Meserete Kristos Church

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Meserete Kristos Church , meaning "Christ is the foundation Church" (based on I Cor. 3:11) is an Ethiopian Protestant (P'ent'ay) church with 144,600 baptized members^[1] and a worship community of over 246,000 persons as of August 2004. The church has over 398 congregations and 785 church planting centers scattered in all 18 Administrative Regions of Ethiopia. The denomination's annual growth rate stands at 12.5%. Last year there were 20,692 conversions and 13,968 baptisms.^[1] The church is part of the larger Anabaptist body as a member of Mennonite World Conference, an organization which has seen the majority of its recent membership growth outside of Europe and North America.

Worship at the Misrach church, Addis Ababa’s largest MKC congregation

1 History
2 Meserete Kristos College
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] History

Meserete Kristos grew out of the work of Ethiopian Mennonite Missions in the 1950s. Mennonite missions set up hospitals and schools, eventually starting a church as a result of demand. Growth in early years was rather slow, until 1974, when the Derg took power. At the time, 5,000 Meserete Kristos members went into hiding. Small groups started, and meetings and baptisms were held at night. During this time many Mulu Wongel members joined the church, and growth was astronomical. In 1994, after the fall of the Derg, Meserete Kristos members gathered in a stadium to publicly congregate for the first time in twenty years, bringing in a total of 50,000 people.

[edit] Meserete Kristos College

Since only 1 out of nearly 7,000 in Ethiopia has a college education, founding Meserete Kristos College was a necessity to produce new church leaders. However, the need for leaders has far outpaced graduation rates. Located in Addis Ababa, the college has a partnership for accreditation with Eastern Mennonite University. Since its founding in 1994 the college has produced 591 graduates, and has 105 students enrolled as of January 2005. Construction of a permanent campus in Debre Zeyit is as of 2006 underway.^[2]