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Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in Ethiopia
Though the beginnings of Ethiopian Pentecostalism are fairly recent (e.g. in comparison to neighbouring Kenya), a considerable spectrum of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches has developed there, that presently includes all major Protestant denominations. These pages introduce a recent PhD project by Jörg Haustein studying the Ethiopian Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements are on the rise in Ethiopia and account for much of the explosive Protestant growth in this predominantly Orthodox country. What began as a small student movement in the 1960s has spawned a number of large Pentecostal denominations, with an estimated total of up to 2 million adherents. Moreover, Pentecostal theology and practices have spread to the mainline Protestant churches with the exception of only a few minor ones. A church service in the Lutheran Mekane Yesus Church or the Baptist Kale Heywet Church is often indistinguishable from a Pentecostal one, and all of the large Protestant denominations have accommodated Pentecostal positions and practices in their theology and liturgy.
It is therefore safe to conclude that the vast majority of the 13.7 million Evangelicals in Ethiopia – that is 18.6% of the population – are part of a Pentecostal/Charismatic network. Even the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has been affected by Charismatic groups in recent years, mostly in the form of house fellowships.
- Conference of Protestant Christians in Addis Ababa, March 2004
- Project Description
- Publication Information
- Bibliography
- Brief History of the Pentecostal movement in Ethiopia
- List of churches and denominations
Selected Further Publications on Ethiopian Pentecostalism
- "Navigating Political Revolutions. Ethiopia’s Churches During and After the Mengistu Regime" in Falling Walls: The Year 1989/90 as a Turning Point in the History of World Christianity, ed. by Klaus Koschorke. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2009, p. 117-136. (Studies in the History of Christianity in the Non-Western World; 15)
- "Charismatic Renewal, Denominational Tradition and the Transformation of
Ethiopian Society", Encounter Beyond Routine: Cultural Roots, Cultural Transition,
Understanding of Faith and Cooperation in Development. International
Consultation, Academy of Mission, Hamburg, 17th-23rd January 2011.
Hamburg: EMW, 2011. S. 45-52. (EMW Dokumentation; 5) → full text
- Haustein, Jörg: Writing Religious History: The Historiography of Ethiopian Pentecostalism. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011. (Studies in the History of Christianity in the Non-Western World; 17)
