March 2, 2018 – Please pray for Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. Within Ethiopia is a vast highland complex of mountains and dissected plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley, which runs generally southwest to northeast and is surrounded by lowlands, steppes, or semi-desert. The great diversity of terrain determines wide variations in climate, soils, natural vegetation, and settlement patterns. The capital and largest city of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populous nation on the African continent with a population of over 102 million.
Ethiopia has close historical ties with all three of the world’s major Abrahamic religions. In the 4th century, the Ethiopian empire was one of the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion. While no longer distinguished as a state religion, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church remains the majority Christian denomination. There is also a substantial Muslim demographic, representing around a third of the population.
According to the 2007 National Census, Christians make up 62.8% of the country’s population (43.5% Ethiopian Orthodox, 19.3% other denominations), Muslims 33.9%, practitioners of traditional faiths 2.6%, and other religions 0.6%.
This is in agreement with the CIA World Factbook, which states that Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in Ethiopia. The ratio of the Christian to Muslim population has largely remained stable when compared to previous censuses conducted decades ago. The large Muslim population in the northern Afar region has resulted in a Muslim separatist movement called the “Islamic State of Afaria” seeking a sharia-compliant constitution.
Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion in 622 AD when a group of Muslims were counseled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca. The disciples subsequently migrated to Abyssinia via modern-day Eritrea, which was at the time ruled by Ashama ibn-Abjar, a pious Christian emperor.
A small ancient group of Jews, the Beta Israel, live in northwestern Ethiopia, though most immigrated to Israel in the last decades of the 20th century as part of the Israeli government’s relocation missions: Operation Moses and Operation Solomon.
The above are from en.wikipedia.org. These statements have not been fact-checked and are only used here to help us gain a better understanding of this nation.
According to the New Testament, Christianity entered Ethiopia when an official in the Ethiopian royal treasury was baptized by Philip the Evangelist. This gives us insight how far reaching the Gospel can extend with only one person. We do not fully understand the influence a righteous man or woman can have on the world. This is why we need to read the Bible and pray for God’s will to be done in our life and our fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God.
1. Pray for the Christian influence in Ethiopia to extend beyond its borders into other nations that need Jesus.
2. Pray for the Ethiopian Church to be grow in love and grace and multiply with mature believers.
3. Pray for favor and open doors for those who carry the message of the Gospel within this nation and the other nations of Africa.
