The Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia is the largest Mennonite denomination in the world with almost a half-million active participants. Yet it is struggling to raise the money to complete an office building and church headquarters in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Mamo Dula of Lancaster, Pa., who grew up in Ethiopia and recently visited, says MKC congregations are “vibrant and energetic, embracing an amazing range of ethnic groups.”
Church members tithe faithfully. But with the MKC’s rapid growth and widespread poverty, it can barely afford to train and pay the salaries of the pastors, teachers and staff. There is little money for construction.
During the 1980s, a Marxist government confiscated all MKC real estate, buildings and bank accounts. Church leaders were imprisoned. Yet during 10 years of persecution the church grew from 5,000 to 30,000.
After a change of government in 1991, only one property in Addis Ababa was restored to the church — a former guesthouse and surrounding land. Church administration quickly outgrew the guesthouse. Staff members work in offices made of metal shipping containers stacked together.
Ethiopian government policy is to confiscate any land that sits empty. The undeveloped land around the guest house came into jeopardy. In order to stake its claim, the church laid a foundation in 2007 for a future office building.
The multipurpose building will serve for church administration offices, a meeting place for a local congregation and rentable space to generate income for evangelism and church operations.
Congregations and some friends of MKC have contributed funds sufficient to complete the shell of the five-story building, including part of the roof. But about $450,000 is needed to finish the interior — floors, windows, electricity, plumbing, elevator and furniture.
When the building is finished, MKC leaders will no longer have to work in shipping-container offices as they support the dynamic growth of local churches.
One congregation is already meeting on the unfinished ground floor. The church also reportedly has an agreement with Meserete Kristos College for the college to lease one floor as an extension site.
Raising $450,000 is a big mountain to climb.
On his recent trip to Ethiopia, Dula met with church leaders and pledged to do all he could to ask “brothers and sisters in North America for help.” Donations are tax-deductible. The mailing address is MK College Link, P.O. Box 1701, Harrisonburg, VA 22803. Donations must be designated for “MK Church Office Building.”
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to welcome MK Church leaders to Mennonite World Conference in Harrisburg, Pa., in July 2015 with this task accomplished?” Dula asked. “It would be a mountain-top moment.”
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