The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

Christians and Politics Amare Tabor  The idea of Christians engaging in politics has never been a popular or a noncontroversial one. There were times when the church got too involved in politics and lost her prophetic voice or withdrew altogether from engaging in issues of social justice. Ethiopian evangelicals have always looked on politics with wary eyes. Interestingly, those outside the Christian community never fail to censure Christians for participating in politics - except when they need them on their side! So where is the balance? How does Jesus' instruction that Christians are 'in' the world but not 'of' the world translate in practical terms? How could Christians play a role in the political process without compromising their witness? Or to state positively, How could Christians bring to bear their faith values on social policy issues? We believe those and similar questions could be tackled intelligently and with grace. We appreciate brother Amare Tabor f

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas.&quo

Pope says African church must oppose 'toxic waste' of materialism Source: By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Africans must tap into the strengths of their cultural and religious values to promote reconciliation on the continent and to resist the "spiritual toxic waste" spread by the West, Pope Benedict XVI said.Presiding Oct. 4 over the opening Mass for the special Synod of Bishops for Africa, Pope Benedict said the vocation of the Catholic Church on the continent is to work for peace and to promote the holiness that will lead to justice, strong families and care for the weakest members of African societies.Although there was a sprinkling of the languages spoken most in Africa, the major part of the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica was in Latin or Italian, including the pope's homily. The Mass booklets used by the congregation and concelebrants were illustrated with sacred art from Congo, Togo, Burundi and Ethiopia . Accompanied by guitars and drums, a

credit: m.dnevno.hr Once a communist guerilla fighter and now a staunch Christian, Tamrat Layne, the former prime minister of Ethiopia, visited and spoke with administrative and missions officials at the Grand Rapids office of the Christian Reformed Church on Friday. The visit was social and was a time for Layne, who spent 12 years in prison on charges of corruption, to learn more about the ministries of the CRC, especially in Africa. Layne lives in Denver, Colo., where he bases a ministry called Global Healing in Love & Unity Ministries. He has spent several days speaking to groups on the campus of Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary about the conversion he experienced while serving 12 years of an 18-year sentence in an Ethiopian prison. He was just released late last year and then came to this country to be with his wife and children. "I fought as an atheist communist in the mountains of Ethiopia and used to offer freedom through the barrel of a gun and