Social responsiveness and transformation in the Ethiopian Evangelical churches : a missiological appraisal

PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusSocio-economic crises are looming from time to time globally as well as locally. Millions of people, both believers and non-believers, fall victim to the crises caused by poverty, civil unrest, forced displacement, ill-administration, corruption, and other worldwide tragic events, and their call for help and justice echoes around us every minute and hour. The church as the agent of God’s kingdom on earth needs to take primary position with regard to addressing this dilemma; but from the Ethiopian context, this fact seems the other way round. This study set out to uncover the root causes for the trivial involvement of the Ethiopian evangelical churches in addressing socio-economic problems, as well as recommend biblical missiological solutions from the perspective of the call of the church to build the kingdom of God through holistic ministry, part of which is social and economic responsiveness and transformation. While the research is conducted within the framework of global evangelicalism, attention is mostly focused on addressing the subject matter from the Ethiopian evangelical context.Doctora

Regaining a perspective on holistic mission : an assessment of the role of the Wolaita Zone Kale Heywet Church in Southern Ethiopia

Thesis (M.A. (Missiology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.Based on the missional experiences of the Wolaita Zone Kale Heywet Church (WZKHC) in Southern Ethiopia, this dissertation argues the indispensable nature of the holistic approach to mission in order to fulfil the missional responsibility of the church effectively. Balance must be kept between the two aspects of mission (evangelism and social concern) and they need to be integrated as working towards a single goal of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. In other words, neither of the two aspects of mission may to be magnified at the expense of the other nor should they be dichotomized as two unrelated parts. Mission emerges from the nature of God. Ever since the creation of the universe God has been at work and the church takes part in what he is doing. God's mission is holistic. Through Jesus Christ, He is working towards the redemption of the whole creation to its originally intended state. The research attempts to give attention to this concept as the Kingdom-oriented (Messio Dei) mission versus church-centered mission in light of holistic approach. To weigh the experience of the church (WZKHC) from the perspective of the Scripture, OT and NT analysis will be done in detail. Furthermore, the eschatological views pertinent to the final state of the creation and millennium will also be assessed in order to find out their contribution as a root of imbalance or polarization between evangelism and social concern. The aim of the study is to find out the factors that contribute to the imbalanced and non integrated approach to mission in the WZKHC in order to help the church regain the holistic perspective. This would be done mainly through qualitative research method, although quantitative approach is also employed rarely.Master