The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience

3. The First Three Centuries of Reformed Missions

65 The First Three Centuries of Reformed Missions 03This chapter provides a brief history of the roots of the evangelical movement in Ethiopia by spelling out the works of modern Protestant missionaries who gave rise to it. It underlines the challenges and opportunities of early Protestant missionaries with regard to the larger sociocultural milieus. This chapter seeks to situate the expansion of the evangelical faith in the southern and southwestern parts of Ethiopia by taking into account the religious and political contexts of the country and by highlighting the contributions of native agencies/local actors. The roles of Western Protestant missionaries, like the Lutheran missions from Sweden and the Sudan Interior Missions from the United States, who contributed to the rise of an alternative form of Christianity in Ethiopia, are addressed. This chapter also deals with the vital issue of mission-state relations beginning from the era of Emperor Tewodros to that of Emperor Haile Sellassie, whose reign witnessed the heyday of the modern missionary enterprise in Ethiopia. Early Mission Efforts: Opportunities and Challenges The Germans were the earliest Protestant missionaries to have made an attempt to start mission work in Ethiopia. Peter Heyling arrived in Gondar in 1634–1635 during the reign of Emperor Fasil (1634–1669). Heyling’s primary interest was to work with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with the aim of “revitalizing” the institution so that it would focus on its scriptural origins, reform, and be endowed with a heightened sense of evangelization in accord with the doctrine of salvation. It appears that 66 The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia Heyling neither conceived the idea of introducing an alternative form of Christianity nor desired to create an alternative church. His vision was to initiate, through literature and education, a deeper knowledge of the Scriptures and infuse spiritual life and transformation within the adherents of the historic Orthodox Church. His experiment was short-lived. He was killed by the Turkish Pasha in 1652, as he was journeying back through Egypt.1 Not much is known about the legacy he left behind, except the translation of the Gospel of John in Amharic.2 In 1825 the Church Missionary Society (CMS) sent five missionaries to Egypt—three of them to strengthen its ministry to the Oriental churches, while the remaining two came to Ethiopia to promote “revival.”3 The two missionaries sent by the CMS, Samuel Gobat and Christian Kugler, arrived in Tigrai in 1829. Like Heyling, the CMS also aimed at forging collaborative efforts with the national Church to inspire a biblical “renewal” and “internal transformation.” Samuel Gobat explicitly stated that his intention was to “multiply copies of the Bible and to instruct the people with the Holy Scriptures.”4 CMS might have realized the potential of the historic Church, if strengthened, to evangelize neighboring areas, especially among the Muslims. However, their experiment did not last long. Though they started with a measure of success in distributing thousands of copies of Scriptures from a manuscript in Amharic, they were not able to win the hearts and minds of the people. Kugler died a year after his arrival in Ethiopia. Gobat traveled in parts of Begemeder, where he was able to make connections with the various local rulers and church leaders. We do not know much about the impact he made apart from his distribution of the Gospels and Paul’s Epistle to the Romans to some priests and monastic leaders. After his return to England, Gobat came back to Ethiopia with C. W. Isenberg, a German missionary, choosing Shoa as their mission target. Gobat returned home again for health reasons, leaving Isenburg behind. Later on, Gobat managed to come back to Shoa with Johann Krapf to meet with Sahle Sellassie, ruler of Shoa, who unfortunately did not extend a welcoming hand to them. The king expressed his desire to have artisans and technical experts and not preachers. That closed all opportunities for the missionaries to start mission work in Ethiopia. In his four-year stay in Shoa, Krapf learned about the language and culture of the Oromo. As a result, he began to develop a great interest in evangelizing the people. When opportunities to reach the Oromo along the Shoan corridors were blocked, he considered the other option of reaching them via the Kenyan border.5 The First Three Centuries of Reformed Missions 67 Krapf’s commitment to serve as a missionary among the Oromo partly stems from...