Joint Endeavour in the Work For the Gospel : The Background, Formation and

The Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC) was founded in 1960. It consisted at that time of congregations that had emerged as a fruit of the work of the Swedish missionary society Bibeltrogna Vänner (SMBV) conducted in central, eastern, and southern Ethiopia. When the EELC was founded, its members were few, estimated at around 500. Since then, the Church has grown to have nearly 30,000 members.


SMBV was founded in 1911 and almost immediately began missionary work in Eritrea. However, the main goal was to reach the Oromo people of Ethiopia. In 1921, SMBV missionaries began work in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. From there, the work extended to the cities of Harar and Dire-Dawa in the east and to Arsi province in the south.

SMBV's work, which had expanded rapidly, was greatly influenced by the attack of fascist Italy on Ethiopia in the autumn of 1935. Due to the subsequent Italian occupation, all SMBV's missionaries had to leave the country in 1936. To some extent, however, the work was able to continue during the occupation, despite the suffering and restrictions of the Ethiopian employees and parishioners.

The book, which is the second part in a series describing the history of the EELC, deals with the period 1935 to1941 when Ethiopia was attacked and occupied by fascist Italy. The book has general and specific sections. The general ones briefly describe Italy's war of aggression and the subsequent occupation of the country. The specific parts descibe what happened to SMBV´s missionaries and their Ethiopian associates during the war (until September 1936) and what Ethiopian Christians associated with SMBV experienced during the occupation. The specific sections also include an account of visits to Ethiopia October 1938 - January 1939 by representatives from SMBV in Sweden, and an account of missionary work among Ethiopian refugees in Kenya 1939 - 1942.