Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

MISSION A R Y WORK IN ETHIOPIALaborers TogetherRev. Hugh J. Blair, Ph.D.of Irish Foreign Mission BoardThanks to the information which we have receivedfrom our missionaries, through their letters, and by theirvisits home, we have gained considerable knowledge ofthe work which they are doing in Makale and Sheket.Earlier, while the Foreign Mission Board wasstill lookinginto the possibility of work in a new field, the deputationwhich we sent to Ethiopia came back with much helpfulinformation about the country and its needs. The Churchstill owes a great debt to Miss Gardner, Dr. Guthrie, andDr. Loughridge for their preliminary investigation andreport. Now that we have been working for some years inEthiopia, in the places to which God has called us,it isperhaps good for us to be reminded of the work that isbeing done by other missionary societies and in otherparts of the country. That is what this sketch of missionarywork in Ethiopia sets out to do.BRETHREN IN THE LORDWhen we first considered going to Ethiopia, theForeign Mission Board had a meeting with Mr. JohnFlynn, a Brethren missionary, who gave us much helpfuladvice and encouraged us to commence work in Ethiopia.He showed us how effectively mission work could be doneby a small mission and a small number of missionaries.The work which Mr. Flynn is leading in Bati is very likethe work which we are doing in Sheket, with a specialemphasis on medical work through a clinic and someschool work: both clinic and school are a means ofreaching the people with the Gospel.Mr. Flynn's colleagues, Mr. and Mrs. McQuoid,from Belfast, are working in Addis Ababa, chiefly amongyoung people, and were considering the possibility ofproviding a correspondence course through which youngpeople in many parts of Ethiopia might be givensystematic Christian teaching.SUDAN INTERIOR MISSIONThe largest missionary society in Ethiopia is theSudan Interior Mission, which has been a great help to ourmissionaries since the beginning of our enterprise. TheS.I.M.'s work, which began in a very small way under theleadership of Dr. Tom Lambie just after the first worldwar, has grown amazingly in the past 50 years. Again andagain in its history the guiding hand of God has beenclearly seen. At an early stage even a small black beetlewas used by God to win the interest and support of theman who as Emperor would give great help to the S.I.M.Dr. Lambie tells the story: "One night we were awakenedfrom a sound slumber by the noise of loud knocking onthe outside gate. His Excellency Ras Nado, with fiftyarmed men, was announced and shown upstairsFortunately I had an ear speculum and head mirror withme, and discovered a small black beetle, which I was ableto extract without much difficulty, and I put it into a smallglass vial to let him examine it. He passedit to his soldierswho solemnly assured him that it was a wood-boringbeetle and thatif the hakin (doctor) had not takenit out,itwould have bored through his head and killed him! I hadto tell him that this was not true, but the soldiers inferredthat, although I might know how to take them out, Icertainly did not know the nature of the pest."He chose to believe them rather than me, andwrote a letter to the Regent, His Majesty Ras Tafari (laterEmperor Haile Sellassie), saying that Dr. Lambie hadsaved his life . . . which had the happy result of gaining usaccess to His Majesty a month later."The S.I.M., like most of the missionary societies inEthiopia, has educational and medical work, used not asan end in themselves, but as a channel of evangelism. Ithas also a large publishing program, both of literature andtape-recordings for literary purposes. We are using someof their materials, as well as good literacy material fromother sources.It seems that educational and medical work hasbeen deliberately kept on a small scale, so that the balanceis weighted towards evangelism, and the danger ofbecoming over-institutionalized has been avoided. Somesocieties, e.g. the Swiss Evangelical Mission in Adiqualaand the S.I.M. in Mai Chow and elsewhere, use nationalteachers almost exclusively in their schools, with generalsupervision from the missionaries.REFORMED CO-OPERATIONThe Orthodox Presbyterian (American Evangelical)Mission in Ghinda has a small hospital, built and equippedby the O.P. Church in America, with help from somecongregations of the Christian Reformed Church inAmerica. They have two doctors (one from the DutchReformed Church), and a national nursing staff, whichnow includes Emmaha, who gave outstanding service toour mission in Sheket.INTERNATIONAL AIDThe Swiss Evangelical Mission have a large school inAdiquala (400 pupils, including some boarders), built withfunds from an organization like Christian Aid. SwedishAid, while not a missionary society, provides schools, tobe staffed by Ethiopian teachers, in towns where the localspay half the cost of erection. There is an opportunity herefor Christian Ethiopian teachers to bear an effectivewitness.FROM THE INSIDEThe policy of the Bible Churchman's MissionaryCOVENANTER WITNESS