's job reviewed; 'cronyism' a concern Southern Baptists spend per capita 33 times more for missions in relatively gospel-saturated North America than they do for the comparatively unreached rest of the world, a recent analysis asserts. The primary reason for this “alarming” distortion in mi...

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are y...

If You Knew the Gift of God     Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” T...

  The Steadfast Translator Interview by Mitiku Adisu Recently, Ethiopianchurch Blog caught up with Dr. Loren Bliese who retired in 2006 after 44 years of serving in Ethiopia as Bible translation consultant and trainer of translation workers. Dr. Bliese now resides in the State of Oregon and continues to work on a part-time basis on checking the Afar Old Testament and speak about his work in Ethiopia. The significance of his long service is that it spanned three governments beginning with Emperor Haileselassie. He also had the unique privilege of observing the nation undergo a generational shift from the imperial days to the tumultous 1970s and 1980s right up to the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a multi-centered environment. Dr. Bliese holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin.   EthC: Thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview for Ethiopianchurch Blog. Why is Bible translation important at all? Why is the Bible so important that ...

Corruption in international child adoption could not happen without collaboration with local agencies. Any investigation into these allegations should also follow similar route. Adoptive parents' quest, legal and financial redtape, and inter-agency competition [this is a lucrative business] has made transactions very difficult without at times cutting corners, merging or even filing for bankruptcy. The latest case is Imagine Adoption "which handled adoptions mainly from Ethiopia -- has grown wider, with the Waterloo regional police fraud squad launching a criminal investigation." Read More .

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. "About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?' " 'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. " 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. "'What shall I do, Lord?' I asked. "'Get up,...