Ethiopia

Muslim extremists across Ethiopia have waged a violent campaign against Christians in recent months.

Pastor Dereje came to faith in Christ 20 years ago through his friends’ Christian witness. Once he became a Christian, Dereje felt called to serve the Lord. As he witnessed about Christ throughout his community, a church gradually formed.

Tilahun trusted in Christ eight years ago and became an active member in his church. Then, in 2020, his home was burned, and he was physically attacked by armed men because of his Christian faith. As a result of the attack, his leg had to be amputated.

After visits to traditional healers and prayers from local sheikhs failed to heal her daughter from a mental illness, Makda decided to take her daughter to a Christian church for prayer. As the Christian leaders ministered to the girl and prayed for her, she gradually experienced full healing from her illness. Because of her daughter’s miraculous healing, Makda placed her faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastors Kejela Mekonnen and Tole Geramu were killed by violent rebels in late 2021 because of their faith in Christ. Members of the Oromo Liberation Front rebel group threatened these pastors, telling them to stop preaching about Jesus and instead lead their congregations back to the traditional Oromo religion.

​Sheikh Ashim Hussein, 41 and father to nine children, grew up as a devout Muslim. Zealous for Islamic teachings, he sought to destroy Christianity and once mobilized his students to set fire to a church. But when the church members gathered at the sight of their burned church and prayed aloud for the forgiveness of those responsible, their witness bewildered Sheikh Ashim and shook his spiritual foundations.

Chaltu Abdalla was born and raised in a Muslim family, but she found faith in Christ when she was young. She later married a Christian man and started a family. Earlier this year, her husband was killed by gunmen, and their home, crops and possession were burned to the ground in violent ethnic-based conflicts that targeted evangelical Christians.

“Mother Toltu” was raised as a follower of the Oromo traditional religion, but she committed her life to following Christ when she heard the gospel for the first time. She donated a plot of land from her property to be used for a church, and several other believers contributed funds to the construction of a church as well. However, a mob of local Oromo religious groups attacked the believers and tore down the church they had built.

Yimenu was one of the wealthiest merchants of a small town not far from Shashemane, the administrative city of West Arsi Zone in southern Ethiopia. A father of five and elder of his local church, Yimenu, along with his family, was targeted in 2020 by Muslim mobs who destroyed his home and businesses.

Momina Namee, 30, grew up in a Muslim family and was pressured to marry a Muslim man while she was young. Soon after they married, they had a son. But three years after their son’s birth, Momina’s husband suddenly fell ill and passed away. Devastated and a single mother, Momina struggled to get by as her husband had been the provider for the family.