Church Planting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I first met Michael Granger about a year ago and I quickly discovered, to my joy, that all of the encouraging things that I had heard about him were so wonderfully true. Michael has a B.S. from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is an ordained Sovereign Grace Pastor and as part of his theological training he attended the Sovereign Grace Pastors’ College. God willing Michael will be planting a Sovereign Grace Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2020, and so for your encouragement, here’s some of his story...

‘My initial exposure to Ethiopia was back in 2004 when, at the age of 19, I first ventured into the country. Effected by the impact of the HIV/Aids epidemic, I shortly thereafter co-established an NGO to work with street-children alongside some local partners. Over the course of many flights into Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, I also met and fell in love with my future bride, a local girl named Kenean. We were married in 2011 and have had four beautiful children - Moses, Eden, Elijah, and Jerusalem. Though Elijah passed away one week after his birth day in July of 2017 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky.

In January of 2018, our family then relocated from the USA to the mountain on which Kenean grew up in the Southwest corner of Addis Ababa. Since then I have been a full-time student studying the culture and also the language of Amharic while Kenean has been home-schooling the kids.

As a family we have a deep affection for the Ethiopian people and for the future of the nation. The purpose of our mission then can be summed up in three categories: 1) Disciple-making that results in new Christ-centered churches being established; 2) Theological training for the next generation of Ethiopian leadership; 3) Business as missions.

God willing then, in the summer of 2020 we will be starting a new church in Ethiopia’s capital - Addis Ababa. While Ethiopia is arguably the 7th poorest country in the world and therefore often effectually overlooked, Addis Ababa is one of East Africa’s largest cities with population estimates ranging from 5 – 11 million. It is a mega center of international activity including over 110 embassies, the United Nation’s African headquarters, an European Union’s representative office, and also Africa’s largest international policy issuing entity - the African Union.  With Ethiopia’s history as the only country on the continent to have successfully fought off European colonization, it stands as the torch-bearer and example to many other nations in a post-colonial era. And, because it was never colonized, the racial tensions that exist in much of sub-Saharan Africa are virtually obsolete.  

For these and many other reasons, we see Ethiopia as perhaps one of the most strategic gospel advancing countries in all the world and pray, hope, and dream of a God-breathed revival that spills over into the failed and spiritually suppressed states of Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea. 

So in 2020, years of affection, praying, and training will culminate in the endeavor to plant a missional gospel-centered church that trains up a local plurality of elders so as to equip the saints of Addis Ababa to reach their city, the unreached tribes in the countryside – and if God answer’s our prayers – the surrounding nations in East Africa. It is a futile vision if left to the ingenuity, training, and cunning of man. But, with confidence that we are in God’s will according to Matthew 28, we advance on our knees with the words of William Carey in mind, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”   

Please partner with the us on mission by praying for East Africa, that the Lamb who was slain would be glorified in all that we do!’