wfn.org | Lutheran pastor becomes Ethiopia's first ordained woman

[FRANK.IMHOFF@ecunet.org]

LWF COUNCIL MEETING, TURKU, FINLAND, 14-21 JUNE 2000
PRESS RELEASE NO. 6

TURKU, Finland/GENEVA, 16 June 2000, (LWI) - The Rev. Bekure Daba of the
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) is Ethiopia's first
ordained woman.

Her ordination, marked as a historical church event, took place at a
colorful spiritual ceremony on 16 May 2000 in the Western Synod of the
EECMY.

The EECMY president, Rev. Yadessa Daba, conducted the ordination at the
Bodji Birmaji Mekane Yesus congregation. The ceremony was witnessed by
prominent synod presidents of the EECMY, distinguished delegates from
the various sister churches and mission agencies abroad and thousands of
members in the Western Synod.

Senior pastors from the synod and women pastors representing the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Hanover, Germany, as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in the Kingdom of the Netherlands laid hands on the ordinand.

Bekure, 39, has been serving the church at different capacities in
women's ministries ever since she graduated from Addis Ababa's Mekane
Yesus Theological Seminary. She holds an advanced diploma in theology
from Birmingham University and a master's degree in theological
education from Chester University in England. She is married to Rev.
Tesso Jaleta and they have three sons.

Her ordination brings to 750 the number of pastors in the EECMY. The
Ethiopian church is said to be one of the fastest growing churches in
the South. According to statistics compiled annually by the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) Office for Communication Services (OCS), the
church had about 2.3 million members by the end of November 1998. One
year later in 1999, the church had registered an increase of around
300,000 new members. By the end of April 2000, this Lutheran church is
said to have attained a membership of 3 million. It is the largest LWF
member church in Africa, a region with over 9.7 million Lutherans.

During the LWF Council meeting taking place in Turku, Finland from 14 to
21 June 2000, the Federation's president, Bishop Dr. Christian Krause
referred in his address to the EECMY when he spoke about significant
shifts in Christianity.

Krause told around participants in the Council meeting that 30 years ago
his regional church of Brunswick had about 600,000 members, nearly the
same number as the Ethiopian church, which he frequently visited at that
time. Today the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick, Germany "has
only about 450,000 members whereas the Mekane Yesus Church, despite many
years of persecution, is nearing the three million mark and the growth
is continuing," the LWF president said.

Krause used this example to drive his point home--while churches in the
North are shrinking, those in the South are growing. He said "the
strength of Christianity has not faded away.   I see a sign of hope that
God's cause will go on and that this will awaken the energies in people
which are needed to find ways out of poverty, hunger and under-
development. Does the future of Christianity lie there (in the South)?

Christians, majority of whom are Orthodox, make up about 40 percent of
Ethiopia's population of 60 million people. Muslims represent around 43
percent of the population.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 59 million of the world's 63 million Lutherans. Its highest
decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven years.
Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council which
meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
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