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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Lutherans in Ethiopia helped repressed Mennonites during Marxist era


Calvin E. Shenk, a professor at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., visited the Mekane Yesus (Lutheran) Seminary in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this summer.

“On behalf of the Meseretes Kristos (Mennonite) Church members in particular and Mennonites in general, I want to thank you Lutherans for putting your neck on the line for us during the Marxist repression,” Shenk said.

A Lutheran professor replied, “We owed it to you because we put your neck on the line during the Reformation.”

While Anabaptists in the 16th century suffered at the hands of other Christians, Mennonites in Ethiopia suffered from people outside the Christian faith during the Marxist-military rule in the 20th century.

During the “Derg years” in Ethiopia, from 1982 to 1991 when a Marxist military government caused the MKC to go underground, the Lutherans provided an umbrella for repressed evangelical churches. On many occasions various Lutheran churches in Addis Ababa opened their doors for a good number of MKC members for wedding and funerals.

The Lutheran churches in Addis Ababa agreed to commit themselves to serve the body of believers suffering repression under the Marxist regime, even risking the closure of their own churches.

Not only did Lutherans open their church doors to MKC members, but they also opened their homes and arms in an expression of Christian love and compassion.

 – Mennonite World Conference release

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Last modified January 9, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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