Jason Barta & Joy Casey :: New Life Ethiopia

Lighthouse has “adopted” a Muslim area in Ethiopia where we sponsor children in pre-school/ kindergarten, support indigenous missionaries, encourage church plants and help with community development. NewLife Ethiopia is dedicated to bringing the Gospel to the unreached and providing permanent, Christian homes for abandoned children. 

Exotic, beautiful Ethiopia known for delicious coffee, hospitable people, 13 months of sunshine (yes … 13!) and an ancient civilization where visitors feel like they have stepped back in time. Fields are plowed with oxen, donkey carts are for hire, women dress as in Bible times, and walking is the common form of transportation.

Gutumuma, Ethiopia and the surrounding area has been a major Lighthouse focus for many years. The Arsi Oromo tribe of this area is fiercely Muslim, yet 8 indigenous missionaries with NewLife Ethiopia have brought hundreds to Jesus and established Christian communities in villages that have never had a Christian presence before. Providing food staples during drought cycles, homes for widows, education for the poorest, oxen for plowing or donkey carts for hauling and transportation provide opportunities to engage people in spiritual conversations while meeting critical needs. The Joyful Place pre-school and kindergarten provides early education for 60 children from the poorest homes where they learn to read and do simple math preparing them for first grade. The students receive a protein-rich lunch daily (vitamin, too!), a uniform and are taught by Christian teachers. God is at work in Ethiopia drawing many to His Kingdom!