Christians find that unity grows around the Bible

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Despite the history of mistrust between Christian confessions in Ethiopia, one rallying point is increasingly drawing the three strains of the faith ever closer together: the Bible.

n Sophie (left) and Tidi Tsign, two sisters who own a business together, say the fact that one is an Orthodox Christian and the other a Protestant is no barrier because of their focus on Christ and love for each other. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (ETH02DJ-118)

With sisters Sophie and Tidi Tsign, for instance, it is the biblical focus on Christ that overcomes the differences which could have separated them.
The two ladies, who run a business centre in Addis Ababa’s Ghion Hotel, grew up in the same Christian home, but their Christian experiences have been different: Sophie is Orthodox while Tidi is an evangelical. But each appreciates the other and both say the Bible is central to their faith and to their lives.

Problem understanding people

“Even though I was raised in a Christian home, I didn’t decide to follow Christ until I was 30,” says Sophie. “Being exposed to society, I was having a big problem trying to work out and understand people. At that time, I would pray and ask God how I could manage to get along with the society around me.

“Then I found that in the Bible Jesus says, ‘All knowledge is in me – come and follow me.’ So at that time I became a born-again Christian and began living in him.” She still reads the Bible every day, learning, she says, “new things for my life” each time she opens it. Her focus on God’s Word is mirrored in the life of her evangelical sister.

“I began reading the Bible and praying when I was a child in Sunday School and church, so I came to love Jesus,” Tidi explains. “To me, the Bible is everything: it is life itself!”

Because of their common love for Christ and their dependence on God’s Word, Sophie and Tidi agree that being followers of different Christian confessions is not a problem for them.

“We don’t have any problem being in different churches, because no matter what church you attend, Christ is the same,” declares Sophie, who attends Addis Ababa’s St George Ethiopian Orthodox Church. “Jesus is the same, and we both love him very much.

“Some people think I am an evangelical,” she adds, “but I am just an Orthodox who loves Jesus.”

Diverse directors

According to Kebede Mamo, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Ethiopia and a member of the Orthodox Church, this laudable unity around the Scriptures is also reflected among the Bible Society Board of Directors.
“Our board of 24 includes eight members each from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches,” he notes. “We rotate the chairman among the three confessions. Even though traditionally there has been friction among them, now they not only serve on the board together, but also come to events together. The Bible Society is the only forum they have to be together.”

Ato Alemayehu Bekele, the Bible Society’s Youth Officer, recalls what he considers a pivotal meeting towards unity.

“We held a fundraising banquet at the Ghion Hotel, and leaders from all three churches were there, sitting together, with no enmity. It was a meeting that helped close the distance between the churches,” he says.
Promoting unity through such events – and through focus on God’s Word – is rewarding work, says Mr Mamo.

“Part of my job is to keep the churches working together,” he says. “It is a great opportunity and it is one of the elements I most enjoy about Bible Society work.”

Mr Mamo’s joy is shared by others on the board, including its former chairman Wubishet Dessalegn, an evangelical who, as a young man, served with the Protestant SIM mission in Ethiopia.

“I have served on the board of the Bible Society for many years,” he explains, “and one of the joys of serving is working with people from the other churches. There may be friction among the churches at other levels, but on the Bible Society board, we respect each other.”