South West Bethel Synod

 

The South West Bethel Synod is our Ethiopian partner in reaching the Suri people.  The Synod is a regional section of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, which sprang out of the Lutheran and Presbyterian mission work.  Yohannes Sherab, the head of the Bible School for the Synod wrote up a brief history of the Synod in 2004  (to read it click here).

 

The current president of the Synod is Petros Tsanu.  He was selected for ledership in the church when he was only 18 and has helped translate the Bible into the Bench language (the predominant people group within the Synod) and has headed up the social programs of the Synod before returning to his role as president.  He visited Trinity in October, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Petros                                                  Yohannes                                 Gezahegn

 

Trinity has helped the Synod with various projects to provide clean water to villages.  The government of Ethiopia expects the churches to do this, but they do not have the resources and we are excited to be able to help.  We have funded spring cappings and maintenance, digging latrines, etc.

 

Trinity has also been interested in helping the Synod’s AIDS education program.  We are currently helping the staff person receive nursing training in Addis.  He was a former who teacher who was good at teaching AIDS prevention, but wanted to learn more about the physical side and treatment of AIDS.  Gezahegn (pronounced “g’sign) Bahiru is currently overseeing all the social programs of the Synod,

 

One of our key interests within the Synod is the Bible School.  Since the number of churches is growing so fast, there are not nearly enough trained pastors.  The Bible School is only in its fifth year.  Trinity has helped pay to expand their facilities to enable them to train more leaders.  We have also contributed to a library for the school and provided study Bibles for the students to purchase as reduced price.

 

The school is supported by contributions of the congregations and donations from some individuals and churches in the PC/USA. It costs about $600.00 to train one person for one year in the Bible School. Each congregation is required to cover half of the expenses of its candidates and the partners cover the other half.  The congregations are made aware that their share will increase by 5-10% every year until all expenses are covered by them alone. This is one of the self-reliance plans of the Synod.

 

As you can imagine, self-reliance is a problem when the Synod must provide all of these services using only their share of the peoples’ tithes.  The government gave them land in the center of Mizan city and we helped them with funds to build a building there with offices and shops that they will rent out to receive and ongoing income.   This picture was taken before it was completed.

 

History of EECMY and SWBS