Ethiopian church employs indigenous missionaries

Posted: 12/01/06

Ethiopian church employs
indigenous missionaries

By George Henson

Staff Writer

GARLAND—Through an innovative plan employing indigenous missionaries, even Sunday school classes can afford to reach Muslims in Ethiopia.

Pastor Bedilu Yirga of Ethiopian Evangelical Baptist Church in Garland and his congregation have partnered with churches in Ethiopia to reach members of the Berta tribe, who live along the border of Ethiopia and Sudan.

Churches in Bambasi are calling out members to become missionaries among the Berta people, who are predominantly Muslim. This area was closed to Christian influence for many years, but a change in leadership recently has allowed this type of outreach to become reality, Yirga said.

“They give us missionaries to share the gospel with the Berta tribe. They have a real burden to reach these people,” he said.

After the local church chooses spiritually mature people as missionaries to the surrounding villages, pastors from Addis Ababa come to Bambasi to train them to do the work more effectively.

While it would be nice to go there and do the training with members of his church, Yirga said, it is much more cost efficient to pay for the training by people who already are there.

The goal is to reach 30 villages, each with its own missionary. One of the first jobs for the missionaries is to set up a school for preschool children in the area. The plan calls for 10 preschools to be built so children can become prepared for enrollment in one of the two elementary schools participants hope to build in about two years.

Construction of the schools not only will help provide an education for children who have no other avenue for learning, but also will provide jobs for the many poor people in the area, Yirga said.

Christian schools also would provide an avenue to teach children about Christ, he added.

Yirga went to Ethiopia to meet partners in the project last September on an exploratory visit. Early this year, the first missionaries were trained.

“The Berta are primarily Muslim and won’t be easy to reach with Christianity,” he acknowledged. But already they have observed early successes.

“In our last reports, we learned that the gospel had been shared with more than 500 people, and 53 of those made professions of faith in Christ. We would do whatever and spend any amount for one person, and now we already have reached 53,” Yirga exclaimed.

While each missionary in the field makes quarterly written reports, someone from Yirga’s congregation will travel to Ethiopia each January to inspect and verify the written reports, he said.

Twenty missionaries are reaching area villages, but Yirga said at least 10 more are needed. He hopes other churches will partner in the project so that the other villages also can be reached.

Each missionary’s monthly salary can be paid with $50, and $150 a month not only pays the missionary’s salary, but provides the tools needed to do ministry, Yirga said.

A Laotian congregation and a Brazilian congregation have agreed to support two missionaries on an ongoing basis, as has a church in Spain.

“I’m trying to communicate with other ethnic churches to stand with us and minister somewhere other than their own lands,” he said. “Maybe next time the Brazilian church will have a project, we can assist them with.”

“The ethnic churches are not just here for themselves, but to support the work back home.”

Expense is minimal, he noted.

“This is very cheap economically,” Yirga pointed out. “If we were to send one missionary from the United States, it would cost much more than this.

“Also, this is a part of the world with a great deal of unrest. Often it gets bad, and the (foreign) missionaries have to leave the area until it calms down. Already, two of our missionaries have reported persecution, but they have no place to go, so they must stay and pray for God’s protection.”

But Yirga is quick to offer his appreciation to U.S. missionaries who travel the world spreading the gospel.

“I’m very indebted to foreign missionaries who went to Ethiopia and shared the gospel with me, and some even gave their lives for the gospel. But it is high time to trust nationals to do the work among their own people,” he said.

As the ministry continues, digging water wells will begin.

“Some women walk as far as an hour for water and then wait in line two or three hours and then have to walk the hour back home. All that to get water that is not clean or sanitary,” he said.

Building schools and digging wells will require more funds, and Yirga is praying that other congregations will see the need and contribute to the ministry.

To learn more about the Bambasi project, contact Yirga at (214) 677-6555.