A Very Happy Day For Trinity Fellowship, Addis Ababa
An update from Michael Granger, Lead Pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ...
On March 9th, Trinity Fellowship officially gained two new pastors as Abenezer Dejene and Amanuel Yehualashet were ordained during our Sunday morning service. Since planting the church in 2020, I have been the sole pastor, but a church governed by a plurality of elders has always been our goal.
When we moved out here in January of 2018, we had three long-term objectives: 1) disciple-making resulting in church plants; 2) training the next generation of Ethiopian pastors; and 3) fostering business-as-missions. Abenezer and Amanuel represent the next generation of Ethiopian pastors. They are not only my dear friends, but despite their youth, they have truly become my pastors.
1 Timothy 5:22 warns us to never be in a hurry about appointing church leaders, and we have taken this to heart. Over the last four years, these men have been thoroughly assessed in their doctrine, character, and qualifications for pastoral ministry. They completed our 42 week course Pastors College established by Josh Pannell, a one-year pastoral residency, and the in-depth Sovereign Grace ordination process. Though Ethiopia’s culture is vastly different from that of the West, Amanuel and Abenezer submitted themselves to the exact same ordination process as Sovereign Grace pastors in North America.
Moreover, I inquired into their personal lives, including Amanuel’s marriage, and invited the members of Trinity Fellowship to participate in the process of assessment. In reality, these men did not just become pastors that Sunday; by the time we ordained them, they had already been pastoring our Trinity Fellowship for quite some time.
In addition to their administrative and counseling duties, Amanuel regularly preaches, Abenezer leads our music worship, and both men serve as leaders of our community groups. On that sweet day that I ordained them, Trinity Fellowship simply officially recognized them to be what they have been for quite some time: pastors!
March 9th was a long-awaited and joyous occasion, marking one of the greatest days of my life. I praise the Lord that he has been gracious to answer our prayers. I praise the Lord for our partners in the faith who have generously supported the work through financial support and trips to Ethiopia. I praise the Lord that I get to serve Christ’s church alongside a plurality of pastors. And I praise God that his generosity has not dried up - there is more in the pipeline! Yeabtsega is approximately one third of the way through the ordination process too!
1 Peter 5:1-4, “I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
To Him be the glory!
