Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus

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The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY; also called Mekane Yesus Church) is a Christian denomination in Ethiopia. It was created in 1959 with the merger of Lutheran and other congregations established by missionary work in that country, taking its name from the first congregation in Addis Ababa, Mekane Yesus ("Place of Jesus").^[1] One of the important voices of the EECMY and leading theologian of the church was Gudina Tumsa (1929–1979) who was general secretary for several years up until his arrest and murder at the hands of the revolutionary government of Ethiopia in 1979.^[2]

EECMY claimed in 1997 have almost 2.3 million members; according to the 2008 figures, it has about 5.3 million baptized members.^[3] They operate a seminary in Addis Ababa with 150 students.

The Mekane Yesus Church is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches, the All Africa Conference of Churches, and the Lutheran Communion in Central & Eastern Africa.

The Mekane Yesus Church, because of its development work, is a member of ACT Development, a global alliance of churches and related agencies working on development that are committed to working together.

See also

• P'ent'ay

with the encouragement of the Lutheran and Presbyterian Missionary Societies in Ethiopia and the Lutheran World Federation the Evangelical congregations in several parts of the country met on April 23 and 25,1958 to deliberate on the draft constitution and establish the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). From these joint efforts the church was instituted as a national Church on January 21, 1959. EECMY has a motto of "Serving the Whole Person" which was developed in the 1970's. This 'holistic ministry' theme of the Church has helped her to carry out her ministry in evangelism and development work

References

1. ^ "Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY)", World Council of Churches website (accessed 2 June 2009)
2. ^ See article Dictionary of African Christian Biography: Gudina Tumsa
3. ^ LWF Statistics 2009

External links

• The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus website
• Africa Lutheran Communion, news from Ethiopia and Africa