By Duncan Olumbe

Ethiopian snooze?
The Ethiopian Eunuch heard and accepted the gospel from the Apostle Philip in the
1st century. Why did East Africa have to wait over 1800 years to hear the same
gospel from Europeans?Are Kenyan Christians repeating the same error?
The times were tense; the encounter spiritual transport from the scene, while mysteriously vanishes and leaves the
dramatic. Stephen had just been executed the Ethiopian made his way to Africa, Ethiopian to his journey. How did the
in a vicious, primitive fashion. A virulent probably the first convert to Christianity Eunuch react to this?
persecution had broken out against the from the continent. Assuming that Philip was Luke’s
believers, scattering them all over the In true biblical style, there is no fur- source for this account, one can
land. The Apostle Philip, one of the twelve ther mention of the Ethiopian Eunuch. understand…..I mean, he was whisked
disciples, found himself thrown to Luke moves onto something else in a away (to other emergencies?) just when
Samaria, traditionally a place of much matter- of- fact kind of way, leaving un- things got exciting. What did the Eunuch
discomfort for Jews. Luke does not tell answered queries. For starters, Philip do when he got home? Did he tell Queen
us whatever misgivings Philip may have
felt in that despised land. From the map below, it is clear that Kenya is much closer to
He instead goes straight to the point: Ethiopia than Israel where the Ethiopian Eunuch got converted. Why
Philip experienced a mighty move of the then would taking the gospel south to Kenya and the rest of East
Holy Spirit. Many sick people were Africa take over 1800 years?
healed through his ministry and demons
left in a hurry, just like in Jesus’ ministry.
In the midst of this mighty ministry, Philip
got a visit from an Angel. “Go south to
the road - the desert road - that goes down
from Jerusalem to Gaza,” the angel told
him.

Go south
Philip went south as he had been told.
Along the way he met an African digni-
tary; a key finance official of Queen
Candace. This gentleman was in charge
of all the treasury of Ethiopia. In modern
day terms, he would have combined the
roles of the Minister of Finance and the
Governor of the Central Bank. He was in
his chariot on the way back to Ethiopia,
having accomplished his worship mission
in Jerusalem. Or had he? The Holy Spirit

“Go to that chariot and

stay near it,” The Holy Spirit
Commanded.

didn’t think so.

“Go to that chariot and stay near it,”
He commanded Philip. When Philip did
so, a most remarkable ministry followed,
with the Ethiopian getting baptised.
Philip, as had become his custom, found

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 AN ARTIST’S IMPRESSION OF PHILIP’S COMMISSION TO TALK TO THE EUNUCH
Candace and the other court officials? Did
he carry on with his work or become a
preacher? These and other queries have
gone through the minds of generations of
bible readers. However, we can confi-
dently conclude that the Ethiopian Eunuch
must have shared the gospel with his
countrymen upon his return. Historical
facts confirm this.
Firstfruits of the faith
Eusebius, a key Church historian, re-
ferred to the Eunuch as “the first fruits of
the faithful in the whole world.” Irenius,
another eminent Church historian, wrote
that the Eunuch preached to the Ethiopi-
ans. Other oral traditions hold that the
Eunuch preached the gospel in Zeylan,
Arabia Felix and Traprobane Island in the
Red Sea before he was finally martyred.
Apart from the ministry of the Eunuch
to his countrymen, Church history also
has it that the Apostle Matthew preached
the gospel in Ethiopia and got some con-
verts before leaving for India. And so it
can be confidently surmised that there was
a church in Ethiopia in the 1st Century.
Commentators have pointed to the histori-
Ethiopian snooze?
cal evidence of Ethiopian women who
wore crosses during the 1st Century as
further evidence of this. Thus Ethiopia
boasts of having one of the oldest
Churches, if not the oldest Church, in the
world.
Not much is heard of the Ethiopian
Church until the 4 th Century when
Meropius, a Christian pilgrim from Tyre,
accompanied by Frumentius and Aedesius
(Sidrakos) were shipwrecked in Ethiopia.
They were taken to the royal palace of
King Ella-Amida where they eventually
became high-ranking officials of the King
and his successor King Ezana.
Syrian monks
King Ezana (320-356 AD) became the
first African Christian King and made
Christianity the official religion Ethiopia.
In 330 AD Bishop Athanasius of Alexan-
dria (Egypt) ordained Frumentius as the
first Bishop (abuna) of the Ethiopian Or-
thodox Church. Later, the Nine Syrian
Monks who went to Ethiopia in the 5th
Century also made significant contribu-
tion to Ethiopian Christianity by translat-
ing the Bible into Ge’ez, the local language.
Between the 7th and 16th Centuries,
Ethiopia withstood the Islamic onslaught
to remain a Christian nation. Neverthe-
less, Orthodox faith declined significantly
in the 17th to 19th Centuries due to the ex-
pansion of Islam, weak Abunas (Bishops)
and the lack of a strong king. Eventually
King Menelik II of the late 19th Century
helped restore Ethiopian Orthodoxy. He
successfully defeated Italy’s attempts to
colonise Ethiopia thus making Ethiopia
the only African country that retained full
sovereignty during the European scramble
for African colonies.
Christianity in Kenya
Christianity did not come to Kenya
until the 19th Century through pioneer
missionaries Johann Ludwig Krapf and
Johannes Rebmann. Krapf worked in
Mombasa and Rabai for almost eleven
years (1844-1855). The two men played
very significant roles in the translation of
the Bible into Amharic, Tigrinya,
Kiswahili, Oromo and Kikamba includ-
ing producing vocabularies of Maasai.
One curious fact that is often omitted
is that Krapf was initially a missionary to
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 Ethiopia (1837-1842) before he moved to mission. After fighting many doctrinal our Ethiopian neighbours from venturing
Mombasa after failing to make significant wars, they seemed rather keen on retain- south. However, for this to stand up to
inroads into the Ethiopian Orthodox ing “Orthodoxy” at whatever cost. No examination as a valid reason, there
Church. In fact Krapf had intended to use wonder they have held onto Ge’ez liturgy should have been some form of evidence
the Mombasa route in a bid to reach back even when people no longer understand that the Ethiopian church did try to reach
to the Oromo people of Ethiopia whom it. The Church therefore had little appeal Kenyans. Such records are hard to come
he was convinced were the “key to the to non-Christians; neither did it have the by. Thus the primitivity and violence of
conversion of Africa”. Though he never drive to expand. Small wonder that the early Kenyan tribes cannot be accepted
achieved this goal, he at least translated Orthodox Church in East Africa was not as the primary reason the Ethiopians failed
the Bible into Oromo! officially recognised until the 1950s! to reach Kenyans and other East Africans.
The fact that most East African tribes Furthermore it seems the Church in
Tough Progress were extremely wild and opposed any Africa prior to the 19th Century was too
The early days of missionary work in external influence might have discouraged preoccupied with canonical or
Kenya gave little results. However, the SALVATION STORY
missionaries laboured on. The construc-
tion of the Mombasa – Kampala Railway
line greatly opened up the interior and
subsequently Christianity started to ex-
pand significantly in the 1920s onwards.
It is also important to point out that the
Catholic Missionaries played a significant
role in this expansion of Christianity.
Why did it take so Long for Christian-
ity to reach Kenya?
Looking back, the conversion of the
Ethiopian Eunuch was very strategic.
First, it was a fulfilment of the prophecy
in Psalms 68:31 “Envoys will come from
Egypt; Cush will submit herself to God.”
Secondly, it is through this man that we
can confidently talk of the gospel com-
ing to Africa. Of course some could ar-
gue that there were some North Africans
present during the Pentecost. However,
we are not told specifically whether they
got saved, baptised and went back home
to share the gospel. Third, Philip demon-
strated a major aspect in mission when
he obeyed the Holy Spirit and literally
crossed cultures to witness to the Eunuch;
a Gentile!
Unfortunately the Ethiopians seem to
have missed out this aspect of preaching
across cultures. Why did it take so long
for the Gospel to reach Kenya from Ethio-
pia? Why did it take a European (Krapf),
not an Ethiopian, to be the first to bring
the Gospel to Kenya? Though European
missionaries often rode on their colonial
powers (or vice versa), there were other
means of sharing the Gospel especially
through trade. Perhaps the Ethiopians
were too busy protecting themselves from
Italian colonisation?
I think the major cause for this exten-
sive delay was purely the lack of a clear
emphasis on mission. A careful observa- Step 1: The Ethiopian Eunuch listens to God’s word.
tion reveals that the Ethiopian Orthodox Step 2: Baptism
Church was not keen on evangelism and Step 3: Now where did Philip dissapear to?!

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intellectual wars fought through the of our Church resources are geared to- them! I still vividly recall a Pokot elder
Church Councils. Our African Church wards serving Christians, not non-Chris- asking us during an outreach Mission to
leaders appeared to have ignored the tians! the area in the 1990s: “If the Gospel is so
practical application of Christianity to Just as we are asking why the Ethio- good and you knew about it so long ago,
the average person. Strategic things like pians took so long to reach Kenya, many why did it take you so long to come to
translating the Bible into local fellow Kenyans are asking why it is tak- share it with us?”
languages were relegated. Surely did it ing Kenyan Christians too long to reach
have to take the Nine Syrian Monks,
Krapf and Rebman to translate the Bible
into local African dialects? And must
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church hang
onto archaic Ge’ez for its liturgy today?
These facts make Christianity appear
irrelevant to current realities.

Poor bedmates
I also wish to highlight that in Church
history whenever the State and the Church
cohabited, the Church became too com-
fortable and nominal. The most notable
case was in the Roman Empire when the
Caesar Constantine converted to Chris-
tianity in the 4th Century. Christians were
no longer matched off to be dinner for li-
ons, sport for crazed crowds or firewood
for Nero’s fires. In Constantine’s time,
Christians could worship freely and reli-
gion entered into matters of the state.
Soon, the church lost its ‘saltiness’. It
does appear that what we see in the Ethio-
pian Orthodox Church was history repeat-
ing itself. How come the conversion of
the Ethiopian Kings Ella Amida and
Ezana did not result into a strong mission
thrust?
Lest we point all the accusing fingers
to the Ethiopians, I strongly think that we
in Kenya are right now falling into the
same traps. Though the Gospel has now
been in Kenya for over 150 years, we still
have many communities, which are either,
unreached or have a minimal presence of
the church among them! Reaching areas
in North Eastern Kenya, parts of the Coast
and Northern Kenya is still a big challenge
for Kenyan Christians. This in an age
when over 80% of Kenyans claim to be Some of the least reached areas in Kenya today:
Christians. 1. North Eastern:This area of Kenya is the least evangelised part of
Furthermore, there has been a commu- the country. Thismay be due to the following reasons:First, it is an
nications revolution. Many years ago, area where Islam is very strong, making it difficult to spread
travelling across the country from one Christianity. Secondly, large sections of the area are quite
edge to the next may have represented a undevelopped making it hostile to human settlement. Large parts of
suicidal undertaking. Today, a network of North Eastern Kenya are prone to bandit attacks.
transport criss-crosses the land and only 2. Northern Kenya: The area is inhabited by pastroralists. The
a few pockets are inaccessible. In spite of presence of the church is minimal, with the Catholic church leading
the large number of Kenyan believers, we the way.
do not see a matching zeal and a concerted 3. Parts of Coast Province: Islam and traditional religions are quite
effort to evangelise our neighbouring strong in various parts of the province. The province is much more
communities and countries. Instead most accessible than the Northern and North Eastern parts of Kenya.

Ethiopian snooze?
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