Why start a church in Ethiopia?

Now that we've started on a journey of moving our family to Ethiopia in hopes of helping to catalyze a church planting movement there, I want to try to answer a few questions that have come up already, and some others that I believe will come up.

1. Why Ethiopia? The short answer is that we have felt Jesus stirring it in our hearts and using some fairly unusual circumstances to speak to us about spending a portion of our lives there. For a more detailed view, check out our blog post, "When God Spoke." There is a lot of need and a lot of opportunity, but to bottom line it...this truly is where we feel The Lord directing us, and so we will attempt to obey to the best of our ability.

2. What will we do in Ethiopia? We are setting out to focus on two major aspects of ministry. The one is to establish an international church in Addis Ababa which well represents the core values of the Vineyard movement. Our dream is that this church would become an outpost for the Kingdom of God to be advanced radically throughout Addis Ababa. Our other dream is for this church to become a church which could then raise up and equip other church planters and then resource them in being sent out to plant churches throughout Ethiopia. The other aspect of ministry will be to help support and equip the 20 Vineyard churches and their leaders within Ethiopia. The dream is to help catalyze indigenous church planting throughout Ethiopia in which Ethiopians are taking the Good News of God's Kingdom to people of over 80 languages and 200 dialects across the country and engaging them in their language and their culture.

Our main focus on the onset will be to immerse ourselves in Ethiopian language and culture. Our first few months will be critical in making sure we are absorbing language and making Ethiopian friends.

3. Why start another church? The bottom line here is that I am convinced that Jesus' Church really is the hope of the world. The community of followers of Jesus truly are the ones who extend transformation to individuals and societies as they represent Jesus to their neighbors and cities. As Jesus instructed His followers in Matthew 28 to go into the world and make disciples, I believe He saw this as coming from His Church, His community of followers. Throughout the Book of Acts we see a powerful expression of the difference that a church really can make as it follows Jesus and reaches out to others in expressing the breaking in of God's Kingdom to others. There is a Biblical legacy of the church making a difference and bringing hope. There also is a historical one, too...I'll leave that for a future blog, though.

In Ethiopia there are so many mission agencies and humanitarian agencies at work doing great things in reaching out to the poor and voiceless. Everywhere a person turns there is evidence of various aid that comes from all over the world. However, I believe without strong local churches the good that aid does will not last or will not have the maximum impact. When there are strong local churches partnering in reaching out in Jesus' name to those in need, there is a deep, long-term, sustainable impact. There is the hope for people to both meet Jesus, but also to enter into being followers of Jesus as they are connected relationally to other communities of Jesus followers. To illustrate this point, I think of the difference in stories of where they have dug deep water wells (as a humanitarian project) compared to where a deep water well project has been joined with a local church. The difference at the end of the day is whether someone simply has their physical thirst quenched and has physical hope restored versus having the physical hope plus an ongoing expression of spiritual, emotional and relational hope extended to them as well. The church becomes the ongoing expression of what is behind the good deeds that were done. There is a need for strong local churches who can be that voice. This brand of strong local churches is one that I feel will take Luke 4 to heart and recognize that they are empowered to be about the ministry of Jesus. Imagine local churches that really believed and practiced preaching Good News to the Poor, that really prayed for the sick, that truly worked to lift the heavy load off of the oppressed, that truly demonstrated God's Kingdom being present by seeing the captive set free, and who truly declared that God is for you and is passionately pursuing you, whether you have come to the realization yet or not. I believe this kind of church which is actively believing and practicing the breaking in of God's Kingdom is the expression of the church that Ethiopia needs.

4. What will The Shannons need while in Ethiopia?

- For one, we will need prayer. Lots and lots of prayer. There will be major adjustments to make as well as a foundation of prayer to be laid for what The Lord wants to build. We would love to have you join on our prayer team. You can do so by visiting the blog and checking the current prayer request list or by dropping us an email to shannonjerry@gmail.com.

- We also will need funding. It will cost us comparably the same to living in the US, with some added expenses such as taxes and insurance (which an employer would typically pay) and language classes as well as other expenses, like flights (approximately $7,000 one way for our family). We also will need to raise some ministry expenses. So, we're looking for folks who will partner with us in it. If you would be willing to partner with us financially, please drop us an email to shannonjerry@gmail.com. We'd also love it if you'd pass the word!

- We also will be looking for emotional and relational support. We know there will be plenty of transitions and adjustments to make. It means a lot to know we've got family and friends pulling for us back in the US.

- We'd love to have you partner with us.

5. What is The Vineyard Ethiopian Partnership?

The Vineyard Ethiopian Partnership is made up of 5 churches from the US and Norway who are attempting to do together what no one church can do alone. The desire is to see a church planting movement continue to develop within Ethiopia which eventually one day would lead to Ethiopia having its own Association of Vineyard Churches. This will be done in a variety of ways through training, short term trips, support and catalytic church planting. For more info on Vineyard partnerships, please go to www.vineyardmissions.org.