A letter from Rich Hansen in the U.S., ending service in Ethiopia
August 2014 - the impact of a seminary
Dear friends,
As we shared in our July newsletter, Marilyn and I completed four years of ministry with the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) in May. We returned to the U.S. in June and officially finished our service with PC(USA) World Mission at the end of August. What a pleasure it has been to have all of you share this great adventure with us the past four years!
Our next chapter began this past week when I assumed the position of Interim Senior Pastor for First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Mo. We believe this congregation is an excellent fit for our gifts and experience, and we are looking forward to living in this vibrant college town (the University of Missouri). Since we both grew up in the Midwest (Marilyn in Iowa, I in Nebraska), it will be interesting after 35 years to be Midwesterners again
As we reflect on our time in Ethiopia, last month’s newsletter offered Marilyn’s thoughts about how God was “building” us during our four years there, coinciding with the new EGST building rising from a hole in the ground to a completed seven-story building in these same four years. In this, our last newsletter, I want to reflect on the lasting impact we hope we leave in Ethiopia, and the reason we went there to begin with—our EGST students.
I’ve told some of Sofanit’s story before. I met her my first year at EGST while I was serving as Academic Dean. She came to ask for special permission to take some evening postgraduate theology classes. She did her undergraduate degree in Germany and was working on a Ph.D. in microbiology at a university in Wales when her brother tragically died in his early 20s. This caused her to ask a lot of questions about her faith. After his funeral, rather than returning to her Ph.D. in Wales, she remained in Addis Ababa and found her way to EGST. Taking classes was her way of seeking God in the midst of her grief and, over the course of that year, God changed her entire life direction.
Sofanit asked questions and thought critically in my introductory theology class. Neither come naturally to most Ethiopian students. After that first year, she was “hooked.” Sofanit moved on to begin working toward a Master of Arts in the two-year Biblical and Theological Studies (MABTS) program. I enjoyed teaching her in my upper-level theology classes, but far more than that, we became good friends. Marilyn and I attended her wedding to Paulos. Two years later she was VERY pregnant as we left Addis—we were sorry to miss the arrival of their baby, who came only a few days after we left! Having completed her MABTS, Sofanit will begin this fall to study for a Master of Theology (M.Th.), the third degree she will have earned at EGST.
Sofanit represents a major transformation in Ethiopia—women stepping into positions of theological leadership. Can you imagine that of 18 million Protestants in Ethiopia, there is only one woman with a Ph.D. in theology? Through her time at EGST Sofanit received God’s call to become a theology professor. I sponsored Sofanit to apply for a PC(USA) scholarship to support her MABTS program, and she was chosen. Sofanit’s dream is that in 2016 EGST will send her abroad to get a Ph.D., and she will return to EGST as one of the school’s first full-time female faculty members!
I believe that dream will become reality, not only for Sofanit, but also for the three other women in EGST’s female faculty development program. It was my great privilege to work with and mentor each of them these last four years. They represent a large number of women at EGST (now 35 percent of the student body) who are preparing for careers as teachers, pastors, church leaders and leaders in gender and health ministries, development, and organizations.
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Tessema and Sofanit are EGST students who have the potential to become influential future leaders of the growing church in Ethiopia. Tessema recently completed a Master of Theology degree; Sofanit begins the same program this fall.
Now meet Tessema. Tessema is a decade older than Sofanit and came to EGST after teaching in one of his denomination’s Bible colleges. Theological education in Ethiopia is racing to catch up with the number of pastors needed for one of the fastest-growing churches in the world. Many denominations are committed to offering more pastoral education at the bachelor degree level, because currently most pastors have only rudimentary training. Teaching at the bachelor level, however, requires an M.A. degree. A recent study found that 500 teachers with M.A. degrees are needed immediately to meet the needs of Bible colleges around the country—yet currently Ethiopia has only 50 M.A. theology graduates.
Tessema will be a leader of this new generation of theological educators. He and others like him will make a profound impact on his entire nation. I conservatively calculate that if he trains just 25 new pastors a year for the next 20 years, that is 500 far better educated pastors who in their ministry careers will easily each reach 500 new believers. Thus, through his teaching ministry, Tessema can impact 250,000 Christians in Ethiopia! An amazing thought!
What a privilege it was for me to be involved with a student like Tessema. His deep practical experience as a pastor and teacher shone through all his classroom interactions. Not only was he one of my very best students, but I also had the privilege of having Tessema as my Teaching Assistant last fall for my introductory theology class with 40+ students. I’m sure he graded their papers and exams more carefully than I did!
Tessema has just completed his M.Th. at EGST and will probably serve as Dean or President of one of his denomination’s Bible colleges, influencing a whole generation of students with the biblical worldview he learned at EGST. He is just one of many students I’ve had the opportunity to come to know and love who will be the next generation’s leaders for the Ethiopian church and society.
Last year Sofanit and Tessema were chosen by the EGST faculty as the woman and man to represent EGST at the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches meeting in South Korea. Along with students from many other theological institutions all across the developing world, they represented our school at this once-in-a-decade worldwide gathering and interacted with their peers.
The first campaign for PC(USA) World Mission's critical global initiative of evangelism is “training leaders for community transformation.” As you remember Sofanit and Tessema, think also of the other 260 students at EGST they represent. They put a bright face on how our work at EGST these past four years will continue to make an impact in the future—especially since it is predicted, based on current growth rates, that by 2050 Ethiopia may be the 3rd largest Christian nation in the world!
Let me close with some exciting news: PC(USA) World Mission has prioritized our position at EGST and will begin the search process for someone to replace us! Marilyn and I are overjoyed! The PC(USA) believes in the work we were doing at EGST and will send someone else to carry on where we left off. Even though our chapter is ending, someone else’s will begin once the search process is finished.
Marilyn and I ask you to prayerfully consider transferring the financial support you graciously gave us to the new person who will be chosen. Just think: another group of more than 80 women and men are being welcomed as new students at EGST’s Opening Convocation service of worship at the beginning of this school year. What will be their stories? … You can be part of their stories through this next PC(USA) mission co-worker, just as you have been part of Sofanit and Tessema’s lives through us.
Thank you once again for the prayer support and encouragement you have offered us these past four years, especially this past spring during Marilyn’s treatment for breast cancer. Her first six-month checkup at UCLA in July showed everything is great, and she needs no further follow-up for another year. To God be the glory.
Grace and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rich (and Marilyn)
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The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 133
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