Members and visitors at St. Paul's Lutheran Church heard from missionaries, the Rev. Eric and Johanna Stinnett, on Wednesday, June 24.They recently accepted a call to become career missionaries through the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS). Eric will be teaching in Ethiopia, at the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) Seminary. As in many countries, the Evangelical church is Lutheran in Ethiopia. This seminary trains local Lutheran pastors and church workers from the different tribal areas to serve in Ethiopia. The church and seminary have selected the LCMS as best to provide the Bible-based training needed by the church workers in the field in Ethiopia.
The call came to the Stinnetts after they had served 11 years in Montana, where he had a triple-church pastorate. Johanna is the daughter of a Lutheran pastor who wanted to serve as a missionary, but was only sent as far as Ontario, Canada. They have three children, Rachael, 10, Naomi, 6, and Luke, 2.
Stinnett spoke of the Ethiopian eunuch (beginning in Acts 8:30) who was taught by Philip. The Ethiopian Christians see much of the Bible as being their own history, where it refers to many of the places and tribal names still in existence in that region.
It is a challenge, according to Stinnett, both because of surrounding countries (for example, it borders Yemen) and the more than 80 languages spoken in the country.
The country is respected in the region because it has managed to stay independent of other nations which have taken over and ruled most of its neighbors in past centuries.
They will reside in Addis Ababa, a modern city of 3.4 million.
The Stinnetts are visiting congregations partially to report the missionary activities of the Lutheran Church worldwide and partially to build support for their mission work. LCMS missionaries are not supported financially by the organization, but by individual donors who make either a regular, dependable contribution or a one time donation.
The Stinnetts have their own newsletter for supporters and can be contacted at [email protected].