A movement born at midnight

Wandaro Dabaro

I’m working on a book on Acts and the movement of God. I’m looking for stories that show how the realities of Acts are still at work today. Here’s one that got my attention.

When Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) missionaries arrived in 1927 most of the tribes in southern Ethiopia were either Muslim or pagan. They labored for the next ten years and saw 150 disciples formed into three fledgling churches.

Then in 1935 Mussolini’s fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia and the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, fled for England. Two years later the Italians expelled the missionaries.

During the years of occupation SIM received no news from the church in Ethiopia. We now know that the fascists launched a ferocious attack on the new movement. Church leaders were imprisoned. Some were flogged until the flesh was torn from their backs, three died in custody. It seemed that all the fury of darkness had been unleashed. The leaders did not waver, but used their punishment as an opportunity to proclaim the gospel.

Meanwhile local evangelists penetrated deep into the unreached regions. The evangelists were farmers who lived by faith, relying on whatever support other believers could provide. The movement grew rapidly.

Five years later when the Italian forces were driven out they left behind an indigenous movement of churches and 10,000 disciples. By 1943 there were over 200 churches and 25,000 believers. The churches had worked out their own church life and leadership structures. They had no other guide than the instruction from the SIM missionaries to obey what they found in the Word of God.

From the beginning the SIM pioneers determined this would be an indigenous church. The focus of evangelism was not the mission compound but along the roads, under trees and at communal events. Discipleship took place in small informal groups rather than classrooms. The missionaries’ goal was an Ethiopian church led by local elders, not the missionaries. They founded no theological school, church leaders were trained informally through in-depth Bible-studies. There was no salaried clergy but pastor-elders were volunteers living by faith. If there was a church building it was built as a larger version of an ordinary house and paid for by the people themselves.

The SIM missionaries laid the foundation for indigenous church, then at the right time God removed them and the Word multiplied. Back in England, God’s people were united in prayer for Ethiopia, yet they were distressed that their prayers appeared to go unanswered. Meanwhile a national movement of faithful disciples and churches was forged in the fires of persecution.