The year 2008 has been a milestone year. It began with the two-month-long mission trip of Minnesota teenager David Suda to Addis Ababa, and ended with the opening of new doors to ministry with the Women’s Health Education program.

In between, in America, we all spent quite a bit of time working with Chris K. Grinnell of Bearing the Light to bring the Ezra Rural Ministry website online.

In between, in Ethiopia, many rural evangelists, pastors, and lay leaders received training in the Word of God, equipping them to evangelize and disciple, plant churches, and bring health education to their own village communities.

It has been a productive year and we hope to be able to say the same thing of this coming New Year. It too will be a milestone year as 2009 marks the fifth anniversary of Ezra Rural Ministry. We look forward to this new season, this new time in which we work with God and His people to bring about His purposes and plans for Ethiopia.

It seems to be a universal desire in mankind to give meaningful names to our children. I believe that the desire has been planted in us by God, or at least reflects something of our likeness to Him. After all, it was God Who started it when He named His first created son Adam. And even before that, before time began, in that place we call eternity, God named His only begotten Son Jesus, which means The LORD Saves.

Of course, Jesus isn’t His only name. In Isaiah 9:6, the prophet foretold of the One Who would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He is also called the Bright Morning Star, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, and the Bread of Life…

But, of all the many names in the Bible given Him, I would have to say my favorite is the one found both in Isaiah 9:6 and in Matthew 1:22 and 23-

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with Us.”

I believe that Immanuel is the perfect name for the only begotten Son of God Who was sent to live and die amongst us so that He could live again within us.

It is the name that is just right.

The beleaguered Apostle Paul, though he had learned “the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want”, still could not contain his gratitude to the Philippians for their gifts to him. He wrote, “yet it was good of you to share in my troubles…you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.” Had they not been so generous, would we now have that wonderful “thank you note” to the Philippians? This is a perfect example of how God can multiply the blessing of a gift given to those in need:

1. Paul is used by God to give the believers in Philippi the gift of life in Jesus Christ.
2. The Philippians, in turn, send gifts to Paul that enable him to live more comfortably as he awaits his fate in Rome.
3. Paul is so blessed by these gifts that he sends a lengthy note of gratitude.
4. This note from Paul is so precious to the Philippians that they preserve it for posterity.
5. Posterity adds it to the collection of other letters we now call the Epistles.
6. To this very day, untold numbers of people read Philippians for the inspired encouragement and wisdom it contains.

In this season of gift-giving, let us ask God to multiply the blessing of the gift that we give to those in need. Who knows what a God like our God can do with it?

Chained in a Roman prison and awaiting his eventual execution, Paul the Apostle was writing to his Christian brothers and sisters in Philippi, thanking them for a gift they had sent him for his relief.  Paul wanted to reassure them- “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel.” Paul wanted to explain how that could be- “Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the Word of the Lord more courageously and fearlessly.” Paul wanted to provide them with hope- “For I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”

As I type this, in the background I can hear a prominent Christian radio ministry informing its supporters that the reduction of financial aid and the weakening economy has regrettably forced it to downsize. Many ministries are facing the same situation and are being forced to their knees, in much the same way Paul the Apostle was forced to his, chained to the confines of his jail cell. And it turns out, his advice of two thousand years ago to the Philippians is still as appropriate as it was then-

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Later, the psalmist wrote:

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His Name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”

In the tradition of ancient Israel and in obedience to the psalmist’s command, we at Ezra Rural Ministry would like to take the opportunity to give a thank offering to God for all the special friends He has given us:

LORD God Almighty, we thank You for those who pray faithfully for this ministry; we thank You for those who give money to this ministry; we thank You for those who sacrifice their time to this ministry; we thank You for those who are at the front lines of this ministry; we thank You for those who receive the Good News through this ministry! We thank You in the Name of Jesus the Christ, amen.

Now it happened one day that an angel came to Philip and told him to go south to the desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he went. At the same time, the Ethiopian eunuch was making his way home from Jerusalem on that very same road. Apparently, he had been in Jerusalem worshiping at the Temple. While there, he somehow secured reading material for the trip home, a copy of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and he was reading it aloud.

The Spirit, Luke says, told Philip to get up close to that Ethiopian’s chariot and, when he did, he overheard the Ethiopian reading one of the many passages in Isaiah that describe the coming Christ.

Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

He replied, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?”

Beginning with that passage in Isaiah, Philip told him the good news of Jesus the Christ. The Ethiopian believed, asked to be baptized, and, as soon as that was accomplished, Philip disappeared. Luke says that “the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away” and that the Ethiopian eunuch “went on his way rejoicing”.

Remember the Ethiopian eunuch. His story tells us three important things about God-

• That God is very interested in the hearts of the people of Ethiopia
• That God places people around the world with hearts to obey His voice
• That God can put these hearts together, sometimes in miraculous ways

I began thinking about this after reading the following passage quoted from C. S. Lewis’ book, The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader“, in which the boy Eustace has this conversation with Ramandu, a star in the form of a human-

“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”

“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of.”

Just as a twinkling star in the darkness is so much more than “a huge ball of flaming gas”, there is so much more to Ethiopia than poverty, hunger, and disease. Ethiopia is people, very interesting and diverse people. It is people with a long history of seeking God and finding Him.

Remember the Ethiopian eunuch…

One of the catchy little phrases that Ezra Rural Ministry folks in the USA have developed is “Ethiopians Evangelizing Ethiopians-It Just Makes Sense”. It is a phrase that sums up the reason why we are willing to put our money, effort, and time into this unique ministry half a world away.

In the past, in an older missions mentality, we would have spent years teaching an American couple the language and customs of an arbitrarily chosen indigenous group in Ethiopia. We would have drummed up enough support to get this couple to Ethiopia and to live there for several years, waiting for them to be accepted by the people they came to evangelize, and hoping that they would make an impact.

Ezra Rural Ministry, in a newer missions mentality, supports Ethiopians as they train other Ethiopians to evangelize. The training is developed by Ethiopians, in their own language and at minimal cost. The Ezra Rural Ministry graduates return home to evangelize their own people, in their own villages, where many of them have lived for generations. 

It just makes sense.