February 2022 News

    In the heart of Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, is a gathering place called Meskel Square. This popular gathering area is used by many groups throughout the year. The Ethiopian Orthodox church gathers here for several religious holidays, Muslims use this location for their major holidays, and the space is also used for secular concerts and political speeches. The Protestant church in Ethiopia never really used Meskel Square as a place to meet, until this year. One of the protestant leaders announced through social media that they wanted to have a large gathering there with an open invite to all protestants throughout the country. One of the goals was to raise funds to help the families most affected from the recent conflict between the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) and the Ethiopian Government. They also wanted to use this opportunity to spur believers on to preaching the Gospel and sharing about Jesus with their countrymen.
    One of the Orthodox Leaders, Miheret Abiy, went to social media saying that the Protestants were trying to use this gathering at Meskel Square to take over the Orthodox people and he called for violence in an effort to stop the Protestant gathering. Overall, the Orthodox people knew that this wasn’t right, and so they tried to stop the violence from happening. Thankfully, there was a large police presence that day, and the gathering took place peacefully- Thank God! The problem didn’t go away though. There are many in the Orthodox church that have bought in to what this one rogue leader has suggested. One of these people is actually a young lady in the Gospel Passion Ministries home. We are asking for your prayers, as it has led to conflicts and some turmoil in the house. Please pray that God would be at work in each of the young ladies’ hearts, and that this would be used for God’s glory, and as an opportunity to really show the love of Christ. We know the enemy is going to continue to try to stop these young women from believing in and following Jesus, but we also know that our God is greater! May our God do a mighty work in bringing these ladies into relationship with Him.

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Meet Genet (pictured above), our ministry manager in Ethiopia. Learn more about her in next month's update.