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The Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Churches of the ELCA to the 2009 ELCA Church Wide Assembly on the Social Statement of human sexuality

The people and the Government of the United States have accepted us with extended hands to become part of the nation. We appreciate the hospitality we received and experienced in this country by church and people. We are also grateful to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) for standing with us in the process of organizing our Oromo congregations in several States of the United States. We are indebted to the bishops and Mission Directors of our respective synods, which have helped us in so many ways. We love our fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ with all our hearts. We have been through many things together with churches that hosted us and pastors and leaders of congregations who shared the warmth of their hearts with us. 

The history of Evangelical Christianity among the Oromo people is very much tied with the Lutheran churches, as efforts to reach the Oromo nation with the gospel is made primarily by the Lutheran missionaries since the early the 19th century.  We, the Oromo people are greatly indebted to those missionaries. It is a history recorded with inerasable ink, with the blood of those missionaries who died as they were endeavoring to bring the good news to our people. 

The communion of African Lutheran Churches across North America is in full participation on this convocation with deep gratitude to God. In such a very distressing, shocking and confusing time for all of our churches we are deeply grateful to God who has never abandoned his beloved church and who offers us this resurrection experience of renewed life in Christ through this convocation. We are also grateful for the leaders of movements such as Word Alone, Lutheran Core and Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ for their persistent and enduring leadership in season and out of season to stand for our common witness.

The communion of African Lutheran Churches across North America is in full participation on this convocation with deep gratitude to God. In such a very distressing, shocking and confusing time for all of our churches we are deeply grateful to God who has never abandoned his beloved church and who offers us this resurrection experience of renewed life in Christ through this convocation. We are also grateful for the leaders of movements such as Word Alone, Lutheran Core and Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ for their persistent and enduring leadership in season and out of season to stand for our common witness.Read more •

At this juncture I call upon all Oromo churches to join us in an intense and fervent prayer as we move to carry out such a monumental task. As called and commissioned people of God we are compelled by the values and traditions of our faith to act. As I conclude writing this document the words of Mordecai comes to my mind from the book of Esther 4:13, … Read more •

African Religions and Philosophy is a direct analytical and scholarly engagement with traditional concepts and practices in those societies, which have not been either Christian or Muslim in any deep way, prior to the colonial era in Africa... Read more •