The Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission (MKC-DC) with the financial support of MCC-Ethiopia launched a peacebuilding project in the four zones of southern Ethiopia regional state at the end of 2023.  

The project aims to heal the traumatic experiences of the people and restore peace through training on peace, forgiveness and reconciliation of people and groups affected by the violent conflicts that occurred in the past three decades.  

In December 2023, the first phase of peacebuilding training was given to community elders, faith leaders, women and youth representatives, local government officials, schoolteachers and influencers in the community. A total of 210 people participated in the training in four zones.  

In March, monitoring will be occurring and in June, the second phase of training will be delivered. 

After the training, some community leaders commented, “We would not have killed each other if we had such peace training before. Our ignorance led us to kill each other.”  

The communities trusted MKC to help them deal with their problems to restore and sustain peace in the areas. 

—reprinted with permission from Meserete Kristos Church Quarterly Newsletter December 2023, #49 

About MWC national member church: Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) 

Meserete Kristos Church (MKC), one of the largest MWC member churches, had a membership of a little more than 5 000 when it went underground during the time of persecution in the Marxist military government in the 1980s. In 2020, baptized members numbered 370 909. The national church has regional Bible schools and a seminary; organized ministry in evangelism, prison outreach, development and more.