Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology

Thanks to the vision of the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church (KHC) and SIM, church leaders in Ethiopia no longer need to leave their homeland for graduate training. The Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) is gaining an international reputation.

The Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) was established under the direction of Dr. Peter Cotterell, Principal Emeritus of the London Bible College. EGST is owned by the two largest Evangelical denominations in Ethiopia – the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus – and by the Ethiopian Evangelical Churches Fellowship, an umbrella group for all the Evangelical churches of Ethiopia.

The importance of EGST may be underscored in several ways:

• EGST is the only graduate-level theological programme in a country of 72 million.
• EGST serves and is representatively owned by slightly more than 12,000 congregations with an estimated membership of 9.2 million believers.
• EGST provides a valuable stimulus for social and cultural renewal in a country plagued by poverty, famine, and AIDS.
• EGST strengthens the Church in a country whose population is 30% Muslim and whose neighbours include strongly Islamic countries.

Michigan State University in the United States has requested copies of all past and future EGST theses 'for their original research on a variety of topics relating to Christianity in Ethiopia.' Over the past couple of years, respected publishing houses have produced books based on the individual Ph.D. theses of Drs Stephanie and Bill Black, both members of the faculty, and Dr Steve Bryan, Dean of EGST. The library at EGST is still growing.

This project raises funds for the following:

• scholarships for needy students
• educational resources (primarily library materials, electronic resources and equipment related to EGST's training mission)
• faculty and staff training and development