Meet Asrat - Country Director of Ethiopia!

Asrat Gizaw was born and raised in southeastern Ethiopia, a Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox dominated area. After a local evangelical preached the Gospel in his community, he received Jesus as his personal Savior – but his family, staunchly Ethiopian Orthodox, was not happy and expelled him from their home. Asrat, about 18 years old, took up residence in a church compound and soon after sensed God telling him to give his life to ministry. Three years later, he went to seminary. He has been a full time pastor for almost 20 years now and joined African Leadership as Ethiopia’s Country Director in 2008, moving to Addis Ababa to be in a more central location to coordinate the program.  

Asrat and African Leadership Ethiopia typically oversee over 3,000 students a year, making this our largest program on the continent. He hopes to continue expanding his program in the future, not just numerically, but substantively as well. “Sometimes in the church, we are focused only on preaching about God. But we have to address some of the community needs and expand this way, being involved in holistic ministry. Church growth is not primarily impacted by full-time church pastors, but by lay leaders in the church. If you see a church that grows, most people are impacted by lay ministers. So I am very much excited when those leaders who are active in the church ministry get involved in our program.” 

Asrat and his wife, Edlam, have four children and live in Addis Ababa.