Mennonite World Conference on April 22 announced the formation of a creation-care task force and the selection of Ethiopia to host the 2027 global assembly.
In a regional office of the Meserete Kristos Church in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, the MKC’s former president, Tewodros Beyene, introduced LMC leaders to the administrative staff. He said the delegation had come to listen.
Challenges accompany the joys of growth as tens of thousands of people new to Ethiopia’s Meserete Kristos Church swell the denomination.
Now with more than 600,000 participants, the world’s largest Anabaptist conference struggles to train enough pastors, find adequate meeting spaces and keep vehicles maintained for its teachers, who travel to distant outposts on rough roads.
Tigist Alamirew says she has “escaped many deaths” in her journey with Christ. Born to an Orthodox family, she now directs distance education at Meserete Kristos College, the Anabaptist school in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — After decades of dreaming, planning and fundraising, the Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia held a grand opening ceremony in February for its new head office.
In 1994, Shimeles and Yutta Retta met the “Russian Mennonites,” or Aussiedler, who had recently moved from the former Soviet Union to Germany. Being recently converted to Christ, Shimeles, an Ethiopian refugee, and his German wife, both of Catholic background, were incorporated into and discipled by this conservative Anabaptist community.
The Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia continues to grow, increasing by 4.5 percent over the last year to 310,877 baptized members. It is the largest national Anabaptist body in the world.
