Church in sunrise, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia

In 2009, I spent a night in Addis Ababa on my way from Kenya to Chad. In the morning I saw this sunrise over an Ethiopian Orthodox church.

Of the ten countries in the world with the most Christians, three are in Africa: Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many people do not know that Christianity is growing like wildfire in Africa. Also, the kind of Christianity found in Africa believes the Bible, salvation through Christ alone, and believes in miracles and God’s intervention. Even church denominations which do not have those characteristics in the US have them in their African counterparts. For example, almost all Anglicans in Africa are Evangelical.

Because of the number of languages in Africa and the relatively low literacy levels, many of these Christians do not have a Bible available to them in a language they fully understand. That makes the church weak. Which is why many African church leaders and Christians want to see the Bible translated into their languages.