Ethiopia: shining the Christ-light

By Tohru Inoue | Ethiopia in East Africa

Photos by SIM Stories photographer Adrian Butcher

Internal conflict in Ethiopia has raged on for a year. What was once a conflict primarily in the northern Tigray region has spread to two neighbouring regions. As a result, millions of people are displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance, with hundreds of thousands on the verge of starvation. Many people will tell you they don’t know how it will all end.

With ongoing armed conflict, the SIM team there has been struggling with many questions. How do we operate in an increasingly risky environment? What do we do about security for ourselves and our families? How will schools carry on? Will supplies in the city last? The team met this November to pray and seek the Lord.

There is a song they sang during that time called “The Servant Song.” The third verse goes:

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear.

Sometimes, in moments of disorientation when you’ve lost your bearings, you need someone to hold the Christ-light for you for a while.

The SIM Ethiopia team knows many people who need someone to hold out that light for them. Many in-country are suffering, hurting and anxious. Unlike most of us on the outside who are only familiar with statistics shared by news outlets, the SIM team knows names and faces. They know friends, colleagues and family.

The team have had to make hard decisions after time in corporate prayer and earnest discussion. Not everyone will be able to remain in Ethiopia for now. But collectively, they are ready for the long road ahead. They are fully intent on holding the Christ-light for Ethiopia.

O Ethiopia, we will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
We will hold our hands out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear.

Pray

• That the Lord will bring comfort to those who are mourning in the country.

• For wisdom for the SIM workers in this long road ahead.

• For peace to return to Ethiopia.

Interested in helping? Give to the SIM Ethiopia Crisis Response Project by visiting our donation page, finding the office nearest you, and using project number 80003.