HOW IT WAS STARTED
The beginning of Evangelium Mission Ethiopia is a kind God’s wonderful guidance was clearly manifested.
Missionary Shimelis Reta and his wife Jutta Retta had a Catholic background; they were people who sincerely sought God in their faith, but admitted they felt He was very far then.
But when they turned their search to the Bible, they found Him extremely nearer and discovered that God’s eternal purpose was different from what they had heard and known.
Having realized this truth, they decided to leave their medical careers they had in Germany and becoming missionaries to serve this gospel.
The decision is not based on a sudden outburst of emotion. Rather it became as a conviction, as they see the testimony of Apostle Paul of the Almighty God says, “we are fellow workers with him…” (1 Cor. 3:9), that they are deeply impressed by the humility of God working with man.They are also inspired by the words, “If indeed we suffer with him, then we are joint heirs with Christ, that we may also be glorified together” (Rom. 8:17).
In the first journey of Ethiopia, as a missionary, Missionary Shimeles directly went to Dire Dawa Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) and, he was allowed to attend the church leaders’ discussion, where he studied the overall situation of the church in Eastern Ethiopia.
On that occasion, the leaders was about to decide that the Bedesa local church then to be closed down due to having no access of a salary less than 200 birr for a minister. But Missionary Shimeles intervened, and urged to revise their decision. And gave the minister’s salary for six months, and said, “Keep praying, then we will see what God will do.” He returned to Germany.
Upon arriving in Germany, a wrong fax arrived at their home address. It stated that a Mission organization called Evangelium Mission wanted to support a mission that had begun in Mali, of the West African country. Sister Jutta replied that the message had been sent to the wrong address, but that there was a similar need for mission support in Ethiopia.That request brought a response beyond what MissionaryShimelis and Jutta had anticipated. Many people expressed their willingness to support the ministry in Ethiopia.
This was an answer to the prayers of both Retta family and the MKC leaders. And immediately a mission training is arranged for the Eastern Ethiopia local church ministers that enabled the church to push the gospel work further which would be supposed the first fruit of Evangelium Mission Ethiopia’s (EME’s) journey of 30 years. Through out these years, hundreds of Missionaries who contributed to the current growth of the church helped to engage in the Mission work.currently 490 missionaries in different regions of MKC are being supported by EME.
At the time,facilitated by EME, 12 Missionaries were able to sent for mission work throughout Hararge after a mission training provided by Evangelist Shimeles Rega (Gash Shime), the renowned Evangelist who cultivated many mission workers in the region.
Evangelium Mission Ethiopia has not worked formally with any denomination outside MKC in Ethiopia as it came up with a clear vision from the beginning to work with this church.However, according to Missionary Shemes, there were challenges along this line, that might stop the journey from the very beginning.
However, the Lord helped both EME and MKC, to stick together to bear wonderful fruits in their three decades work together.
The work started from the Eastern Ethiopian region extended to the West Hararge, the Awash Valley, Nazareth (North and South regions), Meta Robi, Arsi,Jimma, Elubabor, Shambu, Agamsa, Jarte, Amuru in the Wollega region, and in North East and very recently to Tigray.
In order to fulfill its vision, there are 6 ministers in the main office in Addis Ababa and 16 regional coordinators in the regions where Evangelium Mission works.
THE PURPOSE
The purpose of Evangelium Mission Ethiopia is to support the mission in Ethiopia to expand the Kingdom of God by sharing the earthly and spiritual blessings that the Lord provides through the believers in Germany. And by providing the timely reports on the fruits of the ministry to the believers in Germany, sharing the spiritual blessings come out of the it, so as is could be a reason for spiritual revival growth, as well as encouragement among the German brethren.
Focus Areas
1. Supporting the livelihood of evangelical ministers;
2. Facilitating capacity building training for evangelical ministers and leaders;
3. Supporting evangelical ministers and children from disadvantaged backgrounds to access formal education;
4. Supporting the elderly;
5. Building prayer houses and training centers;
6. Providing humanitarian assistance in the event of man-made and natural disasters.