My father was 13 when he clipped articles about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Dad often told me how the Ethiopians had bravely defended their country sometimes with nothing more than sticks. What courage!

Years later I met an Ethiopian family, members of my first church. The husband told how he had been jailed and beaten because he was a Christian. He displayed the same courage my father had recognized in the Ethiopian people more than 40 years before.

As we heard Sunday, one of the earliest converts to Christianity was an Ethiopian, an official of Queen Candace. The disciple Philip told him about Jesus, and the Ethiopian insisted on being baptized right then. Think about the courage that took. Who knew what would happen to him as the only Ethiopian Christian?

Now a surprise. The largest church body in the Lutheran World Federation is the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Starting with around 50,000 members in 1959, they have grown to 8.3 million members. Why have they succeeded? Passion for proclaiming the Gospel and courage to carry out their mission in the face of all hardships and opposition.

It confounds me that American Lutherans are so reluctant to talk about our faith. What are we afraid of, that people will laugh at us for telling them about Jesus? We have been given the most precious gift in Jesus and have been commanded to share him. Our Ethiopian brothers and sisters have shown us what’s possible. Have courage, friends in Christ. Tell everyone the Good News Jesus.

Read Acts 8:26-39 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne