Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest known nations. After a series of coups, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took control of the nation of almost 85 million people in 1991. The costly war with Eritrea in the late 1990s drained but unified the nation. The 2005 election of Prime Minister Meles was bitterly contested and alleged to be fraudulent.

The nation continues to be torn by social, political and economic crises. Ethiopia has the world’s fifth-highest number of people with HIV/AIDS. Seventy percent of the population is under the age of 30. Hostilities with neighbours Eritrea and Somalia cripple efforts to revive and modernize the country. Corruption has increased with economic growth, and the country’s resources are accumulating in the hands of a few.

One of the world’s first Christian nations, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was the state church from 1270 until the 1974 revolution that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie. The new Marxist regime persecuted Christians, especially evangelicals, with many churches destroyed and congregations scattered. Since the Marxist regime’s collapse in 1991, there has been freedom for worship and witness. Evangelicals have grown tenfold since 1974.

Although Ethiopia has withstood Islamic advances for centuries, Muslims now target this nation for Islamization—educational, employment and financial inducements are offered and a massive mosque-building programme. Violent—even murderous—reactions against evangelical outreach create a climate of religious tension and fear.

In May 2009, an Ethiopian Christian was jailed for providing Muslims with Somali-language Bibles with covers that resembled the Qur’an. He was released in February 2010. After spending four months in jail, an Ethiopian Christian was sentenced in December 2010 to three years in prison for allegedly desecrating a Qur’an.

Prayer Requests

• Pray revival and growth will be sustained among the Protestant and Independent churches and for divisions and carnality to be avoided.
• Pray Christians would not be fearful of Muslim attempts to turn the nation toward Islam, but rather be a light to their communities, leading their Muslim neighbours to Christ.
• Pray godly Christian leaders would rise up to lead and disciple the Church.