Growing a Seminary in Ethiopia

At the invitation of the Meserete Kristos Church, the author and his companion leave comfortable positions in Nairobi, Kenya, to assist in establishing a "Christian liberal arts college" in Ethiopia. They find a nation in abject poverty, slowly recovering from seventeen years of war and Marxist revolutionary misrule. They find a nascent church, growing at 17% per annum among a deeply depressed and disillusioned population. Stripped of all her institutions and physical assets by the former Dergue regime, the liberated church was starting over. Opening a small Bible institute in 1994, the church envisioned it becoming a tertiary-level college. This autobiographical memoir is a missionary story of expatriate participants attempting to relate to an established church in a culture vastly different than their own. They find that assisting local leadership to achieve their goals can be challenging, especially when visions change, and disagreements arise. It is a human story of cultural clashes, personality conflicts, misunderstandings, changing visions, adapting to changing external developments over a thirty-year period. It is a Christian story of "going the second mile," of repentance, of forgiveness, of reconciliation. It is a faith story, of relying upon God, of God's timing, of God's faithfulness in protection and provision. This is a success story; the small Bible institute becomes a seminary with thousands of graduates leading and blessing a vibrant growing church that is blessing the nation. The events of this story took place in the environs of Addis Ababa and Bishoftu, Ethiopia, over a thirty-year period, between 1994 and 2023.