Revd Dr Bekele Deboch is a prolific evangelist and church planter who organized John Stott’s first trip to Ethiopia. Bekele has started two dozen congregations in the north of the country with some 15,000 members. He is now involved in training pastors at Ethiopia Graduate School of Theology.
Great Truths caught up with him recently and asked him about the pressures and possibilities for gospel ministry in Ethiopia.
Bekele, please can you tell us about a few of your ministry challenges and opportunities?
There are many difficulties that we face as we try to reach unbelievers who need our Lord Jesus, especially in the northern Amhara and Tigray regions, some 1,200km from where I live in Addis Ababa. Transportation is not easy due to the civil war that has lasted a long time. From Addis to the cities of Mekele and Axum the only viable transportation is flying from Addis, which is unaffordable for many of us. But once we are in the Tigray region we can move safely from town to town.
The opportunities, especially for me, are great. All the people, including political leaders and university lecturers, in Tigray are open and happy to have me with them. I can also take some trustworthy believers from Addis with me. Since they are originally from the same region, this works well because the people in the Tigray region do not want to see others from other parts of the country because of the terrible history of war over the last few years.
Even though I am not from Tigray by birth, because of my connection with the people in my years of evangelism and love for them, I can move everywhere without any problem to share the love of our Lord Jesus, and to give training to their young pastors and leaders. I also visited them soon after the war stopped two years ago, and I had the opportunity to meet many of their political leaders and army generals. The Lord himself has done it all for me.
| Continent | Africa |
|---|---|
| Capital | Addis Ababa |
| Population | Approximately 130 million |
| Languages | 88 |
| People groups | 129 |
| % Christian | 60.7% |
*Stats from https://operationworld.org/locations/ethiopia/
Bekele, given those pressures and possibilities, in what ways will Great Truths be helpful for your ministry and the ministry of other church leaders in Ethiopia?
First of all, Great Truths helps all of us understand more fully and accurately what God has said to us in the Bible about the victory of our Lord Jesus. Since it will be translated into Amharic and available online everywhere in Ethiopia, pastors can access it easily and use it to teach the Scriptures and preach the gospel in many places.
There are already about 25 million Bible-believing Christians in my country. There are also some small Bible schools and a Bible College in Mekelle, and we can use Great Truths to help so many people in those institutions. This is not only in the northern part of Ethiopia (Amhara and Tigray regions) but Great Truths helps us preach the victory of Christ and teach many others in the whole country of Ethiopia. Great Truths is also such a valuable resource for pastor training at our Bible institutions such as the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST), Evangelical Theological College (ETC), Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS), Shiloh International Theological Seminary (SITS), as well as many other colleges in Ethiopia.
Brother, how can we be praying in the coming months for you, for Ethiopia Graduate School of Theology, and for the many churches that you serve?
Please pray for us, for peace and security in this terribly messed up country, and most of all to have a clear vision to reach the people for Christ. Pray especially for us to clearly see our Lord Jesus, his church, and his world, and to serve him and them faithfully. Since many of our students at EGST and other institutions who are happy to travel with me are unable financially, they need special attention and prayers from God’s people. Thank you.
