The Church that Development Built

Why has this Lutheran-affiliated church body, Mekane Yesus, grown from 20 000 members in 1959 to nearly 6 million now? 6 percent growth would be a normal year. I asked the church body president Pastor Iteffa Gobena. He quickly cited three factors: (1) strong lay ministry; (2) spiritual revival; and, (3) service to the whole person, or, what we call at Lutheran World Relief, “development.” Such whole person mission, conducted with high technical excellence, is the subject of this Diakonia Consultation today and tomorrow.