A severe water shortage could not stop the baptism of 120 people in August by Meserete Kristos Church pastors in southern Ethiopia.

The Borena region has been stricken by drought. For baptism, organizers brought water from far away in Jerkin. They dug a hole and lined it with plastic to hold water carried in for the ceremony.
Abebe Seyoum, lead pastor of Misrak Addis Ababa Meserete Kristos Church, said the congregation started sending missionaries to unreached communities about five years ago.

The church is one of four MKC congregations established in Addis Ababa when the Derg government fell in 1991. Today it is one of the city’s largest congregations and works with MKC regional offices to help plant churches in remote areas. It supports 30 mission workers in rural areas.

MKC, the Anabaptist church in Ethiopia, has started more than 40 church-planting centers in Borena, where most residents are pastoralists.

“The harvest is plenty, and we need to send more missionaries to evangelize the people and plant more churches,” said Abayneh Anjulo, director of MKC evangelism and church planting.

Visiting the church-planting centers recently, he observed many new believers worshiping in homes, packing many people into a small house. He said the church plants can provide labor and some materials for building churches but need help from other congregations to provide tin for roofs, nails and cement.