Ethiopian church to rebuild from ashes

KEMISE, Ethiopia – Some 250 members of the Kemise congregation of the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) in Ethiopia are worshipping under a tarp, after followers of a marginal but militant Muslim sect burned down their church building on March 19, 2006. Two other local evangelical churches were also burned.

No MKC members were injured, but the incident has heightened their sense of vulnerability as an evangelical Christian minority in a zone dominated by Muslims. Kemise town is located approximately 200 kilometers northeast of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, between the Orthodox Christian highlands to the West and the pastoralist Muslim lowlands to the East.

With the approach of the kirempt (Ethiopian long rains) in June, Kemise church leaders are anxious to build a more secure structure. Eastern Mennonite Missions, in consultation with the Meserete Kristos Church of Ethiopia, is appealing to North American Mennonites to help support the MKC response. Funds will be used for rebuilding, pastoral care, and peace work at Kemise and other locations where MKC churches have been the targets of violence. EMM has released $3,000 from an emergency relief fund and welcomes contributions for this work.

Ethiopia is a nation of competing religions and ethnicities. Hot spots sometimes erupt into violence. As a growing denomination with over 352 local congregations and nearly 800 church planting centers around the country, Meserete Kristos church leaders anticipate that the church will increasingly be called upon to respond to property destruction and member trauma in such hot spots as Kemise.

Church leaders say tensions along religious and ethnic lines are high not only in Kemise but around the country. The MKC called for a churchwide fast May 11-14 in response to these widespread tensions.  

Local police have apprehended some of the suspected perpetrators in the Kemise attacks and are pursuing a legal case against them. Mulu Wengel and Mekane Yesus churches were also burned in the March 19 attack. An attempt was also made on a World Vision Compound, but damage was not extensive.

A similar attack on May 7 targeted a small MKC congregation in Senebete, about 50 kilometers south of Kemise. The congregation was worshipping in a rented building when members smelled the fire set to a nearby haystack. Members extinguished the fire and saved the building, but the landlord subsequently evicted the congregation.

The destruction at Kemise MKC included a synthesizer and sound system, desks, tables and benches, television and television stand, choir robes, Bibles, and other books. Witnesses said that the arsons acted openly, returning twice by truck to check on the progress of the fire. Including buildings and other property, damages were estimated at $43,000. Kemise MKC church leaders plan to rebuild on the same site, on 2,000 square meters of land granted by the government.

To contribute funds, mail checks (designated for "MKC church burnings") to Eastern Mennonite Missions at P.O. Box 458, Salunga, PA 17538-0458.

-Holly Blosser Yoder

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