2003
192 pp.
1 map, 37 historical photos, timetable, appendix
Text language: German
This volume contains the life story of Gidada Solon, the Apostle of the Oromo, told by himself. Gidada Solon lost his eye-sight at the age of five due to a smallpox infection. American missionaries introduced him to the word of God at the age of 20, and in the following years he became an influential pioneer and preacher of the evangelical faith. He founded numerous communities of the indigenous Bethel church in Dembi Dollo in Western Ethiopia.
As a prominent church elder and community chairman he guided the fate and direction of the new evangelical movement during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and the later struggles with the orthodox Ethiopian church, though he was thrown into prison and often seriously ill. Later he became a missionary for the Ghimeera Church in South Western Ethiopia. Gidada Solon’s influence reached beyond his church activities, as evidenced by the following quote:
If I hadn’t received the truth of the bible from him, I don’t think I would stand where I am now. He taught me especially to love the Sermon on the Mount and to live my life according to its principles, his son Dr. Negasso Gidada confided (president of Ethiopia, 1995–2001).
The story of Gidada Solon proves impressively how far the work of the Christian missionaries in Africa and above all in Ethiopia has progressed, where the churches now themselves are taking up the missionary work throughout the world. For the future this success story poses challenges and new tasks to those Christian communities who in the past have sent missionaries to Ethiopia.
Gerd Röhm, the translator and editor, stayed with his parents in Dembi Dollo / Ethiopia from 1955–1959 where he became personally acquainted with Gidada Solon.
REVIEW
“Es ist die faszinierende Geschichte der Ausbreitung des Evangeliums in West-Äthiopien zwischen 1920 und 1975. Faszinierend, weil ein Einheimischer sie erzählt. Das besondere daran: der Einheimische ist ein Blinder, der zum “Apostel der Oromo” wurde. […]
Wie nebenbei erfährt man vieles über die Kultur der Oromo in dieser Zeit und auch einiges über allgemeine geschichtliche Ereignisse in Äthiopien. […]
Auch wenn Gidada die Ereignisse seines Lebens und seiner missionarischen Tätigkeit aus subjektiver Sicht schildert, ist es ein wichtiger Beitrag zur Missions- und Kirchengeschichte Äthiopiens. Das Vorwort und die Anhänge (Zeittafel, Fotos, Landkarte) enthalten hilfreiche Ergänzungen zur Geschichte Äthiopiens und Daten über wichtige missionarische und kirchliche Entwicklungen bis heute.“
(Friedhelm Haas in evangelikale missiologie, 3/2004, 119)
Under these links you will find further descriptions of the history and the missionary work of the UEM United Evangelical Mission in Wuppertal/Germany and other (auto)biographical editions:
