100,000 people came to the crusade organized by the «Christ is the answer» mission in Ethiopia

100,000 people came to the crusade organized by the «Christ is the answer» mission in Ethiopia

During the four days of the evangelistic crusade in Ethiopia (October 28-31), tens of thousands of people gathered in the city of Durami: on the first day, 30 thousand participants attended the event, on the second – 40 thousand, and on the third day, all attendance records were broken – 100 thousand people! The event was conducted by the team of the «Christ is the answer» mission in cooperation with local churches.

On the four-day crusade, many Ethiopians heard the call to repentance and invited Jesus Christ into their lives, received healing from diseases and liberation from demonic influence, including children. The fire of the Holy Spirit filled the hearts of the faithful participants, and they had a desire to carry the Gospel to others.
«You can not give a place to the devil, to sin, so that Satan does not cause harm in some area of life. We need to reflect on the word of God, as written in the first psalm of the Bible, and we will be fruitful and successful, like a tree planted by a stream of water. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to carry the Gospel to other people, leading them to salvation» – mission director Taras Sen urged participants to a new life with God at the crusade.
During the evangelization trip, a lunch was held with local authorities, where both sides exchanged gifts: «The mayor of the city of Durami, Ethiopia, thanked the International «Christ is the answer» mission for the spiritual contribution to their city. He also gave our team traditional clothing-jackets similar to the colorful clothes of Joseph (Genesis 37). We, in turn, presented communication playsets released by the «Christ is the answer» mission and newspaper in Amharic, and Ukrainian chocolate. It was a good time for communication and joint prayer» – Pastor Taras shared.
In addition to the evangelistic crusade, during their stay in Ethiopia (October 24 – November 4), representatives of the mission conducted training for pastors and ministers, and the ophthalmology clinic for everyone, including Muslims, made a development strategy together with the Media Center branch.
Training for pastors and ministers in Ethiopia.
The «Christ is the answer» mission emphasizes family relationships at meetings with ministers, especially the importance of maintaining a romantic relationship between husband and wife.
And in Ethiopia, the family theme was raised by the mission’s director Taras Sen at a meeting during an autumn trip. This meeting was attended by 150 people: pastors and bishops with their wives from the city of Durami and surrounding towns and villages.
It was about developing, maintaining and preserving relationships in families, building friendships with their children:
«Do we know how our children live, what problems they have, who they are friends with, what they watch on the Internet? If we don’t have time for the kids now, the kids won’t have time for us when they grow up».
«Today, the Devil wants to capture our children with alcohol, drugs and other sins. To prevent this from happening, you need to look for God’s face, listen and obey the voice of God. And for the children who live in sin today, we must fight in prayer and lead them to Christ».
«There is time that parents should devote to their families and children. Giving it away to something else, even to serve God, is not good. Jesus teaches us to live a balanced life».

In addition to instructing the participants, pastor Taras shared the format of holding family meetings so that ministers can also help families improve relations in their churches:
«Ethiopians are quite open and sincere people, they asked a lot of questions after hearing the teaching. To make the meeting more interesting, we included games, contests, and useful tasks. Of course, the winners received prizes. The ministers and their wives sincerely thanked them for their useful time.
And by the way, I met a pastor in Addis Ababa who was at a family meeting six months ago when the mission team held the first crusade in Ethiopia. When I asked him if he held family meetings in the church, I learned that three similar services had already been held in his community. I was very pleased to hear that the family ministry continues to develop in local churches. I hope that many ministers will also start holding such services in their churches after this meeting».
Conducting an ophthalmological clinic.

The mission team from Ukraine and local officials conducted an ophthalmology clinic for 1,000 people in the city of Durami, including about 700 Muslims who were brought from neighboring cities by buses.
Qualified doctors tested their eyesight and gave them free glasses on behalf of the mission, while evangelists opened their spiritual eyes by preaching Christ, God’s love and forgiveness, distributing the ,«Christ is the answer» newspapers in Amharic.
According to Taras Volodymyrovych, director of the mission, aggressive Muslims live in one of the Muslim cities neighbouring the city of Durama, who have repeatedly prevented the spread of the word of God. That is why they decided to bring local residents to check their eyesight.
«I would like to note that people in Ethiopia live quite poorly, so they were very grateful to us for our medical assistance. Through this action, their hearts were opened to the Gospel and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ» – said Pastor Taras Sen.
The International «Christ is the answer» mission, represented by Ukrainian missionaries, passed on its many years of experience in conducting ophthalmic clinics and equipped Ethiopian ministers with the necessary equipment to convert people «from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God » (Acts 26:18).
«God doesn’t want any of us to be rejected. Therefore, God tells us to come to Jesus today and submit our lives to the word of God. Where people reject the word of God, they reject God’s blessing and help. And where they accept – God comes and begins to change the lives, hearts and bodies of people. We saw with our own eyes how God freed us from demonic addiction and healed us of diseases» – pastor Taras Sen.
In October and November, the evangelizing crusade in Ethiopia was held for the second time by the «Christ is the answer» mission. The first crusade of the mission took place in April of this year.