“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:9-11, 13-14)
As we are coming into a season of celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus, we wish all our friends and partners a Merry Christmas! We thank you our friends for your continued prayers and partnership with us in our ministry of equipping servants for the Ethiopian Church and beyond. We would like to take this opportunity and give you our seasonal update.
Graduations: Addis Ababa and Hawassa Campus
The Evangelical Theological College (ETC) was blessed to celebrate two graduations in June and August 2024. ETC celebrated its 36th Commencement program from its Addis Ababa campus on June 8, 2024, where 87 students graduated from one undergraduate program and five graduate programs. The graduates represented 22 denominations in Ethiopia. This year’s commencement was special since we had the first graduates from the MA in Biblical Studies program that began two years ago.
ETC – Hawassa Campus celebrated its 10th anniversary and the commencement program of 2024 on August 24, 2024, at the Hawassa Full Gospel Church. In the last 10 years, the campus has shown a steady growth in enrollment and the number of graduates. This year, 21 students graduated from its Bachelor of Theology program.
New Students Admissions for 2024/25
In two rounds of admissions, ETC has accepted 280 new students both at the ETC Addis Ababa Campus and the Hawassa Campus. In the Addis Ababa Campus, we have accepted 240 students, 123 for Bachelor of Theology and 117 for the Master of Arts Program. In Hawassa, we accepted 40 new students for the Bachelor of Theology program. We praise God for this steady growth of new students’ enrolment at ETC.
The 4th Lausanne gathering in Seoul, Korea
The 4th Lausanne gathering that focusses on world evangelization happened in Incheon, Seoul, South Korea from September 22 – 28, 2024. More than 5000 attended the gathering. Ethiopia was represented by 70 delegates. Among the Ethiopian delegates, it was a joy to see ETC well represented by ETC current faculty members, students, and more than 25 of ETC’s alumni. We honor and praise God for using ETC graduates to serve God’s church at a global level and making a visible impact in the churches of Ethiopia.
Strauss-Kedamo Lectures
One of the biggest highlights of events at ETC has been the 2024 Strauss-Kedamo Lectures. The 2024 and the 2nd Strauss-Kedamo Lectures, organized in the names of Dr. Steve Strauss and Evangelist Kedamo Mechato, which was organized from October 16-18, 2024. This annual lectureship is conducted at ETC to honor the legacy of the two people who played a great role in the establishment and growth of ETC. This year, we had the honor of having Dr. Mark Strauss, a recognized New Testament Scholar and the younger brother of Dr. Steve Strauss as our keynote speaker. The topic addressed was “Mark: the Gospel for a suffering Church.” The three-evening lectureship has been well attended and received. We praise God for adding this new annual ministry opportunity to serve the Ethiopian church. Along with Dr. Mark Strauss we had the honor of having Mr. Keith Grauman member of the Spiritual Gold Ministries and close friend of the Strauss family. We are grateful to Spiritual Gold Ministries for the continued annual tuition scholarship that it offers to ETC in the name of Dr. Steve Strauss memorial.
ETC Building Expansion Progress and Matching Fund
There has been an encouraging progress on the expansion of the ETC building project over the past few months. The plastering work has started and is progressing very fast on the front section of the project. The completion of this section of the building will allow ETC to rent it out and begin to receive some income from it which will contribute towards the construction of the rest of the building.
We are very grateful to our friends and partners who have helped us for the project to reach to this level. At this time, a very close partner organization of ETC has pledged to make a matching grant of $100,000 USD in the month of December 2024. We kindly appeal to all our friends and partners to come along and help us meet this matching grant initiative. Again, may the Lord continue to bless you for helping us to bring to completion this building project for the glory of God and the blessing of His people in Ethiopia.
Testimony of ETC Graduates: ETC Student involvement in Oral Bible Translation in Sudan
ETC trains students from different part of the country and various denominations. Alemayehu is one of our current students who came to ETC to study missions with the goal of becoming a missionary outside of Ethiopia. In the summer of 2024, Alemayehu had the opportunity to travel to South Sudan with an organization on “Oral Bible Translation”. He was selected for this cross-cultural experience due to his focus on missions here at ETC.
In June 2024, Alemayehu and a colleague traveled to a remote part of South Sudan to serve a tribal community that did not yet have an audio Bible in their language. He spent four months among the community, acting as an advisor and consultant to those recording the Bible in the indigenous language. During this time, Alemayehu helped the local team record the four Gospels in the tribe’s native tongue.
We are grateful to the Lord for using ETC students and graduates to serve beyond Ethiopia’s borders, helping others access the Bible in their mother tongue through audio recordings.
“Disciple of a False Prophet” transformation at ETC
Gezehegn is one of our graduates from the Hawassa campus this year. Before joining ETC, he was involved with a church that promoted the “Prosperity Gospel”. The church was led by a self-declared “prophet” and Gezahegn served as his right hand. He followed and accepted everything the prophet said and did, without question. Gezahegn’s primary reason for coming to ETC was to be promoted to “major prophet” status himself, so he could perform prophecies like his leader.
However, after being exposed to the true Word of God at ETC, Gezahegn realized that the man he had followed was a false prophet. The miracles, prophecies, revelations, and healing this man performed were fake. Gezahegn deeply regretted being a part of a false church. Once enlightened, he began to openly preach against false prophets, exposing the lies and deceptions used by this man to exploit people financially.
Gezahegn praises God for leading him to ETC, where he studied the true word of God. Today, he is a sought-after servant of God in the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church. We are grateful to the Lord for using ETC to bring truth to those who were deceived and for empowering them to fight against false teachers and prophets in the country.
Dear friends of ETC, we thank you for partnering with us to equip men and women who are committed to come alongside the ministry of the church in Ethiopia and beyond. We want to encourage you to continue to invest in equipping the many Alemayehus and Gezahegns that the Lord has called to ETC by supporting ETC in prayer and by giving financially especially in season where God gave us the biggest gift, His Son Jesus Christ!
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
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