Ethiopia - Muhammad's Story

A testimony from Michael Granger, Sovereign Grace Church Planter in Ethiopia…

A bit over a year ago I found myself preaching at an international church just outside of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Upon concluding, a man in his late 30’s approached me to articulate how he’d been affected by the sermon. Through conversation, I eventually asked where he was from (there are over 80 different languages and people groups in Ethiopia). “I’m a Muslim background believer from Somalia,” he answered. I was ready to leap into the air, I may have done so. To know anything about the spiritual state of that war-torn failed country is to know the population is over 99.9% Muslim. And so my new friend Muhammad (name changed for his protection) was and is a pronounced proclamation of the miracle of regeneration. What is more, I had been praying for the Lord to bring me a Somali believer to partner with for a couple of years.

As the months rolled by and our friendship developed I became aware that Muhammad has quite a bit of influence amongst the small numbers of Somali believers. And also amongst the unbelievers. Since his conversion he’s been arrested 14 times for the faith, been beaten unconscious multiple times for his faith, his wife and children left him because he left Islam, and he’s had many friends assassinated for the faith. On top of all of that, a major terrorist network has a hit out on his life. 

The first time Muhammad asked me to preach to his small community of believers, it was a three-point sermon from Genesis 1-3. Point 1) Men and Women created in the image of God; Point 2) That image marred: & Point 3) Future restoration of that image. Oh, how I wish you could have seen these converted Somali women sitting on the edge of their seats upon discovering that they too are created in the image of God. I had become the feminist in the room simply by preaching complementarianism! In their religion and culture, they are merely cattle: husbands are permitted 7 wives and if they are good they will receive 70 virgins when they die. But the wives – just property.

I met up with Muhammad a week later for coffee. He was wearing huge black sunglasses inside on a dark rainy day. I noticed what appeared to be a long gash down the side of his face and I asked, “What happened?” He took off his glasses only to reveal a bashed face and an eye filled with blood; he responded, “I was beaten by the Muslim husband of one of the women listening to us preaching last week. He gathered other men from the neighborhood and they beat me unconscious." But this sort of treatment doesn’t stop them, they have a theology of persecution. And if you ask Muhammad what he thinks about going underground, he sort of grimaces his face and cocks it to the side like a confused puppy.  Endeavoring to be gracious, he replies, "It's not love to go underground.  My people are dying and going to hell, and if we go underground they won't hear the gospel.  And more than that, Christ was publicly crucified for me and my sins. I want to be public about him." I was asked to return later that week and teach on the core beliefs of the Church.  For 8 straight hours with only a lunch break in the middle, I lectured from Sovereign Grace’s Statement of Faith. For them, clarity in doctrine is mesmerizing.

I’d like to share one more story. Back on September 21st Muhammad and I spent 3 hours training some Somali believing youth to evangelize, then we got down on our knees and prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill us. This wasn’t a prayer for the gift of tongues, or prophecy, or healing. This was a prayer for the Holy Spirit to help us be bold in the face of persecution, freshly stirred affections for Christ, and gospel clarity in our proclamation. While on our knees Muhammed picked up my phone and asked if he could take a picture. I though that sounded silly because what we were doing seemed so insignificant. Amid that training, I had passed around bibles in their language only to discover that half of them are illiterate. As a result, by the time we finished, I thought it had been a complete waste of time. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. Three weeks later Muhammed wrote to tell me that those young believers had already led 27 Muslims to Christ. It is uncanny how near the Lord feels in answered prayer. 

In 2020 we will endeavor to see more Somalis trained and equipped, and by God’s grace, perhaps we may even see the birth of a Somali church.