About Us
Mekane Yesus Lutheran Fellowship in North America is the result of the largest Lutheran bodies in the world: the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. After years of indigenous evangelistic outreach efforts and the tireless work of primarily European and later American Lutheran missionaries in the Western, Southern, and Central parts of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus was established as a national church in 1959 with a combined membership of twenty thousand. Today, the church has 9.6 million members, making it one of the fastest-growing churches in the world and a key player in shifting the center of Lutheranism and Christianity from North to South.
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While the majority of its members live in Ethiopia, tens of thousands of Mekane Yesus Lutherans have made their homes abroad due to various reasons, including repressive regimes in the country for many years. The Mekane Yesus diaspora, scattered across different places, preach the gospel and establish churches much like the early Christians described in the Acts of the Apostles, "those scattered went preaching the gospel" (1:8).
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The North American Mekane Yesus Lutheran Fellowship is the result of these efforts, where a group of ministers, lay leaders, and members in the diaspora came together in Irvine, California in 2005. This initial meeting focused on the need for organized ministry to the Mekane Yesus diaspora in the United States and the importance of engaging members in mission work in both the host community and their native land.
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Over its 20-year existence, the fellowship has helped plant 16 Mekane Yesus Lutheran congregations in North America and supported their ministry by training leaders and ministers, fostering spiritual growth through Christian conferences. Additionally, the fellowship has contributed to the evangelistic outreach efforts and church rebuilding of the home church. Following the Latin adage, ecclesia semper reformanda est (the church must always be reformed), the North American Mekane Yesus Lutheran Fellowship continues to play a role in the ongoing reformation of the church by equipping leaders, empowering pastors, and mobilizing diaspora congregations to participate in God's mission in their new home and native land. As promised in the Gospel according to Matthew, the Lord is always with us as we spread out to baptize, teach, and make disciples of all nations.
