Our Vision

The Amhara and Tigray people of Northern Ethiopia, numbering 28 million, are now among the largest unreached people groups in Africa.

Ethiopia

Tigray Region - Green Amhara Region - Red

Tigray Region – Green
Amhara Region – Red

The Tigray and Amhara regions are two of Ethiopia’s nine ethnically-based regional states.  The Tigray and Amhara people make up the overwhelming majority of their respective regions. While the south and west of Ethiopia have long enjoyed a missionary presence, missionary activity was historically limited in the northern regions.  Ethiopia’s constitution provided for freedom of religion in 1994.  However Tigray and Amhara have remained resistant to the techniques employed by evangelists and would-be church planters. A strong social and cultural stigma exists for evangelicals. Moreover, in most small towns and villages where 90% of the people live, visible forms of evangelism, like campaigns, crusades and church services, are very ineffective.
Our vision is:

To mobilize, equip and plant a network of multiplying home churches throughout the Amhara and Tigray regions of Northwestern Ethiopia with the goal to remove the Amhara and Tigray from the list of unreached peoples.

Why is this vision within reach?

  • Openness to the gospel. Nearly every Ethiopian is monotheistic and considers themselves to be either Christian (65%) or Muslim (35%). People remain spiritually minded and are open to personal evangelism.
  • The family household structure (oikos) makes it easy to multiply home churches. People naturally congregate in the Ethiopian household; they share meals and spend evenings in conversation. These households could easily host up to 50 people for bible studies and fellowship, making expensive buildings unnecessary.
  • The socio-political situation can facilitate church planting over a wide geographical area. Many Christians hold government professions, drawing both a state salary and considerable social influence. This influence can range from large cities to small villages. Ethiopia enjoys freedom of religion.
  • The consensus of the Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa groups strongly supports this vision. These groups are composed of young professionals who are eager to be trained and mobilized.