wfn.org | Ethiopian Church Honors ELCA Pastor, Teacher and Bible Translator

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Ethiopian Church Honors ELCA Pastor, Teacher and Bible Translator
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>February 4, 2009  

Ethiopian Church Honors ELCA Pastor, Teacher and Bible Translator
09-032-JB

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (ELCA) -- For more than 40 years the
Rev. Loren F. Bliese, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA), worked in Ethiopia -- planting churches,
helping to educate future pastors and overseeing the translation
of the Bible into more than 20 Ethiopian languages.

His service to the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
(EECMY) was recognized here during the church's 50th anniversary
celebration Jan 17-18.  The church's seminary where Bliese taught
awarded him an honorary doctorate in language development.

Bliese, 73, retired to Harrisburg, Ore., in 2006 after 44
years of service in Ethiopia. He still serves as a part-time
volunteer missionary here through ELCA Global Mission, spending
up to five months a year here, he said.

After he earned degrees at Texas Lutheran College (now
University), Seguin, and Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque,
Iowa, Bliese went to Ethiopia in 1960 as an evangelist of the
former American Lutheran Church.  "At that time there was a lot
of publicity about Ethiopia, and that's how I ended up here.  I
liked the idea of serving God in a way that (God) opened the door
for me.  I've developed many fond friendships with students and
coworkers over the years," he told the ELCA News Service in an
interview. Texas Lutheran University is one of 28 ELCA colleges
and universities; Wartburg is one of eight ELCA seminaries.

Bible translation was a significant part of Bliese's
contribution in Ethiopia.  For 27 years he was the United Bible
Societies' translation consultant for Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Bliese helped "train the translators," he said, including review
of their work and administering projects related to the Bible
Society of Ethiopia.  During his career in Ethiopia, Bliese
learned the Amharic and Afar languages.

Bliese began his ministry as a church planter, helping to
start EECMY congregations in Waldia, Worgesa, Wuchale and
surrounding areas.  He started an EECMY outreach to the Afar
ethnic group in 1963, including service through a mobile clinic
in the nomadic area and building a literacy school.  He initiated
literacy work in the Wuchale area and by 1976 was administering
70 literacy centers of EECMY.  A famine in the early 1970s
resulted in relief feeding programs connected to many of the
literacy centers, organized by Bliese and his wife Edith, who are
parents of four adult children.

Bliese served as the principal of the Mekane Yesus
Theological Seminary for two years.  After completing course work
in 1977 for a doctorate in linguistics at the University of
Texas, Austin, Bliese returned to Ethiopia to write a
dissertation on Afar grammar. He wrote and published articles,
and for nearly 20 years Bliese taught courses in Old Testament at
the seminary.

His career in Ethiopia included many difficult years.
Following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I, Ethiopia was
under the control of a Marxist regime from 1977 to 1991. "During
that time there was always tension," Bliese recalled. "Travel was
dangerous, and you never knew if you were going to get thrown
out."  Some churches were closed, and it was difficult for church
leaders and members to talk with one another, he said.  More than
once, Bliese said, he was held temporarily at gunpoint for one
reason or another.

Bliese was one of four people honored. Other honorary degree
recipients were Ato Emanuel Abraham, president emeritus, EECMY;
the Rev. Tesgara Hirpo for translation work in the Oromo
language; and the Rev. Neils Reimer, Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), for translation work in the Anuak language. Ethiopian
President Girma W. Giyorgis, and leaders of the EECMY and the
Mekane Yesus Seminary presented the honorary degrees.

>---

Information about the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane
Yesus is at http://www.eecmy.org/ on the Web.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog