The Ethiopian Anabaptist Church – the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) is the largest single national denomination in Mennonite World Conference. MKC will host the MWC Assembly in 2028. I will share with you five things about your host.

1. It was founded by Mennonite missionaries

The Mennonite missionaries from the Lancaster Mennonite Conference came to Ethiopia in the 1940s to share the gospel with Ethiopians. They used humanitarian service as a bridge to get permission to engage in mission activities. The missionaries shared the love of Jesus with people in deeds and words. The missionaries demonstrated what a follower of Jesus looked like in humility, simplicity, willingness to serve people and following the way of peace and justice. Their love for Christ and humanity touched people who came closer to them.

2. It became indigenized during the early years

The Mennonite missionaries were the leaders of the newly established Anabaptist church in Ethiopia in the 1950s. After a few years, the Ethiopian nationals wanted the church to be led by local believers. The missionaries were willing to transfer the leadership role to the Ethiopians phase by phase to ensure a smooth transition. The indigenization was transforming the missionary-established church by adopting local church structure and systems, taking over the church leadership by locals, developing basic Christian doctrines through the study of the word of God and using local languages to communicate the gospel to the local people.

Part of the indigenization was giving the church a local name. The Ethiopian Anabaptist Church is called Meserete Kristos Church. Although Ethiopian believers did not want the name Mennonite, the name they chose means Christ Foundation Church, which means a church whose foundation is Christ-based on 1 Corinthians 3:11. This verse was one of Menno Simons’ favorite Bible verses. It indicates that the Ethiopian believers accepted the Anabaptist faith, even if they did not want to embrace the name. The church’s name is indigenous, and its basic faith is Anabaptist. This step indicated that true attachment was not by bearing the same name but by believing in similar doctrines.

3. MKC is an evangelical church

MKC describes itself as one of the evangelical churches in Ethiopia. Although MKC has not yet defined how the term evangelical defines the church, the notion is that MKC emphasizes the teachings of Jesus Christ as stated in the Gospels and the role of the church in evangelism: sharing the gospel with people and leading them to salvation in Jesus Christ, the importance of being born again spiritually by accepting Christ as one’s savior and living in obedience to his commandments, and practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As an evangelical church, MKC is one of the founding members of the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia during the communist regime. At present, MKC is the founding member of the Ethiopian Gospel Believers’ Churches Council, the umbrella organization of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Ethiopia.

4. MKC was persecuted by the Communist regime

The members of the Ethiopian Anabaptist Church were persecuted by Derg (the communist regime) from 1974 to 1991. The church was officially banned in 1982. All local churches were closed, and MKC property — including hospitals, schools, church buildings and money in the bank  — was confiscated by the communist regime. Five of the MKC leaders were jailed for years. The church went underground to survive. God started working with a small number of committed believers. The underground church organized believers into cell groups that multiplied themselves. The communist regime wanted to destroy the church by banning formal gatherings. However, God used the informal gatherings of believers as a means of growth. When the communist government was eliminated, MKC came out of the underground with a huge number, a victorious spirit and gratitude to the Lord.

5. MKC is active in Mennonite World Conference

The Meserete Kristos Church is a member of MWC, and the leaders hold elected positions in MWC. Million Belete, a church leader from MKC, was the first non-European to be president of the MWC in 1973. Bedru Hussein, the MKC General Secretary, served as vice president of MWC from 1997 to 2000. MKC leaders also have been serving in various committees and commissions of the conference in different capacities.