Father, Give Me Bread

During a special afternoon service yesterday at the church I attend, we watched a recent episode of Dispatches from the Front, a ministry of Frontline Missions International (more information on those ministries here and here). This episode, entitled Father, Give Me Bread, focuses on an area known as the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and the new country of South Sudan), a war-torn and famine-plagued part of the world long caught in the clutches of Islam. The Gospel message is spreading quickly in these countries and God is using believers to care for orphans and others who are in need (praise the Lord!).

Here are some of the highlights from Father, Give Me Bread. 

While the light of the Gospel is illuminating the lives of many in Ethiopia and South Sudan, there is an enormous shortage of Bibles in the native languages of the peoples who live in this part of the world. Most of the churches highlighted in this episode have only 1-2 Bibles for the entire congregation.

The Oromo are the largest group of people living in Ethiopia. Michael Alemu, a native pastor, tells us more about their need for copies of the Scriptures in their language and what we can do to help.

Half of the 70 million people living in Ethiopia are children and adolescents; roughly 5 million of those are orphans. Mr. Alemu heads up Abebech Gobena Orphanage and School, a ministry and education center for street children and orphans, many of whom are affected by AIDS (find out more here). I was deeply touched and inspired to see Mr. Alemu's evident love for the Lord being manifested in his tender compassion for these children in Father, Give Me Bread. Hundreds of children are having their physical and spiritual needs met through the ministry of this orphanage/school. What an incredible work the Lord is doing through Mr. Alemu and the other believers who are serving in Abebech Gobena!

As I mentioned before, the majority of churches in Ethiopia have only 1-2 Bibles per congregation. The enormous outpouring of joy and gratitude these churches showed when Tim Keesee and his team handed out copies of the Scriptures in their own language was extremely moving and rebuking at the same time. These believers have very little. Most of them are without what Western culture would consider "basic necessities," yet they are so full of joy, contentment and genuine reverence for God and His Word.

After an honest look at myself, I have to admit that I don't get as excited over God's Word as those precious Oromo brothers and sisters in Christ. Quite to the contrary, I'm ashamed to say. God has given me so much, including several copies of the Bible in a few different translations in my own language, and I take it all for granted much more often than I'd like to admit. I've become sluggish and lazy in both my physical and spiritual life. I don't view the Scriptures, the precious words of God, with as much reverence or respect as I should. Watching Father, Me Bread gave me the wake-up call I needed.

I want the faith and contentment of my spiritual brothers in sisters in Ethiopia. I want to share their level of excitement over the Word of God. I want to see more of them with a copy of the Scriptures in their language, and I want to help make that happen in any way I can.

Would you join me in praying for Mr. Alemu as he ministers to the street children and orphans through Abebech Gobena, and for the Oromo people in their need for Bibles?

“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.”

Hudson Taylor