icon
close-icon
image description image description
image description image description
image description
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Where We Work
    • US Regional Reps
    • Our History
    • MTW Staff Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Pray
  • Go
    • Search Opportunities
    • Mission Trips
    • Summer Internships
    • 1–11 Months
    • Longer Term
    • Specialized Ministries
      • Medical
      • Workplace Ministries
      • Arts, Music & Media
      • RUF Mentored Internships
    • Multicultural Mobilization
  • Give
    • Donations Hub
    • Missionaries
    • Projects
    • Estate & Gift Planning
    • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
  • Stories & More
  • Events
  • Resources
    • All Resources
    • Cultivate
    • Videos
    • 1% Challenge
    • Resources for Kids
  • My Account
    • My Giving
    • My Profile
    • Giving FAQs
    About arrow-dwn
    • Who We Are
    • Where We Work
    • US Regional Reps
    • Our History
    • MTW Staff Careers
    • Contact Us
    Pray
    Go arrow-dwn
    • Search Opportunities
    • Mission Trips
    • Summer Internships
    • 1–11 Months
    • Longer Term
    • Specialized Ministries
      • Medical
      • Workplace Ministries
      • Arts, Music & Media
      • RUF Mentored Internships
    • Multicultural Mobilization
    Give arrow-dwn
    • Donations Hub
    • Missionaries
    • Projects
    • Estate & Gift Planning
    • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
    Stories & More
    Events
    Resources arrow-dwn
    • All Resources
    • Cultivate
    • Videos
    • 1% Challenge
    • Resources for Kids
    My Account arrow-dwn
    • My Giving
    • My Profile
    • Giving FAQs
Donate
image description image description
menu-icon menu-icon

A Mercy Ministry in Ethiopia’s Slums Bears Gospel Fruit During COVID-19

When the virus arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, MTW missionaries working in the capital city’s slums feared the worst.
Andrew Shaughnessy|01 Dec 2020
image description
Ethiopia ACT

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the globe in early 2020, experts assumed the disease would decimate close-packed slums across the developing world—often so densely populated that social distancing measures are simply impossible. When the virus arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, MTW missionaries working in the capital city’s slums feared the worst.

Here, in partnership with non-profit Ethiopia ACT, MTW serves the most impoverished communities in Addis—pairing church planting with economic development and public health efforts, particularly working with families suffering from communicable diseases like HIV and Tuberculosis.

“Most of our folks are immunocompromised in some way, so we wanted to be on the cautious side,” said MTW missionary Jason Polk.

A pandemic strikes

When local cases began to rise in early March, Jason and Ethiopian partners decided to suspend their church plant’s in-person gatherings as a safety precaution. The next day, the government declared a state of emergency, mandating mask wearing, closing schools, and banning gatherings of more than four people.

By the grace of God, and to the surprise of many, Ethiopia’s early infection and mortality rates were comparatively low. And though the numbers of cases have increased significantly since June, the slum communities with which the team works have been largely spared.

Checking

“There has been spread, but not in the way they expected,” Jason said. “The best explanation I’ve heard so far is that people here have been exposed to enough coronaviruses that there’s cross-immunity. … And as things have progressed and more data has come out, it seems like folks with HIV are maybe not as high risk as other categories.”

The economy has not been so lucky.

No money for rent or food

While the Ethiopian government never ordered businesses to close, many of the poorest have still suffered. Slum-dwellers who work as housekeepers were furloughed, builders languished as projects were canceled, and vendors found their customer-bases plummeting. With churches closed, congregants couldn’t tithe, and many pastors and church staff went unpaid.

While lost jobs and slashed incomes have been a tough reality of the pandemic worldwide, the stakes are higher here. Like many emerging world countries, significant portions of Ethiopia’s population live a hand-to-mouth existence: the money they earn from a day’s work pays for the food they eat that night. Without income, they not only can’t make rent, they can’t eat.

Seeing this deep need emerging in their neighborhoods, MTW and Ethiopia ACT leapt into action.

What would be most helpful?

We do a lot of research, a lot of surveys, so we have a good system for determining who the neediest and most vulnerable people are,” explained MTW missionary and Ethiopia ACT founder Andy Warren. “Once we’ve determined that, we talk to people and ask them: ‘what’s most helpful for you?’ … Then we find suppliers and buy flour, oil, and lentils—the staples. …. and then we do a monthly distribution of food in the communities with the government providing assistance as we make the deliveries.”

Documents

Thus far, Ethiopia ACT has provided food or basic rent support for about 351 families, while the Church Planting Team has helped an additional 171—around 522 families in all. According to Jason, the team is already preparing to support the city’s neediest families as needed through 2021, and the community has taken notice.

A positive part of the community

The way we’ve worked with the government has raised our profile in some really positive ways in the community,” Andy said. “So many other NGOs just packed up and left when COVID hit. One objective that we set last year was to become an organization that the government and the people in the community would look to as an example for other organizations, as a really positive part of the community, and that’s happened with COVID …. It’s opened up opportunities for spiritual ministry and for sharing the gospel.”

For example, on a typical pre-pandemic Sunday, between 50 to 70 kids came to the church plant for Sunday school or children’s church. While a handful of those came with their parents, around three-quarters were just kids from the community, sent by their parents to give them something productive to do.

“Because we provided for church members who needed help, we also tracked down the families of all the kids we minister to on Sundays,” Jason explained. “We talked with them, tried to understand their needs, and assisted a good number of them as well. That produced a ton of fruit! Many of those families were like: ‘We just send our kids on Sundays so they’ll stay out of our hair, and now you’re asking how we’re doing and trying to care for us?’ That has been really meaningful.”

More Documents

Similarly, the church runs a community soccer league as a way to minister to youth and young men in their 20s. When the church asked the soccer players how their families were doing and how the church could help, and then proceeded to follow up with tangible aid, that too built important relational bridges—not just to the players, but to their whole families.

The team’s ministry of mercy has borne real gospel fruit, and Andy and Jason hope that, as a result, the current church will be strengthened and that new churches will be planted in Addis. As Ethiopia ACT continues to serve the most vulnerable in their community with the love of Christ, pray that the Spirit would work mightily in and through His Church.

Your gifts to MTW’s Compassion Fund help fund communities like these in times of crisis. Please consider a year-end gift to the Compassion Fund at mtw.org/covid.

author-img
Andrew Shaughnessy

Andrew Shaughnessy is a long-time word slinger who spent nearly six years as MTW’s staff writer, gathering and telling impact stories from missionaries across the globe. These days, he’s off working as an analyst and editor in the publishing industry, writing fiction, and mountaineering. He holds a B.A. in history and English literature from Covenant College, and an M.S. in political science from Portland State University.

Get Involved

video

Youth Ministry Leaders

Longer More right-arrow
video

Equip Church Planters

Longer More right-arrow
video

Ministry Expanding: Join a New Team in Southeast Asia

Longer More right-arrow
video

Fifty Years and Counting: Karl and Debbie Dortzbach Reflect on Five Decades of Missionary Service

Over 50 years the Dortzbachs witnessed civil war, genocide, abuse, AIDS, and survived a kidnapping. But Jesus' glory shone through it all.

See More right-arrow
video

I Can Feel You Smiling

I spent Friday afternoon with 15 of the most beautiful people in the world. All were early beneficiaries of Ethiopia ACT.

See More right-arrow
video

Ethiopia ACT: Twenty Years of Impact

For 20 years, Ethiopia ACT has been restoring health and hope to the most vulnerable in Addis Ababa while providing a clear gospel message.

See More right-arrow

Give thanks for faithful missionaries who have spent their lives serving internationally in global missions.

Related Story right-arrow

Give thanks for lives transformed among the urban poor in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and pray for ongoing spiritual growth. 

Related Story right-arrow

Pray for those in the urban slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who are struggling economically due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Related Story right-arrow
video

Youth Ministry Leaders

Longer More right-arrow
video

Equip Church Planters

Longer More right-arrow
video

Ministry Expanding: Join a New Team in Southeast Asia

Longer More right-arrow
video

Fifty Years and Counting: Karl and Debbie Dortzbach Reflect on Five Decades of Missionary Service

Over 50 years the Dortzbachs witnessed civil war, genocide, abuse, AIDS, and survived a kidnapping. But Jesus' glory shone through it all.

See More right-arrow
video

I Can Feel You Smiling

I spent Friday afternoon with 15 of the most beautiful people in the world. All were early beneficiaries of Ethiopia ACT.

See More right-arrow
video

Ethiopia ACT: Twenty Years of Impact

For 20 years, Ethiopia ACT has been restoring health and hope to the most vulnerable in Addis Ababa while providing a clear gospel message.

See More right-arrow

Give thanks for faithful missionaries who have spent their lives serving internationally in global missions.

Related Story right-arrow

Give thanks for lives transformed among the urban poor in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and pray for ongoing spiritual growth. 

Related Story right-arrow

Pray for those in the urban slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who are struggling economically due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Related Story right-arrow
close-icon

Donation Error

Please enter valid amount.

mtw logo
Mission to the World
1600 North Brown Rd
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
United States
Donor-Advised Fund Portal
Circle Portal
About
  • Who We Are
  • Where We Work
  • US Regional Reps
  • Our History
  • MTW Staff Careers
  • Contact Us
Pray
Stories & More
Events
My Account
  • My Account
    • My Giving
    • My Profile
    • Giving FAQs
Go
  • Search Opportunities
  • Mission Trips
  • Summer Internships
  • 1–11 Months
  • Longer Term
  • Join the Story
  • Specialized Ministries
    • Medical
    • Workplace Ministries
    • Arts, Music & Media
    • RUF Mentored Internships
  • Multicultural Mobilization
Give
  • Donations Hub
  • Missionaries
  • Projects
  • Estate & Gift Planning
  • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
Resources
  • All Resources
  • Cultivate
  • Videos
  • 1% Challenge
  • Resources for Kids
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
1-678-823-0004
[email protected]
mtw logo
Mission to the World
1600 North Brown Rd
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
United States
Donor-Advised Fund Portal
Circle Portal
About arrow-down
    • Who We Are
    • Where We Work
    • US Regional Reps
    • Our History
    • MTW Staff Careers
    • Contact Us
Pray
Stories & More
Events
My Account arrow-dwn
    • My Account
      • My Giving
      • My Profile
      • Giving FAQs
Go arrow-dwn
    • Search Opportunities
    • Mission Trips
    • Summer Internships
    • 1–11 Months
    • Longer Term
    • Join the Story
    • Specialized Ministries
      • Medical
      • Workplace Ministries
      • Arts, Music & Media
      • RUF Mentored Internships
    • Multicultural Mobilization
Give arrow-dwn
    • Donations Hub
    • Missionaries
    • Projects
    • Estate & Gift Planning
    • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
Resources arrow-dwn
    • All Resources
    • Cultivate
    • Videos
    • 1% Challenge
    • Resources for Kids
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
1-678-823-0004
[email protected]
Manage Consent

To provide the best experience, we use cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions. If you wish, you may view our privacy policy.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}