Our Audience: The Oromo People

And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."

-- The Apostle Paul (Romans 15:20-21 ESV)

In following Paul's example, our trip will present us the opportunity to do just what he was charged to do, to share the gospel with those who have never been told. Imagine for a second that you have never heard the name of Jesus, or that perhaps you've heard his name, but only in the context of Islam's teachings, that he was a prophet, but certainly a secondary one to Mohammad. Not only that, but imagine that there is no access to anyone who HAS heard the name of Jesus, much less is a follower of Christ. There are no churches, no Christian radio stations, no Bibles, nothing. This is the reality for millions of people all over the world, and it is the reality of the Oromo people of Ethiopia who we will be ministering to over the next couple of weeks. E3 and its church partners are committed to planting churches among the Oromo people, and we get to help them in that effort as we reach out, evangelize and connect them with Ethiopian disciple-makers and church planters.

The Oromo people are a large and diverse group. According to http://www.joshuaproject.net/, there are over 30 million people belonging to the Oromo people cluster and within that there are 19 distinct people groups. On the whole, it is estimated that only 6% are Christians and the remaining 94% adhere to Islam primarily. To the best of our knowledge, we believe we'll be working with the Arsi Oromo people group which consists of 2.5 million people, 94% of whom have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and who adhere to some form of Islam.

Please join us in praying for the people we will have the chance to share with, that the Lord will open their eyes, that they will have ears to hear, and that the Spirit of God will go before us and be with us so that they might be saved. Check in tomorrow for information about one of the ways we are preparing to share the good news with them.

For more information about the Arsi Oromo people, visit http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rog3=ET&rop3=210581. JoshuaProject.net is committed to educating the church about the unreached people groups of our world and the HUGE need that still exists for the gospel to be taken to people who have never heard.