In Ethiopia, Christian persecution can take a few different forms depending on where you live. If you live in a majority-Muslim region and you convert from Islam, you can experience pressure from your family or community or even violence from Islamic extremists. But other persecution comes from other Christians. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the most ancient churches in the world, and the majority of Ethiopian Christians belong to the denomination. But some Ethiopian Orthodox Christians believe that anyone outside of their denomination is not truly a brother or sister\u2014and they are willing to pressure and even attack Christians of other denominations, especially evangelical or Pentecostal Protestants.<\/p>\n
That tension between denominations is what led to Kebede* losing his hearing. On a Sunday in April 2022, angry Orthodox believers attacked evangelical churches in a neighbourhood of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The attacks were caused by a land dispute between an evangelical church and an Orthodox church. During the attack, the mob was chanting: \u201cEvangelicals should leave the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
That Sunday, Kebede and his family prepared to go to church as usual. Since his wife, Amarech*, was eight months pregnant, they decided to attend a church closer to their home rather than the one they usually attended. They couldn\u2019t have known then that they were walking into disaster. The mob reached the church where Kebede and his family were in the middle of a congregational prayer. It was chaos as people ran away, but Kebede\u2014a police inspector at the time\u2014felt that he should do something rather than flee. He tried to stop the attackers beat him until he lost consciousness.<\/p>\n
Kebede was rushed to the hospital. He eventually healed of his external injuries, but the doctors later discovered that he’d lost his hearing in the attack. In November 2022, Open Doors partners provided the family with groceries and financial support so the family could pay rent and cover Kebede’s medical expenses. Since the attack, there has been no improvement in his hearing. Amarech shares that sometimes their son asks: \u201cWhen is my dad going to be able to hear again?\u201d<\/p>\n
Their oldest child is still traumatized after the attack, and he\u2019s sometimes afraid to go to church. Amarech herself has her own fears. She’s anxious about the long-term impact on the family\u2019s faith and their future. Kebede has lost his job and adapting to being deaf has been difficult. He’s never heard their youngest son’s voice, and Kebede dreams of hearing him call him \u201cBaba\u201d (\u201cfather\u201d). Because of Kebede\u2019s hearing loss. Amarech has had to take on both roles of mother and father \u201cWe are asking you as a family to pray for healing,\u201d she says. \u201cI am speaking to you on behalf of my family, and on behalf of [Kebede] as well. There is nothing God can\u2019t do, He can do everything, so I am asking you all to pray for Kebede.\u201d<\/p>\n
Please pray for this precious family:<\/strong> *Name changed to protect identity<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Ethiopia, Christian persecution can take a few different forms depending on where you live. If you live in a majority-Muslim region and you convert from Islam, you can experience pressure from your family or community or even violence from Islamic extremists. But other persecution comes from other Christians. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":411,"featured_media":44375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afrika","category-ethiopie","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n* Pray for God’s healing.
\n* Pray that He will use these difficulties in their life to grow their faith and that they will be firmly rooted in Him.
\n* Pray that God will provide for this family in all their needs, so that they may testify along with the psalmist \u201cblessed is the one who trusts in You\u201d (Psalm 84).
\n* Pray that denominational tension will break down as Ethiopian Christians embrace their identities as one global family of God.<\/p>\n