Introduction

The Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) is one of the Christian evangelical denominations in Ethiopia established by the North American Mennonite missionaries in 1951. The Mennonite missionaries entered Ethiopia to assist Ethiopia in the 1940s in reconstruction after the five-year occupation of the Italians. One of the strategies the missionaries used to engage in God’s reconciling ministry was sharing the gospel alongside the provision of education, health, and agriculture services. For more than seven decades, the Meserete Kristos Church has been fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus—God’s reconciling ministry using various strategies, one of which is Christian witness through relief and development activities.

The genesis of this article began with reading and reflecting on the feedback given on the Special Issue of Anabaptist Witness (AW) which focused on Peace and Mission in Ethiopia published in April 2024. Most of the articles in the Special Issue were written by Ethiopians. The guest editor invited people to reflect on the articles and a score of people gave their feedback. One of the readers who responded asked how the MKC might reply to people who have ethical concerns about the combination of evangelism and social services. In his reflection, the person noted that the Ethiopian authors believed that “MKC’s ministries, evangelism, and the provision of social services are most faithfully exercised together, in a holistic ministry of the church.” He explained that some people in his context think the linkage of evangelism and social assistance diminishes the integrity of witness. Those people are worried about offering material assistance with a hidden motive of evangelism. He suggested that such people might ask, “is that not a relevant fear in MKC’s context?”[1]

The question intrigued us, and we thought it deserved an appropriate response. We believe such questions help to examine critically what the church has been doing for years. We took the question as an opportunity to look at what we have been doing for years without asking why we do it. One of our growth areas at MKC is we do but we do not analyze our actions and share our reflections with others to learn from our successes or failures. In this paper, we aim to present why the Meserete Kristos Church is doing development and relief activities. I (Kebede) began by writing down what I knew from my experience in the ministry of the MKC. I interviewed MKC church leaders and those who have engaged in the relief and development services of the church. Pastor Desalegn Abebe reviewed MKC documents relevant to the topic. In this article, we responded to the question by analyzing the information we gathered from MKC leaders and development practitioners as well as by reviewing various relevant MKC documents. We shared my findings with key previous and current MKC leaders to review and share their comments.  Although we interviewed people and reviewed literature produced by MKC, the content of this article is our research product, and the article does not by any means represent the official position of the Meserete Kristos Church.

MKC’s holistic ministry aligns with God’s mission in the world   

The mission given by God to the Church informs the Meserete Kristos Church’s (MKC) relief and development program.  The MKC believes and teaches that the church exists to fulfill the mission of God which is reconciling the world as Paul stated: “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation,” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Spreading the message of reconciliation to reconcile the world with God is the overarching mission of the Church. Other activities of the Church should be consistent with and nourish this larger mission.

Jesus Christ, the incarnate God charted what and how the disciples accomplished the mission of reconciliation in the world. When he started his ministry, Jesus began by “proclaiming the good news of God… The Kingdom of God has come near” and invited people to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:14-15). The Kingdom of God was the central message of the teaching of Jesus. The faith statement of MKC states that the Kingdom of God is both here and now, and the Kingdom yet to come. The eternal life promised by Jesus includes the present life and the afterlife.[2]

Jesus explained what this Kingdom of God does for people. Jesus quoted a text from the Prophet Isaiah and told people that he came to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recover sight for the blind, and release the oppressed (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus came to proclaim the liberation of people from sin and its adverse effects and address human needs. As the Believers Church Bible Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Schertz stated Jesus brought the Kingdom of God where people find healing, inclusion, and growth.[3] Poverty is not God’s plan for human beings, and with His grace and help, they can overcome poverty. By addressing their root causes, the followers of Christ can help the poor be free from oppressive worldviews, habits, systems, and structures. Jesus brought the good news that people who are sick, oppressed, marginalized, and impoverished find meaning in the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus was physically present in the world, he preached the gospel and addressed the physical needs of people as part of his ministry. Jesus fed people when they were in need and could not help themselves. He healed people who had various diseases. He taught the significance of visiting prisoners, feeding the hungry, and being compassionate for people in need (Matthew 25:34-40). God rewards people who engage in such practical expressions of love. God’s mission of reconciling the world with himself includes addressing the physical needs of people.

Jesus was a preacher of the good news of the Kingdom of God who helped people when it was essential. In doing so, he demonstrated that God cares for people and meets their needs in various ways. Jesus not only addressed the needs of people but also responded in compassion. People observed that his touch, words, and approaches were different in a positive way. Whenever he helped people by addressing their needs, Jesus reminded people to give glory to God. He linked his actions to the overarching mission of God’s Kingdom. He was God’s missionary whose mission was to introduce God’s Kingdom to the people by employing various approaches. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and advocating for the marginalized were not stand-alone missions of Jesus but part of the methods that enhanced God’s reconciliation work in the world. Jesus showed that people who decided to follow him should respond to the needs of people as appropriate.

Although Christ provided humanitarian assistance to people in need in his ministry, his main purpose went beyond healing, feeding, and advocating for the freedom of the oppressed. Jesus came to the world to liberate people from the death that conquered them by dying on their behalf on the cross out of his unconditional love for human beings.[4] According to God’s plan, Jesus’ death and resurrection bring a lasting solution to the suffering of humanity.

Michelle Hershberger, a Mennonite theologian, explained why Jesus died on the cross. She stated that Jesus’ death healed human brokenness with God, self, other people, and the physical world. She further explained that through his death on the cross, Jesus saved people from personal sin and the oppression of unjust systems and structures.[5] Anything the Church does should be holistic to address the purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross. The Church’s mission is to help people understand God’s purpose for their lives and make genuine relationships with Him, self, other people, and the physical environment.

Wilbert R. Shenk, a well-respected Mennonite missiologist asserted, “Mission is integral to God’s plan for the salvation of the world, and the election of the people of God has no purpose apart from mission.”[6] God cares about the basic needs of the people He created in His image. Any generous human being can address these needs without being a follower of Christ. God’s plan to save the people from their sins is executed by believers who decided to align their lives with God’s mission. God’s people give priority to what matters most to God.

MKC’s Faith Statement endorses the priority of the mission    

The second article of the Meserete Kristos Church’s faith statement states that MKC is affiliated with Mennonite churches holding similar doctrines. It is an independent national church established by the North American Mennonite missionaries and theologically rooted in the Anabaptist tradition with distinctive features. In the section that talks about the church, the faith statement mentions what the church is as “the church is the assembly of priests who grow in the likeness of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit and sent to the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and edify each other with the gifts endowed to them by the Lord Jesus Christ.”[7] This section of the faith statement indicates that the believers who are members of the church are priests sent to the world by the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of God’s Kingdom – the message of reconciliation. They are in the world as Christ’s ambassadors to share the gospel with people and reconcile them to God by knowing and following the teachings of Jesus and experiencing his love. It is this premise that guides the mission of MKC.

MKC’s mission statement reads, “The Meserete Kristos Church exists to preach the Gospel to all people and teach those who believe in Jesus Christ to be His disciples.”  Anything the church does is to accomplish its mission. The mission is explicit, it is to preach the gospel – the message of reconciliation and make them disciples of Jesus Christ. When MKC does relief or development, the church ensures its alignment with its mission. Although the mission is obvious, the development wing of the church is registered as a local non-government organization and crafted its mission which is not explicitly evangelistic. It says,

Our mission, as a Christian humanitarian organization, is to lay the foundation for a prosperous, just, and peaceful society in Ethiopia. Being inspired by the love of Christ for the poor, it facilitates sustainable and inclusive development, seeks and promotes justice, and builds resilience and capacities among the poor and vulnerable families and communities while partnering with the government, wider communities, faith-based organizations, funding agencies, and like-minded organizations.[8]

The development wing of MKC describes itself as a Christian humanitarian organization inspired by the love of Christ for the people. In calling itself “Christian,” the organization makes itself distinct from other secular humanitarian organizations. Even if it does what others do, there is something unique about it for being a Christian humanitarian organization. One essential point of distinction of Christian humanitarian organizations is the driving force or motive of the humanitarian work. For MKC’s development work, the driving force is the love of Christ for people in need.

MKC serves people because meeting the physical needs of people is part of God’s reconciliation work in the world. The church’s humanitarian and development activities are linked to the mission of the church and have a spiritual foundation. It is the spiritual mission of the church that guides its development goals and approaches. When the church stops doing development as part of the package of God’s reconciling mission in the world, it misses its true mission and becomes like any other secular humanitarian and development organization that opposes or disregards the spiritual aspect. For the church, all humanitarian and development activities complement, enhance, or accelerate God’s reconciling work in the world.

MKC considers charity as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Love for others for God’s sake primarily brings glory to God. Biblical charity is not for self-satisfaction or to boost the ego of the giver. It is to help people see God’s love through the good deeds of people of God. Charity transcends the self; it emanates from the Holy Spirit and works to glorify God. For MKC, every believer should use God-given gifts to enhance the Kingdom of God. Charity as the gift of the Holy Spirit is intended to lead people to know and experience God. For MKC, charity – relief and development – is part of God’s gifts for the Church and should be performed in ways that contribute to the accomplishment of God’s mission in the world.

MKC’s holistic ministry follows the pattern of Anabaptist missionaries to Ethiopia

The early Anabaptists understood that the Great Commission of Jesus Christ was for all followers of Jesus Christ across generations not just for the first twelve apostles. Accepting that the commandment was given to all believers, they were active in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ – the message of reconciliation. They sent evangelists across Europe to evangelize, and the laypeople used natural social networks to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with other people. All believers practiced sharing the gospel with others at great sacrifice.[9]

Sider stated that the early Anabaptists were committed to evangelism and social actions. They preached the gospel passionately, rejected violence, and promoted peace. [10]  In their article Keeping the Good News and the Good Works Together, Sider and Unruh asserted that many Mennonites lost their passion for evangelism due to a history of persecution, reaction to the imperialistic and destructive ways of evangelism during colonization, cultural assimilation of Mennonites, and accepting theology that undermines evangelism. They also argued that the pattern set by Jesus and the early Anabaptists was to engage in evangelism and social services in a mutually reinforcing way.[11]

We (authors) believe that sharing the gospel with others or evangelism does not promote colonialism. Evangelism is colonization when it is done for the selfish interests of the individuals, groups, or organizations that preach the gospel. Evangelism is bad and oppressive when it is done with wrong motives such as to control or manipulate people and in manners that relegate the receiving people and their cultures. God does not want non-participatory evangelism, which is forceful, done without love, and with wrong motives. Because people or mission organizations in the past practiced evangelism in the wrong way or for wrong motives does not mean that evangelism is bad. The Church should redeem evangelism from such misunderstanding. The evangelism God commands is sharing the message of reconciliation with people so that they know his way and follow. Christians also could not stop sharing the message of reconciliation because they are God’s ambassadors in the world, preaching the message of peace and reconciling people to God. MKC understands evangelism as sharing God’s message of reconciliation as his representatives with people in genuine, loving, and respectful interactive relationships in which people hear the message and make their decisions to follow Christ and reconcile with God.

MKC was shaped by the example of the early Mennonite missionaries who helped in the establishment of the church in the 1950s. The missionaries engaged in humanitarian and development activities to share the message of reconciliation with people so that they believe in Jesus Christ and be part of the Kingdom of God. The Mennonite missionaries came to Ethiopia to preach the gospel and plant churches. The entry point was the response to Ethiopia’s humanitarian needs after the Second World War. They used the opportunity to get to the country. They provided humanitarian services. Later, they asked for permission to do mission activities. When they were given the license, they started preaching the gospel and eventually planted MKC.[12] If their goal was just to help the people with relief and development, they should not have requested permission to do mission activities. As missionaries, they provided social services to the people without forgetting, compromising, or ignoring their ultimate goal of sharing the gospel and planting churches.

The Mennonite missionaries established schools that were open to all children regardless of their religious, economic, and social backgrounds. The missionaries and the nationals working with them shared the gospel with the students. Bible course was given to the students as one of the subjects. The teachers engaged in discussions with the students when they had questions to guide them in understanding the Bible and obeying the messages.  There were devotion sessions in which students participated in hearing sermons, singing gospel songs, and worshiping God.

When asked by students for voluntary services like teaching English, the Mennonite missionaries used the opportunity to share the gospel with the students. They were not content with doing something useful to the people. They went beyond doing good works and shared the gospel. Dr. Rohrer Elshman, the medical director of the Haile Mariam Mamo Memorial Hospital, asked students from Atse Gelawedos to teach them English. He told them that he could use the Gospel of John as a textbook to teach them English.[13] The Gospel of John was not a textbook for teaching English. He wanted the students to read the text to learn English for a purpose.

Presumably, he believed that God’s word was living and powerful enough to penetrate the hearts of the students, convict them of their sins, and lead them to repentance. He might have thought the Holy Spirit could use God’s word to guide them to Christ. The students were convicted of their sins by reading the gospel and became Christians. Many of those students played a significant role in the growth of Meserete Kristos Church.[14] Beyond expectations, they were filled by the power of the Holy Spirit and created a revival movement that affected other churches in Ethiopia.[15] Had not Dr. Eshleman used this approach, those people might not have gotten the opportunity to hear God’s word and believe in Jesus.

The clinics and hospitals established by the missionaries provided quality and affordable health services to the people. The missionaries shared God’s love with the patients by treating them with respect and compassion. Even when the national staff despised some patients because of their social backgrounds, the missionaries treated all people impartially.[16] They demonstrated to the patients and staff that God cares for all people regardless of their backgrounds. In those clinics and hospitals, they held regular devotions to preach God’s words to the staff and patients before they began their daily work. Asking their permission, the missionaries prayed for the sick by visiting them in their wards.

MKC learned from the Mennonite missionaries that sharing the gospel with people in all that it does is part of being Anabaptism. The missionaries were not ashamed of being Christian in communities where evangelical Christianity was unheard of before their arrival. They did not hesitate to share the love of God with other people. MKC followed in their footsteps to use every opportunity of service to share the gospel respectfully and ready to pay any price for preaching the gospel.

Balancing evangelism and social services

MKC preaches the gospel to lead and prepare people for the yet-to-come Kingdom of God without forgetting addressing the needs of the present physical needs of people in the here-and-now Kingdom of God. The eternal life and abundant life promised by Jesus, if they follow him, demands the church to address the present needs – the social dimension of the ministry and share the gospel with people to be part of the everlasting Kingdom of God in the future – the spiritual dimension. The ministry of the church is whole when the church engages in both social and spiritual ministries effectively. Giving too much emphasis and ignoring the other is not biblical and contradicts the pattern of ministry Jesus demonstrated to the church.

It is good for people to help each other as human beings. The Bible teaches the importance of helping those in need. Helping people in need unconditionally is a good deed because it is serving the people in God’s image. It is inappropriate to set a condition for helping people who deserve to be assisted. As human beings, it is their right to be supported and to live. The Church should actively participate in humanitarian services during a crisis. Doing good work alone does not complete the ministry of the church. The Church should connect this good work with its mission. The church is in the business of saving and improving human lives with the primary goal of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

MKC has a street children’s feeding project that has been in operation for many years. These children are living in dire situations. The church decided to give them lunch daily. During the distribution of the lunch packs, the church assigns evangelists to share the gospel with them for a few minutes. These children usually do not go to the church to hear God’s word. The church has used this opportunity to tell them Christ’s love. The church also prays for the children. Accepting Christ has never been a precondition to getting a free lunch. The church’s responsibility is to give them free lunch and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the children. Converting the street children is not the church’s role, it is God’s.

From the biblical perspective, the most precious thing to be offered to people is sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them. Holding the message that liberates them from any beliefs, systems, structures, and habits that keep them away from becoming the people they want to be is indifference. True love is telling the message that helps them live abundant life in the present and leads them to life beyond the present.

Historically, MKC was established along the towns of Ethio-Djibouti railway. During and in the post-communist era, MKC flourished across the country. Within a decade, the growth of MKC was significant. It was not a miracle. The church’s tremendous growth was because every MKC member was involved actively in sharing the gospel with others. When MKC members were moved to certain places for government work or private businesses, they shared the gospel with others. When God converted people, they began house Bible students which grew into house fellowships and later to a local church. These were ordinary church members and were not paid missionaries. The believers considered themselves witnesses for Christ – telling people what Jesus did for them and what he could do for others from what they experienced and promised in the Holy Bible.

To fully engage in the mission, many Mennonites in the United States redefined the mission as the responsibility of every believer and local church rather than an activity done by a few heroic individuals on behalf of the congregation. In alignment with God’s mission in the world, individual believers and local churches should be willing to let God work in their lives through the Holy Spirit to equip them for the mission He called them to do.[17]

MKC teaches that the church is not value-neutral or value-free when providing social services. The church does everything to accomplish its mission to bring glory to God. The church has the agenda of winning people for Christ. It promotes that life with Jesus is better than life without him. MKC expects that church members should share the gospel with other people regardless of what they do, where they work, or for whom they work. Part of the identity of the believers is sharing the gospel with people. Believers are taught to be light to the world by obeying and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are light in the workplace and the community.

The church’s staff working in humanitarian and development services are Christians, professionals, and committed to the mission of the church. They are expected to do their work professionally and strategically. They do their work as any other humanitarian and development professionals. As Christians, they go beyond that in their mission and approaches. They share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people they serve. They do everything within their capacity to demonstrate the love of Christ in words and deeds. They witness for Christ, and they are doing what they are doing to show the love of Christ to the world.

The sharing of the gospel does not violate humanitarian ethical standards. MKC respects the dignity and free will of the people it serves. Therefore, the sharing of the gospel is not in a coercive way. People are not forced to hear the gospel or to receive the message. It is up to the people to listen and decide. The workers present the message of God’s love to the people in a humble, inviting, and respectful manner. The humanitarian services given to the people are not in any way subjected to the decisions the people make or their responses to the gospel message. If the people meet the minimum criteria set for the services, they deserve the right to get the services regardless of their responses to the gospel presented to them. Humanitarian and development services should be given based on the principle of Christ’s unconditional love for the world.

MKC members suffered persecution during the communist regime in Ethiopia. Many were beaten, tortured, and jailed for determining to follow Jesus and sharing the gospel with other people. Regardless of the external pressure, they continued preaching the gospel. Most of the preachings were done one-on-one or in small groups. Believers understood that preaching the gospel was the mission of every born-again Christian and this mission is carried out regardless of type/place of work or residence. No exception for those who work in the humanitarian sector. All believers are missionaries.

Even when government policy prohibits sharing the gospel with beneficiaries of social services operated by the church, Christian humanitarian workers look for opportunities to share the gospel with the people they serve. They do this not to violate the state’s policy but to obey the order of God, which supersedes the earthly powers when they act in ways that contradict His decree.

Sometimes disagreement occurs between the MKC and its relief and development wing on the balancing Christian witness and social assistance. When the leadership of the relief and development wing of the church is mature, well-informed about the mission of the church, and has practical experience in church ministry, the relationship remains smooth. When the leadership is only professional and lacks knowledge and practical experience in the ministry of the church, there is an attempt to pull away the relief and development wing from the church. In the latter case, the leadership tries to separate the social service from the spiritual mission of the church. To sustain the balance between social service and Christian witness, the church should ensure that the leadership of the relief and development wing is committed to upholding the church’s mission.

 

Make use of the rare opportunities created by social services for church planting.  

Western Protestant missionaries came to northern Ethiopia starting in the 19^th century. They established mission stations in the north and tried to renew the Ethiopian Orthodox Church rather than establishing a separate Protestant church. After years of attempts, they realized that they could not renew the church and plant a Protestant church in the north. During Emperor Haile Selassie I, the northern and central parts of the country were closed to Western missionaries to evangelize people.[18] For most of the 20^th century, northern Ethiopia was closed to Protestant mission activities.

A former employee of World Vision Ethiopia reflected in his Amharic book that God opened the mission door for evangelical churches in Ethiopia during the 1984/85 famine in northern Ethiopia.[19] When the news about the famine was aired on the Western media, the communist government could not say no to the humanitarian response of the Western non-government organizations. Although the Ethiopian state considered the Western NGOs as spies for their governments, in the face of the grave famine, the communist regime did not have other options than letting them come in to help the victims of the famine.[20]

Many humanitarian organizations including World Vision responded to the famine to save lives. World Vision mobilized a huge amount of funds by advertising the famine of the1984 in the United States media.[21] World Vision conducted a huge international response by distributing food and non-food items. In some inaccessible places, World Vision airdropped food.[22] and got a nickname, “came from the sky to save us.”

In addition to humanitarian response, Christian employees prayed for the people, shared the gospel with them, and taught the gospel to those who believed in Jesus. They planted churches in the closed areas for evangelical Christians and even the communist government knowing what happened allowed World Vision to operate in the area after the famine to help the people in the rehabilitation efforts. Many MKC members participated in the humanitarian response, and they established many MKC churches in northern Ethiopia. Antsokiya MKC, the mother church of MKC local churches in Wollo, was established by MKC members working for World Vision in the 1990s.

Humanitarian assistance and development programs helped MKC to plant churches in otherwise inaccessible areas for Christians to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the local churches established following humanitarian interventions were located in northern Shewa and Southern Ethiopia.

Adhering to biblical principles in providing social services

Integrity

For MKC, integrity means being oneself. The followers of Christ should not hide their identity as Christians. They should live as Christians and tell others about their faith. However, the church teaches believers to follow the principle taught by Jesus “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). When MKC members engage in social assistance, they should tell the beneficiaries who they are and why they come to assist.

The most common introduction lines are, “We are Christians, and we represent the Meserete Kristos Church” and “We came here to help you because God let us come here.” In that case, the people know who the social assistance providers are. This allows them to make any decisions relating to the workers or the assistance given to them. The transparency of the Christian identity of the workers and the organization helps the beneficiaries use high ethical standards to scrutinize the behaviors and approaches of the humanitarian/ development workers. If something goes wrong, the beneficiaries, “We trust you because you are from the church, and we do not expect this and that to happen.” They make the church workers accountable because of the disclosure of their identity and they belong to a church.

The church does not immediately disclose its motive for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with project beneficiaries. Does this mean the church hides its motive when approaching people to help them with relief or development? From a practical point of view, the church does not declare to the people or the community, “We came here to convert your religion and make you followers of Christ.” The local culture does not recommend the fruitfulness of such a rush approach. Developing good relationships through talking to each other, sharing social events, and sharing food and drinks precedes going to the heart of the matter.

According to local culture, when strangers meet, they take time to get to know each other. They try to get to know each other before speaking their hearts out. When their acquaintance reaches a good level and trust is created, they begin to reveal their desires and intentions in their hearts. They can communicate with each other because of good familiarity and trust. One shows a tendency to accept the ideas presented by the other. In the same way, to tell the gospel to people, it is important to first make proper friendships with people and create trust.

In the hearts of the church development workers, there is a desire to share the gospel – the message of reconciliation and help them follow Christ. They are happy to help needy people with their present problems but also like to share the gospel with them to believe in Jesus and experience the life he has promised. MKC teaches that as Christians, believers should pray and do something to share the gospel to allow them to decide to follow Christ. Being indifferent about sharing the gospel with people is unchristian. Looking for excuses for not sharing what Christ has done in oneself with other people is a sign of being ashamed of one’s Christian faith. Sometimes, when Christians are not sure about their faith or careless about their faith, they say that telling the gospel to people is a violation of people’s human rights to silence the mental blame they feel for not telling others about Christ. The decision people make to share the gospel with others tells a lot about how serious they are as Christians.

Witnessing in deeds and words

Sometimes Christian humanitarian workers may not tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ in words. They demonstrate their Christian faith in deeds in their work and relationships with people. The compassion, love, respect, and fairness they observe in the lives and actions of the relief workers lead the beneficiaries to ask why their attitudes and actions are different from others. The Christian workers wait until their lives preach the gospel and convince the people to ask questions. When people ask for an explanation of the uniqueness of their lives and behaviors, they get a fertile ground to tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ that transformed them. Are they behaving that way to convert those people? No! They have been living their normal life by following the teachings and life of Jesus Christ as demonstrated in the gospels.

Preaching the gospel in deeds is powerful. The sharing of the gospel is complete when it is done both in deeds and words. It is essential to follow the advice of Francis of Assisi, “Preach Christ at all times. If necessary, use words.”  Which comes first depends on the conditions and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, there is a belief that the Holy Spirit uses the good deeds of Christians to lead people to Christ. Christians should not feel they accomplished the mission by the deeds only. They must speak when the Holy Spirit guides them to do so.[23]

No place for manipulation

MKC prohibits manipulating people to accept faith in Christ. Whether the sharing of the gospel works in the humanitarian sector or other situations, manipulating people to follow Christ is considered a sinful act. The church teaches that it violates the rights of individuals to make their personal decisions using their God-given free will. MKC believes that even God does not manipulate people or forcefully convert people which he could have done it easily because he has all the power to do so.

The Mennonite missionaries observed the passion of the nationals to evangelize and lead people to Christ. Some passionate believers were working with them in the hospital or coming to the hospitals to share the gospel with patients. The missionaries observed how the passion for leading people to Christ could easily cross the boundary and become manipulation and warned them to avoid exploiting the vulnerabilities of people to commit to faith in Christ. One of the medical missionaries counseled Ethiopian evangelists “not to take advantage of the sick people by pressuring them into committing to Christ.”[24]

What MKC teaches and does is believers are in the world to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to people. Believers are God’s agents to transform the world through sharing the life-transforming gospel. When an alternative faith/ worldview is presented to them, people can choose what is best for them. Believers engage with the hearers to help them understand the gospel and make informed decisions. The sharing, preaching, and engagement are supposedly done with love, respectfully, wisely, and sustainably. Believers present the gospel to people; they cannot convert people. God does.

Those who oppose the presentation of the gospel to the beneficiaries of the humanitarian sector are not neutral. They have an agenda that they teach and try to inculcate in the people and community they come to assist with relief and development. They try to impose their worldviews and values on the beneficiaries. There is a rope tied to their humanitarian relief and development activities. They do not leave the beneficiaries to remain as they found them. They preach post-modern principles. They teach thoughts and practices that are unheard of in indigenous communities. They promote liberalism or secularism – the exclusion of religious elements from people’s lives and works.[25] In Africa, they alleged to promote neoliberal ideologies and values.[26] They try to convert them to their intended goals. In so doing they expose their hypocrisy. They are converting people to secular ideology, and they are accusing the Church and faith-based organizations of converting people to Christianity. The difference is the agenda and the goal, but both seem to attempt to convert their targets. Suppose it is legitimate for others to convert the beneficiaries to secularism. Why is it wrong for the church to share the gospel with humanitarian beneficiaries to decide about following Christ?

No place for the misuse of resources

It has to be clear that the use of social services to attract people to faith in Jesus Christ does not mean using the funds allocated for social services for evangelism. MKC has good stewardship of resources generated locally and donated by generous foreign individuals and organizations. The resources are used according to the already agreed-upon memorandum of understanding and as earmarked in the approved projects. The local government authorities regulate the appropriate use of project funds, which an externally independent audit firm audits. Donors are always welcome to examine how the project funds are used. The financial utilization of the church is also annually audited by an external certified audit firm. MKC does not allow and tolerate the use of project funds for explicitly spiritual activities.

The church’s general assembly meets annually, hears the audit report, and approves it. If there is any misuse, those who engage are accountable. Furthermore, the development wing renewed its license based on the approval of the audit report.[27]

Conclusions

The Anabaptism, the root of the theology of the Meserete Kristos Church, affirmed the rightness of obeying the teachings and following the footsteps of Jesus Christ as demonstrated when He was in the world. MKC learned from the Bible and the examples of the early Mennonite missionaries to Ethiopia the appropriateness of holistic ministry – the link between sharing the gospel – the message of reconciliation and humanitarian assistance. MKC strongly adheres to and promotes that God sent his people to the world with the message of reconciliation to fulfill his mission – reconciling the world with himself in Christ. God’s purpose is accomplished when his people share the message of reconciliation with people as ambassadors and invite those to follow God’s way. For MKC, sharing the message of reconciliation and social service coexist. The church’s practice indicates that MKC has used social services as one of the strategies for Christian witness.

This article sheds light on how MKC engages in relief and development services and the rationale for the practice. As it is the first critical reflection on how MKC balances sharing the gospel with people and social services to fulfill God’s reconciling mission in the world and respect humanitarian ethical standards, more research needs to be done to understand the strengths and pitfalls of the MKC’s approach.

[1] Bruce Yoder, “Reflection on Mission and Peace in Ethiopia,” posted by Henok Mekonin on Facebook, August 6, 2024.

[2] MKC, “Meserete Kristos Church Faith Statement” (MKC Head Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, August 2024).

[3] M.H. Schertz, Luke: Believers Church Bible Commentary, Believers Church Bible Commentary Series (MennoMedia, 2023), https://books.google.com.et/books?id=soRMzwEACAAJ.

[4] Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2017).

[5] Michelle Hershberger, Why Did Jesus Die and What Difference Does It Make? (MennoMedia, Inc., 2019).

[6] Wilbert R Shenk, “Missionary Encounter with Culture,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 15, no. 3 (1991): 104–9.

[7] MKC, “Meserete Kristos Church Faith Statement.”

[8] MKC RDA, “Meserete Kristos Church Relief and Development Association – Five Years Strategy Plan (2022-2026)” (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 2021).

[9] Wilbert R Shenk, “Why Missional and Mennonite Should Make Perfect Sense,” Fully Engaged: Missional Church in an Anabaptist Voice, 2015, 20–28.

[10] Ronald J Sider, Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel (Baker Books, 1999).

[11] Ronald J. Sider and Heidi Rolland Unruh, Keeping Good News and Good Works Together, Fully Engaged: Missional in an Anabaptist Voice, 2015, 31-36

[12] Nathan B Hege, Beyond Our Prayers: Anabaptist Church Growth in Ethiopia, 1948-1998 (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2020).

[13] Hege.

[14] Lydette S Assefa, “Creating Identity in Opposition: Relations between the Meserete Kristos Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, 1960-1980,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 83, no. 4 (2009): 539–71.

[15] Brent L Kipfer, “Thriving under Persecution: Meserete Kristos Church Leadership during the Ethiopian Revolution (1974-1991),” Mennonite Quarterly Review 91, no. 3 (2017): 297–370.

[16] Hege, Beyond Our Prayers: Anabaptist Church Growth in Ethiopia, 1948-1998.

[17] Stanley W Green, “From Engagement to Preservation and Back Again,” Fully Engaged: Missional Church in an Anabaptist Voice, 2015, 21-24

[18] Tim Bascom, Running to the Fire: An American Missionary Comes of Age in Revolutionary Ethiopia (University of Iowa Press, 2015).

[19] Bekele Wold Kidan, For This Time (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Rehobot Printers, 2008).

[20] Jason Clay, “Western Assistance and the Ethiopian Famine; Implications for Humanitarian Assistance,” in The Political Economy of African Famine (Routledge, 2019), 147–75.

[21] David King, “The New Internationalists: World Vision and the Revival of American Evangelical Humanitarianism, 1950–2010,” Religions 3, no. 4 (2012): 922–49.

[22] Sofie Sandstrom and Sirkku Juhola, “Continue to Blame It on the Rain? Conceptualization of Drought and Failure of Food Systems in the Greater Horn of Africa,” Environmental Hazards 16, no. 1 (2017): 71–91.

[23] Krabill and Green, Fully Engaged: Missional Church in an Anabaptist Voice.

[24] Hege, Beyond Our Prayers: Anabaptist Church Growth in Ethiopia, 1948-1998.90

[25] Amy Stambach, “Religion, Education, and Secularism in International Agencies,” Comparative Education Review 55, no. 1 (2011): 111–42.

[26] Issa G Shivji, “The Silences in the NGO Discourse: The Role and Future of NGOs in Africa,” Africa Development 31, no. 4 (2006): 22–51.

[27] Ethiopia: Proclamation No. 621/2009 of 2009, Charities and Societies Proclamation, 13 February 2009, https://www.refworld.org/legal/decreees/natlegbod/2009/en/72038 [accessed 10 September 2024]