Dear Hope Church Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings from Rode Molla and Endrias Assen in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
We give thanks to God for your love and support in our journey. We want to express our deep appreciation for the pastoral care we receive from Pastor Jill and Pastor Gordon for the last three years. We email them to ask them for their prayers and guidance when it is needed; they are always there for us. We are also thankful for our friend and spiritual director, Barbara Knoops. She is an amazing gift of God for us.
The 2018 academic year was very challenging and at the same time rewarding for me. Endrias is doing well. He is working at the University of Denver Student Dining Hall. He is supporting my work in his presence and love. I am a third year Ph.D. student, so it is required for me to complete all my qualifying exams. In Fall 2018, I have completed two of my comprehensive exams. I will be doing two more exams in the Spring. After I finish my comprehensive examinations, I will start writing my proposal, and then a dissertation stage will come. It is a long journey, but we believe that we will do it with God and you.
I have received the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Outdistancing writing/ researching award. I received the award because I presented different papers in different places and exhibited academic and practical competence in my writings.
In 2018 academic year, I have presented three papers and published two articles. The first paper presentation was in June 2018, in Atlanta, Georgia at the Society of Pastoral Theology Annual Conference. My paper presentation was on “Inviting Ethiopians to the In-between spaces: A Pastoral Theology of Hope for a Fragmented Ethiopia.” In my presentation, I addressed the ethnic and political and social conflict in Ethiopia. I recommend a pastoral theology of hope in which Ethiopians can be able to live with diversity and unity. In my paper, I invite Ethiopians to the in-between spaces so that they can meet and collaborate with hope. I claim that in the in-between spaces, Ethiopians can live out their hybrid identities in embodied and relational goodness that strengthens the covenantal web of life. I claim that in the in-between spaces Ethiopians can collaborate with hope, not by alienation, but acknowledging their brokenness, pain, and suffering.
I also presented two papers at the National Conference of the American Academy of Religion this year in Denver, Colorado. One of my presentations was on “The Affective Power of Baptism: Children’s Religiosity Beyond Sunday School Class.” In my paper, I argue that God’s call to children in baptism enables us to see children’s religiosity not only as a cognitive capacity but as their embodied experience in their holistic being. Through baptism, children receive a call which has affective power to nurture their spirituality in their relationships with parents, the church, and the wider community. Luther’s theology of infant baptism confirms children’s call through baptism and the word of God to be brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. In baptism, children are called to grow in their faith and vocation. So, I call the Ethiopian Evangelical Churches to go beyond Sunday School class to see and learn how children make and create their agency in their wider context.
I also published two papers this year. One of the papers that I published “Pastoral Care in the Living web for At-Risk Children in Ethiopia,” originated from my Th.M paper. I presented the paper to you back in 2015, when I was in Holland, MI. The Other paper, “Beyond the Limitation of Applying the Western Youth Ministry Though to an Ethiopian Context.” This article also came from the work I did when I was at Western Theological Seminary with my professor Dr. Ben Conner.
We are hoping and planning to move forward in a way that God is leading us. Your presence is essential for who we are and what we are going to be, so we ask your support and prayers in our journey. We appreciate your financial support. Thank you for your Christmas gift! We would not be able to come this far without your love. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Happy New Year! God bless you Hope Church!
“After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.” Mathew 2:9