SIM Celebrates 75 years in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia (MNN) — Praise and worship was the way SIM International celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Kale Heywet Church in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The main speakers included J-L Williams from the U-S and John Stott from England.

SIM’s Steve Strauss says, “It’s now of course complete independent and autonomous with its own theological schools, its own missions sending structures. Kele Heywet means “word of life” and that group has between 3.5 and 5 million believers associated with it. (They have) somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 congregations.”

Strauss says while the church has a healthy missions outreach, SIM still has workers there. He says, “Many of them are involved theological education, training pastors and evangelists and other church leaders.”

Strauss says the ministry has also evolved into something more complex. “They’re also involved in development work. Things like agricultural work, re-forestation, veterinarian work, water well drilling teams…all of that is done in partnership with Kale Heywet evangelists working together in church planting,” says Strauss.

He says they need help with some of those programs. He says, “We can particularly use those who have some seminary training in our theological colleges and Bible schools. We need teachers in our school for missionary kids in Addis Ababa. We need those who have skills in evangelism, church planting and things like that.”