Oromo is Ethiopia’s largest language group (25 million speakers), yet there’s likely to be only 2–3 Bibles per congregation of around 100 people.

Last year, MediaServe provided 180,000 Oromo New Testaments and soon we will provide another 90,000 for Christians who don’t yet have a Bible of their own.

Following a visit to Ethiopia, Peter Ek, Project and Marketing Director for MediaServe explained how the New Testaments had been given mainly to Christians from Muslim backgrounds:

“Before they received MediaServe New Testaments, only one out of fifty believers had a tract, New Testament or Bible. Now it has dramatically improved to around one in five! The churches and the believers are delighted.

An older man told me how he, for years, had kept and treasured an old Bible written in Oromo. He used it very carefully because he didn’t know if he would ever be able to get another copy. He passed it on to his son, who recently passed it to his son. The grandfather in this family was overjoyed when they each received a copy of the Word of God!” 

We’ve also heard remarkable testimonies of how people are turning to Christ. For example, a 70-year-old man, tirelessly shares the Gospel and plants churches in villages. Last year, he baptized 174 people – all of them came from another faith and have each received an Oromo New Testament.

In another region, 40 people, including 13 prominent leaders of another faith, came to know Jesus and were baptised. None of them own a Bible so they borrow copies from other Christians and copy the text.

Another evangelist explained: “I work in Oromo-speaking villages and towns. When people hear and read God’s Word, their lives are changed. We are so happy and thankful to have received the Word of God.”

MediaServe is committed to continue serving the Oromo people in Ethiopia along with the Amharic, Somali, Tigrinya and Afar communities.

Ethiopia