Three Days in Gedo/7-9/8/2009
Gedo is located in West Shoa, 130 miles west of Addis Ababa past Ambo in the Oromiya region. It is a town in the district named Cheliya. Cheliya is one of the most productive areas of farming in the region
Our program in Gedo was training and a meeting. The topics were: church leadership by Gezahegn, a board member, how to handle church finance by Gezahegn from Mekanisa church, and working for growth using local resources by Pastor Alem. We planned this program and meeting for church elders and senior pastors to motivate the leaders and ministers for the work of God and to enhance the relationship between the churches and the head office. We also discussed other factors which can be considered as a threat to spoil this relationship. The participants came from seven churches and two outreaches. They were satisfied by the trainings and the discussion we had.
At the meeting the trainees reported their church activities. From the reports we saw that the total number of their church members is 2255. Many of the local churches support their ministers by themselves. The big challenge for many churches in the region is lack of efficient pastors or teachers. The people there are rural people and most of them are illiterate. They are not able to learn the word of God by themselves. The ministers are from among the people and they do not have adequate skill and biblical knowledge to teach sound theological concepts fo the people. We have seen that Abebe, the Zone coordinator, has had a big burden in solving different disputes and other issues in the churches because of the above factors. They urged us to support Abebe and give the ministers successive trainings as much as possible. We agreed to provide further training and to work with them in order to make the churches self sufficient.
Some time in the future they may serve as a springboard for the expansion of the Kingdom towards the west of Ethiopia. We also agreed to open two kindergartens at churches there in the coming academic year. We finished the program with a good understanding of each other and joy. God helped us to answer their questions and to have a heart affiliation. Praise the Lord who is working with his churches in the region. Blessings, Kifle. (General Secretary)
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