Top image: representative
From a distance, the village where pastor Docho's* church is located, appears idyllic. Unlike large parts of Ethiopia, this region is lush and green. Single dirt roads take you deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest until you finally reach his village. The main road is a hive of activity with street vendors, school children, goats grazing for scraps of food and donkey carts transporting heavy goods. But when you sit and talk with Pastor Docho, you learn that things are less than ideal here. Especially if you are a Christian.
The ground remembers the blood that was spilled here not long ago. And so does Pastor Docho. His ears will never cease hearing the screams of men, women and children. His eyes will never stop seeing his beloved church members being cut with large knives.
Was this what Jesus meant when He said: “The truth will set you free?” Where is God’s protection when you need it? In this life, some questions will never be answered.
Targets and second-class citizens
Pastor Docho remembers when he and 15 to 16 other Christians first came to the region in the mid-‘90s and began to share the gospel. “We asked for a plot of land so we could build a church,” he says. “This was not allowed by the Muslim majority, but after some years, we finally bought the land and built a church. In those early years, every Christian here was involved in evangelization.”
Soon, violence ensured. “They fired guns at us,” he shares. “Some were beaten and left for dead near the river, others arrested and falsely sentenced to prison. People were cast out of the village. One time, a community house was set on fire with the believers trapped inside.”
The list of atrocities is much longer, but the picture is clear.
“Thirty years ago, there were no Christians in this area,” he says. “Now we are 10,000. In this local congregation, we have 450 members.
But even with the growth, Christians are still targets, thought of and treated as second-class citizens. “The Muslim authorities impose higher taxes on Christians, often without giving us a receipt,” he says. “Christians also can’t get the better jobs. We’re discriminated against.”
Surprisingly, Docho has never given up. He still has a heart for sharing the gospel with his Muslim neighbors. But the violence had to stop.
An answer to the violence?
Docho and his team prayed for the village, for the violence to stop, and for the other needs of Christians. Many are poor and could use more income. The natural thing to do was to set up income-generating projects. But after praying, Docho and his church came to a different conclusion.
“God gave us a vision to build a school. We thought that it would give us a door to share the gospel and a way to build a bridge with the Muslim community.”
Christians building a school in a hostile environment? It seemed like an unrealistic project. They didn’t have the land. They didn’t have the finances. They didn’t have the license or the teachers. Still, Pastor Docho took the first step: “We purchased some land and ordered two truckloads of sand, which we dropped on the land.”
What was step two? “We continued to pray. There was a lot of struggle. A Muslim group took our land, but after many procedures, we retained it. Then your organization helped us fund the school. Ten years after we had purchased the land, we finally began construction.”
The school was ready to open in 2023. However, the authorities were skeptical. “They couldn’t allow a school that taught Christianity,” Docho says. “So, they asked us: ‘Are you going to teach anything else than religion?’ We explained that our purpose wasn’t to teach religion, but to educate the children.”
‘A really good school’
Docho and his team obtained the license and hired a few good teachers. Most are Christians; one female teacher is Muslim. At first, most children who attended the school had Christian parents, but when the Muslims noticed the quality of the school, they began to send their children.
“Our reputation in the community has improved a lot”, Docho says. “We don’t impose Christianity on the Muslim children. They come for a good education, just like the Christian children. A certain Muslim group has started an Islamic school nearby, but that one only teaches the Quran. At our school, the kids learn many different subjects, and the quality of our education is really high.”
Pawulos*, the father of a boy who attends Pastor Docho’s school, attests to the quality. As a former Muslim, he lost everything he owned when he became a Christian. He still is very poor and receives financial support so he can send his son to the Christian school.
“It’s a really good school,” Pawulos says. “My son even teaches others in our neighborhood who don’t receive this level of education. I believe that our village, our country and even the world will benefit from this school. I really believe that if people support the school and stand by it, that the students will impact the world.
“Without it, there would be much less love in our community. We have many different people groups living here. We get along better if our children attend the same school. We are now coming together in love and unity. This would never have happened without the school.”
Because of your support, unity like this is happening, as Christians build this bridge to the Muslim community. Pastor Docho is grateful for your prayers and support. “If you hadn’t come to us, we would have never been able to build the school,” he shares. “The school is what helps us bridge the gap between Christians and Muslims. Without the school, we would not have had this bridge. Suddenly, the doors for spreading the gospel are open. We don’t evangelize at the school, but we are now much more accepted, which gives us the opportunity to evangelize [in our community].”
Bridging the gap
While Open Doors supports Christians with practical help, trauma care, persecution awareness, and more, we also work together with local Christian communities to build bridge schools.
The idea behind bridge schools is that Christians and Muslims receive high-quality education, while having the opportunity to meet each other in safe environments.
But Open Doors doesn’t just build bridging schools. “We always work together with the local community,” explains an African field worker for Open Doors. “Together, we determine the greatest need. Sometimes, this is a school, but it could also be a borehole. By positively impacting the community, we hope that Christians will be more accepted. This important and impactful work is only possible thanks to your prayers and support!”
When we asked Pastor Docho how we can pray, he enthusiastically replied: “Thank you, God bless you! I am a pastor, and I need God's togetherness and for Him to strengthen me. If He is with me, that is enough. So, pray for me to stick close to the Lord always and for Him to remain with me.”
He also asks us to pray for “new things and the defeat of this darkness.”
“Ministers don’t stay in this area because of the many challenges,” he says. “Pray for workers to come to this area. People do not become full-time ministers here, so pray for God to call people to His work. Please pray for the churches in this area.
“And pray for the area itself. This region is 94% Muslim. There is a great darkness here. It’s a tough area—not just because of religion, but because the administration conspires to hinder the growth of churches. Pray for God to break this chain of darkness and for the land to be surrendered to Him. We are His workers here, so pray for God to give us the land and for His work to prosper here. Pray for the area to be given to us for His glory.”
*Name changed to protect security
