July 2007
"BCMS missionaries came to Ethiopia in 1934 with a vision that the ancient
Ethiopian Orthodox Church should be an effective instrument for the
evangelisation of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa." writes Hazel Maunsell
BCMS missionaries came to Ethiopia in 1934 with a vision that the ancient
Ethiopian Orthodox Church which had been there for 1600 years should obtain
new life and vitality so that under God it might be an effective instrument
for the evangelisation of the peoples of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.
At that time about one third of the population was Orthodox, one third
Muslim, and the rest largely pagan. Evangelical churches were less than 1%
of the population.
We can look at what happened in four periods.
1. Pre-war
BCMS missionaries became involved in a modern translation of the New
Testament in the main language Amharic and the production of small booklets,
as well as in other activities. In 1937 they had to leave because of the
Italian aggression.
2. Post-war
In 1947 when missionaries were able to return, they engaged in many
literature projects. The main work was participating in a new translation
of the Bible authorised by Emperor Haile Selassie. The New Testament was
already in print; much time was now spent on the Old Testament. The whole
Bible was finally printed in 1961. This has become the most widely
circulated and best-known translation of the Bible in Amharic today.
The BCMS team took part in many other literature projects. One of the first
was the translation of Pilgrim's Progress which others have revised, and is
still in print. A duplicated magazine was started called Witness to the
Light which is the forerunner of two magazines in circulation today: Sun-ray
gives advanced-level teaching on the Orthodox Church and Light is the
in-house magazine of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. Another
missionary wrote a guide for family prayers known as "Let Us Pray". During
this period the team was involved in an inter-mission Church project to
launch a series of 48 pocket-books called Pillar Books on the Old Testament,
New Testament, Christian doctrine and Christian living. Before the
Communist Revolution, 19 of the 48 books had been produced of which BCMS was
responsible for four. In this period, they also produced a series of 17
editions of Scripture Union Notes covering the whole Bible and including an
Introduction.
During this period Doris Benson dedicated herself particularly to literature
work, producing a translation of the book of basic Bible studies for young
Christians called The Spirit's Sword. This has been reprinted many times
without revision being necessary. Of more popular appeal were her
parable-type storybooks called A Guiding Light, The Queen of Sheba's
Question and other stories and The Startled House. She prepared a book of
evangelical hymns written by Ethiopians and set to traditional tunes,
entitled Hymns of Light but the largest project she initiated was the
Children's Bible-story books in three volumes designed both to be a Reader
and a Sunday-school teacher's guide.
3. Pre-revolution
It is difficult to say exactly when the Communist Revolution began but
gradually things became more and more restricted. During this time one of
our missionaries did a year's research project on Christian literature in
Ethiopia. Though many of the recommendations made still wait to be
implemented, one was the production of an Amharic Bible Dictionary. After
many false starts another of our missionaries headed up this project and a
team of missionaries and Ethiopians contributed. The Bible Dictionary was
finally published by the Bible Society of Ethiopia. It is encouraging that
the first edition of the Bible Dictionary was translated into two other
Semitic languages, though an attempt at a third major Ethiopian language has
so far not materialised.
Another project which came to birth during this period arose from teaching
church students a course on Christian Living. Over the years it has taken
the form of a correspondence course of 32 lessons which is printed
anonymously on sheets of A4 paper. Many different groups have availed
themselves of this course, and we heard of one which made 500 copies for
their programme.
4. Post-revolution
We returned to Ethiopia in 1991 with a call to produce a four-year daily
Bible Study Guide on the whole Bible called Every Day with God. For each
passage there are questions and explanatory notes. However, first we wrote
an Introduction to the Study of the Bible in the form of a workbook with 20
lessons on the Old Testament, 20 on the Gospels and 20 on the rest of the
New Testament. The course was completed and a four-year lectionary
produced. The Bible Society was approached with permission to translate
Every Day with God into one of the other Semitic languages and progress is
being made on the first volume.
We also sought to revive the Pillar Book series. Two of the early books
were revised and up-dated, and seven new ones added. However, the series
has never really taken off. Maybe God's time is in the future.
It was clear that the Bible dictionary needed revision, and the Bible
Society asked one of us to head up the Revision Committee consisting of
members of the different churches which support Bible Society. It meant a
lot of work; new titles were added, the Amharic revised and some articles
completely rewritten. The new edition has been printed twice, and Bible
Society welcomes our participation in each re-printing.
Our latest project is to write a Systematic Theology Trilogy in Amharic with
particular reference to the Orthodox Church. The Doctrine of God (Vol1) is
in print, The Doctrine of Christ (Vol 2) is ready for printing, but adequate
materials were not available when we left Addis Ababa in February. About
half the writing on The Holy Spirit (Vol 3) has been completed. We were
very surprised when a friend asked to translate The Doctrine of God into a
language and culture closely related to Amharic. We are looking into this.
As well as completing the Systematic Theology project, we need to see God's
way defined for maintaining the work of BCMS/Crosslinks in literature for
the succeeding generation over the next 20 years. The main work has been at
the heavy end with books on Christian doctrine especially related to the
Orthodox Church. But there are also many good books of pastoral value
included among the books written over the years.
Conclusion
For what has been achieved, to God be the glory. For the future, may God
give us grace and obedience to fulfil the BCMS/Crosslinks calling in the
area of literature in Ethiopia. We give thanks to many Ethiopians who have
contributed in various ways to this work, some voluntary, some paid; and we
pray that God will raise up others with the calling and gifts to further
this ministry in the years ahead.
This article was written by Colin and Hazel Maunsell a few months before
Colin went to be with the Lord. We have asked Hazel to add a Postscript,
updating the work on the literature since that time.
The Lord has been very gracious and has enabled our team here to take
certain steps forward even without Colin here to direct us. Commenting on
points in order as mentioned in Section 4 of the article, we would like to
add the following:
"Every day with God": The first year book has undergone considerable
revision and is now being re-printed. For the time being, progress on the
translation into another Semitic language has stopped, as the person
concerned is no longer available.
The Pillar Book Series: A new agreement has recently been signed between
the four groups involved in the original publication to try to re-launch
this series, combining two titles which fit well together in a new format
with a new cover design. The first volume in this new edition is now being
prepared for the Press.
The Bible Dictionary: a third reprint of the new edition has recently been
completed.
Systematic Theology Series: The second volume (The Doctrine of Christ) was
published in March 2006.
The most important part of the third volume (The Doctrine of the Holy
Spirit) was completed by Colin before he died. It concerns the Person of
the Holy Spirit and His work in the application of salvation to the
individual life, teaching much needed in the work we are engaged in here.
It was decided to publish the book just a he wrote it, with an explanatory
Foreword and a brief life history. The book came out of the Press at the
end of February. Since then a large order has made necessary an immediate
re-print of all three volumes.
Colin's authorship rights have been legally handed over to our editor and
new publisher Fith Amlak, who is now authorised to keep the Systematic
Theology books in print for the next 20 years.
The Christian Living Correspondence Course, mentioned in an earlier section
has also been revised and is being produced in booklet format. Each lesson
has now a "second version" prepared especially for those who are serious
Orthodox students or teachers and appreciate the inclusion of some words and
texts in Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language.
Doris Benson's Children's Bible-Story Books: Bible Society hopes to re-print
these as soon as official permission is given by the original publishers.
There is still much to do, but our testimony is "Thus far has the Lord
helped us" (1 Sam 7:12), and so once again, to Him be the glory!
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