by Steve Bryan
21 December 2011

More than 2000 years ago, a motley group of shepherds raced into Bethlehem to meet the newborn King. These ancient pastoralists were low in the social order, yet angels filled the night sky to tell them of Christ's birth!

Today in most nations of the world, pastoralists remain on the margins of society. They often live in remote areas; are constantly on the move, and their languages and cultures are typically isolated from the broader currents of history. This is true of Ethiopia’s nomadic pastoralists or agro-pastoralists—lowland peoples whose way of life is bound up with their livestock.

Culturally these pastoralists are very distinct from Ethiopia’s highland peoples. They also know little or nothing of the gospel. They tend to be animistic, though sometimes the animism is combined in various ways with Islam. Though the highland churches have sent many Ethiopian evangelists into lowland areas and much blood has been spilt, the fruit thus far has been relatively limited. However, there are signs that this is beginning to change.

	Worship in the evenings was creative and colorful

In late 2011, a conference took place in the extreme southwest of Ethiopia attended by seven different pastoralist groups from four countries. Jointly sponsored by SIM and SIL—SIL’s interest is Bible translation; SIM’s is church planting, though “planting” churches is a bit tricky among “unplanted” peoples—but the conference was organized by the pastoralists. This was to be a gathering unlike any before!

First, the attendees represented groups who have been mortal enemies for centuries. Cattle raids, revenge killings, kidnapping of women and rape are all recent and sadly common occurrences. Add to this the linguistic challenge of coping with so many languages at once. Almost all communication involved at least double translation.

Further contributing to the unusual nature of the conference was the widely differing ways people arrived. Not a few were ferried in by helicopter from various parts of the southwest. Unexpectedly, a group of Nyangatom and Taposa arrived having walked through the bush for two days from Sudan. Bizarrely, about 20 of them pulled choir robes out of their bags and sang stirring Taposa songs!

The conference was hosted by one of the two churches which have been planted among the Suri people, sworn enemies of the Nyangatom and Taposa. It was no small act of courage for the Nyangatom and Taposa to make their way by foot into the heart of Suri-land. But this was a time for peace— a time for church leaders, clan leaders, and government officials to draw together for reconciliation.

Reconciliation

Rumors from the outset of the conference suggested that some kind of reconciliation ceremony was in the making. This event took place late in the week in a traditional Suri way with the slaughter of two cows. Instead of collecting the blood to get drunk in typical pastoralist way, those slaughtering the cows allowed the blood to spurt freely. The next day, every single Suri clan leader came to the church, heard God’s word—some for the first time—and then came to the front of the church asking for prayer. It’s too early to say whether these clan leaders have truly accepted Christ, but there are hopeful signs that God is at work.

Late into that same night, we sat with Nyangatom and Taposa believers to listen together and think about how the gospel might move forward in these two cross-border groups. Prior to the conference we had known of only one Nyangatom church. Sadly the church had split. But in God’s providence, both sides had become zealously evangelistic and had developed their own ingenious, indigenous strategies for reaching into nomadic cattle camps and discipling new believers, especially inside Sudan. To our surprise, the Nyangatom Christians estimate that believers may now number into the thousands. Each night, around a growing number of campfires, the story of the gospel is being told and re-told.

On the other hand, we were stunned to learn that the Taposa inside Sudan number up to three quarters of a million with only one known church of 200 people. The one Taposa leader who attended commented that the greatest hope for the Taposa is these Nyangatom believers from Ethiopia.

The obstacles for pastoralists to hear and understand the gospel are many—hostile terrain, an assortment of mostly unwritten languages and, perhaps most of all, cultural beliefs and practices. Much work remains to be done.

More than 2000 years ago, the shepherds near Bethlehem “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” So we pray with great hope that these Ethiopian shepherd groups also returned home rejoicing. The birth of Christ reconciled us to God, and has the potential to reconcile culture to culture and people to people. Pray with us that the Holy Spirit would unleash his redemptive work among the shepherds of South Omo region, Ethiopia!