In a nation fractured by war, where women’s bodies have become battlegrounds and bulldozers have destroyed houses in the name of “development,” Ethiopia’s Meserete Kristos Church faces a reckoning. As the world’s largest Mennonite denomination, MKC has long cultivated a culture of devout discipleship — three-hour Sunday services, fervent weeknight prayers and an unwavering commitment to making disciples. However, in the face of state violence, sexual violence as a weapon of war and mass displacement, the church’s silence echoes louder than its sermons.

A July 28 press release from MKC offers a glimmer of hope. In it, the church boldly calls for peace between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, urging an end to inflammatory rhetoric, international accountability for the Pretoria Peace Accord (which ended the Tigray war in 2022) and responsible media engagement. This statement demonstrates MKC’s potential to embody the prophetic voice Ethiopia desperately needs. But why is such public leadership the exception rather than the pattern?

A few months ago, MKC published an article by ordained minister Kebede Bekere and MKC President Desalegne Abebe affirming that “meeting the physical needs of people is part of God’s reconciliation work in the world.” They rightly asserted that the church’s humanitarian and development efforts are grounded in spiritual conviction. But I am calling the church to go further: to confront the systems that perpetuate poverty and oppression.

MKC practices what it calls holistic ministry through prison outreach, feeding programs and compassion initiatives. But it has yet to publicly denounce the systems that overfill prisons and deepen poverty. The church teaches peace but avoids confronting the powers that perpetuate war. This is not the way of Jesus, who drove exploiters from the temple (John 2:15). Nor is it the way of the early Anabaptists, who bore witness even unto death.

The July 28 statement is commendable for its clarity and courage. Yet, if such public appeals remain occasional rather than central to MKC’s vision of discipleship, they risk becoming symbolic gestures rather than transformative acts.

Like Jesus, who confronted religious systems that marginalized the poor (Mark 11:15-17), MKC must go beyond treating symptoms to dismantling the disease. Meeting physical needs is holy work. But silence toward the structures that create those needs renders the church a field hospital patching wounds while ignoring the battlefield. Charity comforts the oppressed; justice confronts the oppressor.

Ethiopia’s crises demand more than quiet devotion. When government forces displaced thousands in Piyasa for “development,” where was MKC’s outcry? When soldiers weaponized rape in Tigray and Amhara, where were the church-led trauma clinics, the public vigils, the lamentations?

MKC’s tendency to prioritize harmony over justice betrays its prophetic legacy. In a country where sexual violence is a weapon of war, land grabs leave families homeless and dissent is criminalized, silence is not neutrality, it is theological malpractice.

As Ethiopia accelerates toward industrial capitalism, the chasm between rich and poor widens violently. Bulldozers demolish homes in the name of development while displaced families sleep at church gates.

We must train believers to resist oppression as rigorously as we train them in prayer. Making disciples means creating “dangerous Christians” who stand between the vulnerable and the bulldozers, who speak truth in courtrooms as boldly as they sing in pews.

To move beyond charity to courageous action, MKC must:

— Name injustice, as John the Baptist confronted Herod (Mark 6:18), declaring sexual violence and land grabs as sins against God;

— Train members in nonviolent resistance, documenting abuses, organizing pray-ins and boycotting exploitative systems;

— Create trauma-healing programs, mirroring Jesus’ restoration of the bleeding woman (Mark 5:25-34);

— Forge alliances with ecumenical groups, journalists and activists.

Ethiopia’s oppressed do not need passive piety. They need a church that stands in the fire, shielding the vulnerable and confronting injustice. MKC must choose: Will it remain a chaplain to the status quo or become a disciple of the Christ who overturned tables?

Courageous discipleship is the only path worthy of the name “Mes­erete Kristos” — the foundation of Christ.

Hasset Shimeles Hailu, originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is a graduate student at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, pursuing a master’s degree in theology and peace studies.