Ethiopia Facts: Christianity
Here’s a post I’ve been wanting to write for some time. I’ve been reading about Ethiopia’s connections to Christianity, and I’m fascinated by what I’ve learned.
First of all, I’ll admit to being very ignorant about the religious landscape of Ethiopia before we decided to adopt from there. I very naively assumed the country was probably Islamic, or filled with tribal religious. While there is a large Muslim population in the country (35-45%, depending which figure you read), I was surprised to discover that Christianity is actually the predominant religion, with about 61% of the population as adherents.
Ethiopia is the second oldest Christian state in the world, after Armenia. The Christian church can be traced to ancient times, and believers have been living out their faith in this land for thousands of years. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the only church in Sub-Saharan Africa that existed prior to colonization. It was the state church of Ethiopia untile 1974 and it’s closely related to the Coptic Church of Egypt.
(Interesting sidenote: Ethiopia is one of only two countries in Africa that were not colonized. Italy attempted to colonize during WW2, but was fought off with the help of the British.)
Ethiopia has some interesting connections to the Bible—many based on legend, rather than biblical account. But they are interesting, nonetheless. And they explain why Christianity has been so strong in Ethiopia over the years. Here’s a few key points:
Queen of Sheba—Historians agree that the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon most likely came from the area that is now Ethiopia. (In biblical times, the region was known as “Cush.”) The account can be found in 1 Kings 10:1-13, which describes the Queen of Sheba coming to ask Solomon difficult questions. She is impressed with his wisdom and proclaims praise to God.
According to Ethiopian tradition, the queen—whose name was Makeda—became pregnant by Solomon. She gave birth to a son, who became the first king of Ethiopia, Menelik 1. This Solomonic dynasty ruled over Ethiopia for the over 2900 years. (From what I’ve read, there was a “short” interruption in this line for about 130 years just prior to 1270 AD.) This actually makes Ethiopia’s ruling dynasty the oldest in the world, along with Japan’s. Emperor Haile Selassie was the last of this dynasty, deposed in 1974.
Obviously, the claims of Sheba and Solomon having a child together have no basis in the Bible. But I’m still intrigued by the Queen’s visit. As I read the biblical account, this appeared to more than just another political conference. She seemed to be on a sincere quest for wisdom—and apparently left with a real appreciation and belief in God.
The Ark—The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to possess the Ark of the Covenant at a church in Axum. There is no physical or historical evidence for this claim, although from what I’ve read, it’s not completely beyond the realm of possibility.
strong>Pontius Pilate—Pastor George recently mentioned the Ethiopian belief that Pontius Pilate actually converted to Christianity later in life and settled with his wife in Ethiopia. I couldn’t find much info about this online, but I did learn that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church considers both Pilate and his wife to be saints. I share Pastor George’s hope that the legend is real—that Pilate was forever impacted by his famous encounter with Jesus and eventually came to believe.
The Ethiopian Eunuch—Mentioned in Acts 8:23-40, this man was a chief officer of Ethiopia under the reign of Queen Candace. It’s interesting to note that “This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet” (vv. 27-28). Apparently, there were sincere believers in Ethiopia at this time who traveled to the Temple to worship God. (Faith brought home by the Queen of Sheba, perhaps?)
Philip talked with this man, who was full of questions. When Philip shared the truth about Jesus with him, the eunuch asked to be baptized immediately. Unlike some of the “legends” of the Ethiopian church, this particular account is in the inspired Word of God.
It’s amazing to me that God has been at work in Ethiopia for literally thousands of years! Sometimes, with all the focus on Israel in my studies of the Old Testament, I can forget that God sought the hearts of those outside the Promised Land as well. I love the rich biblical tradition that can be found in Ethiopia. Aside from the more questionable “legends” of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, the Bible does record the accounts of Sheba and the Ethiopian Eunuch. Both came to the Holy Land with questions about truth—seeking wisdom, seeking God. Both were ministered to by God’s people. And both left rejoicing in God. What a beautiful spiritual heritage for believers of Ethiopia to build upon!
What a privilege to “adopt” this heritage for our own family.
The Haps
Finally, I found a few moments to write my promised update on life here at the Tol House. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to for the past few weeks:
Adoption Update: There’s really not much “update” to offer, as we’re still waiting for our referral. But Bethany continues to receive referrals, and our name slowly moves up the list. We have been gradually stocking up on some new things for our trip: luggage, video camera, a baby carrier.
I continue to enjoy “meeting” other adoptive families through the Bethany web forums and adoption blogs. I never tire of reading about their adoption experiences. Many have walked this road before us, and it’s encouraging to hear their testimonies about God’s faithfulness along the way. We know there will be great joy in this adoption–but there will be struggles as well. God supplies what we need, when we need it. We continue to lean on that promise.
Orphan Ministry Possibilities: One of the things I’m very excited about right now are the possibilities for beginning an orphan ministry at our church. We are so very honored and excited to be called to adoption and I’m in awe how God is knitting our little family together. Yet, my heart is heavy for the many other children who will remain left behind in orphanages.
Now I know it’s a huge problem and I feel so very, very small. But over the past year or so, I’ve just felt like God may have a part for me to play. So I’ve prayed about it a lot. And then a couple months ago, I was contacted by someone else from church with a question: “Would you pray about and consider being part of an orphan ministry at our church?” Umm . . . yes! I’d been waiting on God, and that phone call just felt like confirmation that he does, indeed, want me to get involved.
So the wheels are starting to turn, slowly. We held a special lunch at our church a few weeks ago to share information about adoption and orphan ministry, and to recruit some other people who’d be willing to help launch an orphan ministry. The whole endeavor is very much in the “baby” stages, but I’m eager to see what God has in store. I’d really appreciate prayers about it all, as I feel very inexperienced and unqualified to be a leader in this. Yet despite my insecurities, God seems to be calling. I guess I just need to keep following and see where he leads.
Pie: We continue to enjoy helping out with youth group. This winter, we launched a special project called “Rice Bowls.” It’s an organization that works with orphanages in India, South Africa, and Haiti to provide food supplies. One of their fund-raising projects is to send out small plastic banks shaped like little rice bowls. Groups can hand them out, then collect spare change in them and send it back to the Rice Bowls organization. (You can learn more at http://www.ricebowls.org.)
To motivate our teens to collect change, we made a little competition involving pies: If the guys collected more change, they could throw a pie at one of the female leaders, and if the girls won, they’d get to throw pie at one of the guys. We added one more twist: Any student who collected at least $60 in change could throw a pie at anyone.
Well, the motivation seemed to work, because we ended up having seven pies getting throw around at youth group this past Sunday. Prior to the big event, several youth group kids (and leaders!) had threatened to throw pie at me. I feigned great offense and concern about this, so we had fun joking around about it. At one point, it looked like I’d be taking five pies! In the end, I only had to take one pie. (I wasn’t surprised by this: Because, really, once someone is completely covered in pie, isn’t it more fun to choose a clean target for the next pie?)
It was all great fun–and the best part is that we raised over $900 to help feed orphans!
Noah: Noah continues to be a busy, active little boy. Never a dull moment with this one, that’s for sure! He’s been loving the new barn Grandpa Leep built for his birthday, and the many trucks and tractors he received for Christmas and his birthday. I’m continually amazed at his great imagination and the creative ways he uses his toys. (Why not build the GeoTrax railroad right through the Little Peoples barn? Great idea, bud!)
As the weather finally has gotten warmer, he’s been spending some quality time back in the sandbox and out at the park. As the mommy, I’m thrilled to finally get outside again for walks and playtime. Noah’s also jabbering like crazy now. (Hmm… I wonder where he gets that trait from?) We’ve had many interesting “conversations” lately. Here’s one of our recent chats that has me a little worried about his involvement at church:
Me: Do you like Children’s church, Noah?
Noah: Yes! Fun.
Me: What do you do there, buddy?
Noah: We have big fire.
Me: Really. What do you have a big fire for?
Noah: Put toys in fire!
Well, I’ve rambled on quite enough for one post! I guess that’s what happens when I don’t update anything for so long. Thanks for reading.
Ahhh!!
This is how I feel about the Tol Family Blog at the moment. Because I’ve been so terrible about updating it, and now there’s so many things to write about I don’t know where to start. In my defense, we did switch to this new blog format, and I just got the new log-in procedure from Brian yesterday.
Anyway, I apologize to our readers and promise to give a real update soon. But to keep you entertained until then, check out this live puppy cam I ran into on the WoodTV website this morning. Bernese Mountain Dogs are my dream dog, so I couldn’t resist taking a peek when I noticed the link on the Weather page.
Just look at that cute puppy face in this picture. Sigh. I wish he were mine. I’d probably name him after a famous book character or writer (Sawyer? Will? Lord Byron, perhaps?) and then let him sleep on the end of my bed. . . Oh well, I can live vicariously through the web instead, I guess.
And who are we kidding? I may come up with a few funny posts here and there, but I’m no competition for live puppies! Enjoy.
http://www.woodtv.com/subindex/marketplace/pets
A New Day
Welcome to the new home of the Tol Family Blog! After a few years on Wordpress.com, we began to feel a bit stifled by their limited designs, so we decided to move it to a new self-hosted blog.
Blah, blah, blah, I know, I know, you don’t really care about the technical details. Well, suffice it to say, it’s the same great Tol wisdom and wit, (or lack there of), just on a different spot on the old internets, with a different domain name. So, remember to change your bookmarks to TolHouseBlog.com. And enjoy!