LEADSTAR THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

DEPARMTENT OF WORLD MISSIONS

An Exploration of Socio-cultural Barriers to Evangelical Mission among the Somalis in the

Somali Region of Ethiopia

By

Naol Befkadu Kebede

Thesis Submitted

In Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirement for the Degree of Masters of Art

In World Mission

To the Faculty of Leadstar Theological College

August, 2020

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

 2

An Exploration of Socio-cultural Barriers to Evangelical Mission among the Somalis in the

Somali Region of Ethiopia

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirement for the degree of Masters of Art in
World Mission to the faculty of Leadstar Theological College.
 3

DECLARATION
I, Naol Befkadu Kebede, I.D. number LTC/AA/030/11, do declare that this thesis is the result of
my own research at Leadstar Theological College under the supervision of Reverend Tesso
Djaleta Djaldesa (PhD) and I also declare that I have fully cited and referenced all materials.

By

1. Naol Befkadu Kebede Signed …………………

This thesis has been submitted for examination with the approval of the supervisor for the
master’s degree:

Rev. Tesso Djaleta Djaldesa (PhD) Signed …………………..

 4

DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to the life and ministry of the late Dr. Tibebu Haileselassie whose life has
greatly impacted me through his biography written by his wife Lishan Agonafer. Dr. Tibebu, a
graduate of AAU school of Medicine, worked among the Somalis in Kebridehar with obedience
to God’s call. My prayer is that many more ‘Tibebu’s be multiplied in my generation. For this
reason, I have dedicated this thesis for the life and ministry of Dr. Tibebu.
 5

ACKNOWLDEGMENT

I would like to thank Pastor Alemayehu Mekonnen for igniting the passion in me to study about
the Somali people in order to reach them with the gospel. Pastor Alemayehu encouraged me to
stay faithful to the calling by enduring hardships.

I am also indebted to many friends who encouraged me to go forward with my calling in mission
studies. Among the many friends who were encouraging me, Emnet Bekalu has to be mentioned
by name for her relentless encouragement. God bless you, Emnet and all of my friends.

This thesis would not come real without the advice of my supervisor Dr. Tesso Djaleta whose
very advises and corrections helped me learn and improve the quality of the thesis.

Finally, I would love to thank God who has been with me for all of my days.
 6

ABSTRACT
This study is an exploration of the cultural barriers against evangelical missionaries
working among the Somalis in the Somali region of Ethiopia. This study examines how
evangelical missionaries have adapted in the Somali culture and maintained the challenges
encountered with and fulfilled the mission they were entrusted to. For this study, open-ended
questionnaires were sent to missionary respondents who have been working in the Somali region.
The procedural approach for the study followed the Delphi method. The results revealed that the
socio-cultural barriers significantly affected the missionaries’ endeavor and their progress to
adapt the culture and overcome cultural barriers. Of the challenges, high socio-cultural barriers,
language, the religion, lack of an adequate financial and contextual training empowerment from
the sending churches or organizations were suggested as hindrance to their mission efforts in the
Somali region. This was justified by the respondents of the fieldwork which contributed to the
lower or lesser success rate in evangelizing the Somali people. This study suggested that learning
from this lesser success, the sending churches and organizations need to equip and empower
their missionaries with an adequate Missiological informative trainings, sufficient funding and
serious follow-up of their health and ministry regularly to help them fulfill their mission
responsibility in Somali region.

Key Terms: Somali, Somali-Muslim, Cultural Barrier, Cultural Distance, Cultural Tightness
 7

Contents:

Declaration………………………………………………………………………………………3

Dedication ………………………………………………………………………………….........4

Acknowledgment………………………………………………………………………………...5

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..6

Acronyms/Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………..9

Tables……………………………………………………………………………………………10

Figures……………………………………………………………………………………..…….11

1. INTRODUCTION.………………………………………………………………….…12
1.1.Background.………………………………………………………………………….12
1.2. Context of the Study……………………………………………………………….12
1.3. Statement of the Problem.…………………………………………………………13
1.4. Research Questions………………………………………………………………..13
1.4.1. Central Research Question…………………………………………………13
1.4.2. Supportive Research Question……………………………………………..13
1.5. Objectives.……………………………………………………………………........14
1.5.1. General Objective.………………………………………………………….14
1.5.2. Specific Objective.……………………………………………………........14
1.6. Significance of the Study.…………………………………………………………14
1.7. Scope and Delimitation of the Study.……………………………………………..15
1.8. Outline of the Study.…………………………………………………………........15
1.9. Summary…………………………………………………………………………..15
2. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………………16
2.1.A Brief History of Somali People.…………………………………………..…......16
2.1.1. The Land and The People.……………………………………………...….16
2.1.2. Overview of the Somali Region of Ethiopia.………………………………17
2.1.3. The Culture and Lifestyle.……………………………………………..…..18
2.2.Evangelical Missions in the Somali Region.……………………………….…..….19
2.3. Culture and Mission.……………………………………………………………....21
2.4. Cultural Tightness as a Barrier for Mission.……………………………………....25
2.5. Main Aspects of Somali Culture.……………………………………………….....26
2.5.1. Islamic and Arabian Influence.…………………………………………….26
2.5.2. Nomadic Lifestyle and Clan -Based Division.……………………………..27
2.6. Cultural Barriers in Somali Context.……………...……………………………….29
2.6.1. Linguistic Barrier.……………………………………………………….….29
 8

2.6.2. Social Barrier.………………………………………………………….…....31

2.6.3. Rivalry and Prejudice ………………………………………………………32
2.7. Summary.…………………………………………………………………………..33
3. METHODOLOGY.……………………………………………………………………35
3.1. Introduction.………………………………………………………………………..35
3.2. Study Design.…………………………………………………………………….....35
3.3. Participants/Data Collection Procedure.………………………………………..…..36
3.4. Operational Definitions.…………………………………………………………….37
3.5. Instrumentation.……………………………………………………………………..37
3.6. Data Management.…………………………………………………………………..38
3.7. Method of Data Analysis.………………..………………………………………….38
3.8. Summary…………………………………………………………………………….39
4. RESULT..…………………………………………………………...………………….40
4.1. Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………40
4.2. Result.……………………………………………………………………………….40
4.3. Category 1: Cultural Difference/Distance.……………………...…………………..41
4.4. Category 2: Progress to Solution.…...………………………………………………46
4.5. Summary ………………………………………………………………………..….53
5. DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………….…………......55
5.1. Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………55
5.2.Overview of the Study.………………………………………………………………55
5.3. Result.…………………………………………………………………………….…55
5.2.3. The Cultural Difference/Distance of the Missionaries to the Host Culture…...56
5.2.4. The Missionaries’ Progress to Solution in the Mission Field.………..……….58
5.4. Conclusion and Recommendation ……………………...…………………………..64
5.4.1. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..64
5.4.2. Recommendations for Future Research.………………………………….…64
5.4.2.1.Practical Recommendations for Sending Churches/Organizations and
Missionaries.…………………………………………………………..…64
5.4.2.2. Recommendation for Further Research ……………………………..…66
6. Bibliography.…………………………………………………………………………....67
7. Annex.……………………………………………………………………………….......72
 9

Abbreviations/Acronyms

BFBS - British and Foreign Bible Society

EMM - Eastern Mennonite Missions

ECC - Ethiopian Catholic Church

EECMY – Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus

EFGBC – Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers’ Church

EGC – Ethiopian Guenet Church

EOC - Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church

HOAEME – Horn of Africa Evangelical Mission Engagers

MKC – Meserete Kristos Church

SBF – Somali Believers’ Fellowship

SEM – Swedish Evangelical Mission

SIM – Serving In Mission (formerly Sudan Inland Mission)

 10

List of Tables

Table 4.1: Aspects of Somali-Muslim Culture Respondents Enjoy ……………………...42

Table 4.2: Aspects of Somali-Muslim Culture Respondents Find Difficult ……………..43

Table 4.3: Lacking Support, Care or Resources for Missionaries …………………….… 48

Table 4.4: Main Areas of Ministry…………………………………………………..…….50

Table 4.5: Success in Ministry…………………………………………………………….51

Table 4.6: Failure in Ministry……………………………………………………………..51

Table 4.7: Comments on Cross cultural missions ………………………………………...52

 11

List of Figures

Figure 2.1: Description of the Somali Clan Division ……………………………….…28

Figure 5.1: Level of satisfaction and culture shock…………………………………… 61

 12

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This research explores the challenges of socio-cultural barriers to an evangelical
mission work in the Somali Region of Ethiopia and its impacts on the promotion of evangelical
Christianity and further attempts to develop an effective practical response to reduce the
problem. In so doing, this chapter discusses context of the research which encompasses: the
background, thesis problem, research questions, objectives, significance, scope and delimitation
of the study which help as the framework of the whole thesis.

1.1. Background of the study area

The research took place in the Somali Regional State of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia found in East part of the country. Somali Region covers much of the
traditional territory of Ogaden which formed a large part of the pre-1995 province of Hararghe.
The population is predominantly Somali. The Somali are one of the Cushitic people groups who
are dispersed in the horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Puntland and Djibouti. Over 12
million of the Somali people live in Somalia, and over 6 million do live in the Somali region of
Ethiopia which this study focuses on.1

1.2. Context of the Study

The Somali people in the Somali Region of Ethiopia are the least evangelized people group
in the horn of Africa compared to their long contact with Christianity. Historically, an
evangelical mission began in the Somali region in the late 19th to the beginning of the 20th
century with the advent of modem Western mission enterprise. However, the current evangelical
population of the Somalis living in the Somali region of Ethiopia is less than 0.5%.2 This may
show that the Somali people are the least evangelized people group in the horn of Africa
compared to the long contact with Christianity.

This could be due to their strong historical tie and cultural identification with Islam and
Arabian culture. The nature of the complexity of the Somali culture and the Islamic religion

1
2007 National Census
(http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=274&format=raw&Itemid=521:
accessed April 2020 );
2
Ibid.
 13

which had been adopted from their strong historical tie and cultural identification with Islam and
Arabian culture is assumed to have been the major factor for the lesser effectiveness of
evangelical mission in the region. It is due to this reason that the story of Christian mission
among the Somali people is considered to be very brief and as such receives only insignificant
mention in many mission books of survey in Africa.3 It is this deep-rooted practical cultural and
religious challenge to mission work for the last century which has motivated the researcher to
undertake the study. The research, therefore, aims at exploring this cultural and religious barrier
to the evangelical mission among the Somalis people of Ethiopia in depth and identifying its
impacts on further promotion of evangelical Christianity and develops some contextual practical
mission approach which may enhance the stakeholder missionaries to reach the unreached ones
and nurture the existing believers.

1.3. Statement of the Problem

It has been more than a century since evangelical mission has laboured its efforts among the
Somali people of Ethiopia; however, because of the deep-rooted cultural and Islamic religion
barrier in the region, evangelical Christian mission has been greatly challenged and became
ineffective for such long years. There are also quite few written literatures available on this
cultural barrier of evangelical mission and so little scholarly reflections on the history, practice
and challenges of evangelical missions in the region. Hence, the researcher has been motivated to
carry out this study which may have contribution to the future mission endeavour in the region
and beyond. Therefore, this thesis further explores how this cultural and Islamic religion barrier
has negatively impacted on the evangelical Christianity and its expansion and develops some
contextual theological approach which may help further mission work among this community.

Hence, I am convinced that the present study will be a much-needed contribution to mission-
scholarship that will also have implications for mission practice as well.

1.4 Research Questions

1.4.1. Central research question

- How have been evangelical missionaries doing in the Somali region with respect to socio-
cultural barriers?
3
Aram, Ben I. “Somalia’s Judeo-Christian Heritage: A Preliminary Survey.” Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology.
2003.
 14

1.4.2. Supportive research questions

1. How have evangelical missionaries so far worked in the Somali region?

2. What challenges have evangelical missionaries faced in the Somali region?

3. How has the socio-cultural barrier hampered the progress of evangelical mission efforts
among the Somali community?

4. What kind of mission strategy has the evangelical missionaries so far employed for
evangelization among the Somali society?

5. What kind of contextual practical mission approach should the evangelical missionaries
develop in order to overcome the socio-cultural challenges and advance the Gospel expansion
among the Somali Community?

1.5. Objectives

1.5.1 General Objective

- To explore the socio-cultural barriers to evangelical missionaries in the Somali region.

1.5.2. Specific Objective

- To investigate the challenges of cultural and religious barriers of evangelical mission in

the Somali region of Ethiopia.
- To explore the impacts of cultural and religious barriers on evangelical mission in the
Somali region of Ethiopia.
- To portray the progress and practices of evangelical missions in the Somali region of
Ethiopia.
- To develop an alternative contextual evangelical mission approach that may help further
promotion of Gospel expansion among ethnic Somalis in the Somali region of Ethiopia.

1.6. Significance of the Study

This study is important for at least three reasons. First, it will help in exploring and illuminating
the cultural and religious barriers which have hindered the evangelical mission among the
Somali people of Somali region of Ethiopia. Second, it helps to identify the past strengths and
 15

weaknesses of the missionaries’ mission efforts. Third, it may also help interested Evangelical
Churches and evangelical para-church organizations to devise a contextual mission strategy
which critically evaluate this cultural and religious challenge in the light of the evangelical
Christian biblical perspectives which help them to move forward for better expansion of
evangelical mission among the Somali community in this region. Finally, this study may offer a
framework for the researchers of the field to further investigate the missiological and contextual
approach towards the Somalis and other predominantly Muslim cultures.

1.7. Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The scope of the study is limited to the cultural and religious challenges of evangelical missions
rather than other contents of the whole evangelism ministry among the Somali people. It also
focuses only on the Somali people group than the other diversities who may live in Somali
region of Ethiopia.

1.8. Outline of the Study

Chapter two reviews literatures relating to the study subject in discussing the socio-cultural
aspects of the Somali people which has encountered the expansion of the evangelical Christian
mission. It further discusses how the cultural and religious barriers have affected the evangelism
and Church plantation in the Somali context.

Chapter three develops the research methodology which helps for data collection, how and the
sample study was selected, how the ethical consideration will be taken care of and the like.

Chapter four presents, categorizes, discusses the emerged themes, analyses and interprets the
data collected from the fieldwork and finally identifies the research findings. Chapter five
concludes the study and forwards some workable suggestive recommendation for practical action
which may help the interested evangelical churches which need to evangelize the Somalia
community.

1.9. Summary

The aim of this chapter was to overview the background and aims of this research. It discussed
the objectives of the research along with the scope and limitations it suffers.
 16

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this chapter is to review literatures corresponding to the socio-cultural and Islamic
religious aspects of the Somali people and its barriers to evangelical missionaries working
among the Somalis community, particularly in the Ethiopian Somali region. It further examines
how Islam had influenced the Somali culture and affected their lifestyle and Psychological well-
being. Finally, this chapter will analyzes how the Somali-Muslim culture encounters the mission
work and Church plantation among this community by overviewing the history of evangelical
missions, practices and challenges among the Somalis.

2.1. An Overview of the Somali People

2.1.1. The Land and the People

The history of the Somali people dates back to prehistoric times (Laitin & Samatar 1987,
p. 4). Archaeological evidences from different localities in the Horn of Africa and historical
accounts from the earliest Egyptian inscriptions relating to the Somali coast undoubtedly further
describe this long history (Touval, 1963, p. 8). Ancient Egyptians had known Somalia as “the
Land of Punt" and there was an extensive trade relationship between the two countries which
peaked during the Queen Hatshepsut’s reign (Fitzgibbon, 1982, p. 6).

There is a general consensus among scholars of Somali studies that before the colonial
partition of Somali territories, there was no permanent centralized authority but a variety of local
administrations and occasional centralized rules. For instance, one of these is the Ujuuraan
sultanate which dominated much of Banadir and their authority spread “from the upper reaches
of Shebelle as far as the town of Qallaafo” between 1550 and 1650 (Lewis I.M, 1980, pp. 33-38).
This marks like the Adal sultanate that preceded it, “one of the rare occasions in Somali history
when a pastoral state achieved large scale centralization” (Lewis, 1980, pp. 33).

After the dissolution of Ujuuraan sultanate due primarily to internal conflict and
external interference, another powerful sultanate, whose power base was Afgooye city, emerged
in the early nineteenth century (Lulling, 2002). It is roughly estimated that currently the Somali
population within the boundaries of the internationally recognized Somali republic numbers
 17

about 12,316,895 million (UNPF, 2014) At least another approximately eight million Somalis
permanently inhabit some parts of the neighbouring countries Ethiopia and Kenya. To be sure,
Somali speaking people in the wider Horn of Africa populate an area of about 400,000 square
miles and furthermore form “one of the largest ethnic blocks in Africa” (UNPF, 2014)

In terms of culture and ethnicity, Somali people belong to the Hamitic or Cushitic
family people group (Lewis I.M, 1980, p. 1). The Somali people share a common ancestry,
language, religion, culture and tradition and thus can be construed as a nation (Adam, 1992, p.
12). In fact, Somali people constitute “one of the largest, homogeneous groups in Sub-Saharan
Africa” (Castgno, Winslow, and Lockwood, 2013). Although the Somali people are one ethnic
group, there are clan and sub-clan divisions among them (Adam, 1992, p. 12). Despite these clan
divisions and the lack of centralized authority, “the unity of the Somali community or nation has
been maintained by the relative homogeneity of civil society rather than by a centralized state”
(Adam, 1992, p. 15).

2.1.2. The Somali Region of Ethiopia

The Somali State is the 5th regional state under the Federal Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia. It covers much of the traditional territory of Ogaden and formed a large part of the pre-
1995 province of Hararghe. The population is predominantly Somali, and there have been
attempts to incorporate the area into a Greater Somalia under Siad Barre, the socialist ruler of
postcolonial Somalia (Mohammed Omar, 2006 pp. 132).

Until the first-ever district election in February 2004, Zonal and woreda administrators,
and village chairmen were appointed by the Regional government. Senior politicians at the
Regional level used to nominate their clients to the local government positions. In the 2004 local
elections, each woreda elected a council including a spokesman, vice-spokesman, administrator,
and vice-administrator. These councils have the responsibility of managing budgets and
development activities within their respective districts.

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia
(CSA), the Somali Region has a total population of 4,445,219, consisting of 2,472,490 men and
1,972,729 women. From these 623,004 or 14.02% were urban inhabitants and 1,687,858 or
37.97% pastoralists of the population. . With an estimated area of 279,252 square kilometers, this
 18

region has an estimated density of 15.9 people per square kilometer. For the entire region
685,986 households were counted, which results in an average for the Region of 6.8 persons to a
household, with urban households having on average 6 and rural households 6.5 people. Totally
the Somalis are about (97.2%). Other people groups: like Amhara (0.66%), Oromo (0.46%),
foreign-born Somalis (0.20%) and Gurages (0.12%) live in the region. The population was
projected to be 5,748,998 in 2017.4

2.1.3. The Culture and Lifestyle of the Somalis

The Somali community has a set of traditional rule called xeer which serves as a “legal
foundation for traditional Somali politics”. The Somali people use this traditional rule as “an
informal contact by which the Somali society settles its legal and political disputes” (Laitin and
Samatar 1987, pp. 41). It goes without saying that this traditional system worked well for these
community and protected their individual, and community rights and properties.

With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were
converted to Islam at an early date and remained staunch Muslims (Sunnis, of the sha’afi school
of law). This is reflected in the traditional practice of tracing descent from illustrious Arab
ancestors connected with the family of the Prophet Muhammad. Its modern expression can be
seen in Somalia’s membership, since 1974, of the Arab league (Lewis 2008:15).

According to some linguistic criteria, an earlier movement of ‘Proto-Somali’ speakers

brought the Somali language from Ethiopia to the Horn, before the general drift of the Somali
population from the north to the South (see Lewis 2002, p. 312, note 2). One of the major routes
in this later movement has been from the northeast coast of the Sanag region, where some of the
legendary founders of the main clan groups are believed to be buried. Another principal route,
frequently mentioned in the oral tradition of the Somali, is by way of the ancient Islamic citadel
of Harar, where tombs venerated as those of the ancestors of other Somali groups lie (Lewis
2008:15). Somali is the working language and predominantly spoken within the region by 95.9%
of the inhabitants. Other languages included Afaan Oromoo (2.24%), Amharic (0.92%), and
Guragigna (0.033%).

4
Population Projection of Ethiopia for All Regions At Wereda Level from 2014 – 2017. Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
 19

Over a thousand years ago, Arab and Persian trading settlements (where goods came
from as far afield as China) had been established at such coastal centers as Zeila in the north (on
the route to Harar) and in the south at Mogadishu (where the great mosque dates from the
thirteenth century). Further south along the coast Merca and Brava are of similar antiquity. These
Muslim centers of commerce, reinforcing the Islamic identity of the Somali people, also
appeared to have given an additional impetus to population movements towards the west and
south (Lewis 2008 p15).

As far as documentary evidence is concerned, Somalis first came into secure focus in the
written records of the middle ages. Eyewitnesses documented their role in the protracted ‘holy
wars’ (jihads), which raged in the late middle age between Christian Ethiopia and the
surrounding Islamic sultanates. At their peak in the sixteenth century, from his base in Harar, the
great Islamic leader Ahmad Gurey (‘Ahmad the left-handed’, known to the Ethiopians as
‘Ahmad Gragn’) briefly conquered much of the central Abyssinian highlands. The recovery of
Christian Ethiopia was decisively helped by the intervention of their Christian allies of the
Portuguese (Lewis 2008 p16). Ali Abdruahman (1975: 109-141) argued that Somalis were
entirely Islamized by the beginning of the 16th century. Nowadays, 98.7%, 0.9% and 0.3% are
Muslims, Orthodox Christians followers of other religions from the whole population.

2.2. Evangelical Mission among the Somali People

Evangelical Christianity has a very brief history among the Somali people in the
horn of Africa although there are scholars who argue in favor of pre-Islamic Judeo-Christian
history of the Somali people who predate the contact of Christianity with the Somali culture.5
According to these scholars archeological and written sources indicate that the Somali people
had contact with Christianity before they were Islamized.6

Other sources also indicate that earlier in the 12th century there might have been
Christians in Zeila (then ‘Socotra’). These Christians had also similar fasting season like the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church which may indicate that the EOTC mission had reached the Somalis
in the 12th century. Levine (1974: 71) notes that Seylac was part of the Aksumite Empire in the

5
See Aram, Ben I. “Somalia’s Judeo-Christian Heritage: A Preliminary Survey.” Africa Journal of Evangelical
Theology. 2003.
6
Ibid.
 20

900’s and fell to the Arabs finally re-conquered in the early 15th century. The Southward
expansion of Christianity to both Eastern Highland Cushitic peoples (Hadiya, Kambata, Sidamo)
and Omotic (Wolaitta, Kafa) began in the 13th century with the work of the famous missionary
Takle Haimanot (Balisky 1997: 36-42, 67-79). This southern penetration of Christianity
continued in the 14th and 15th centuries (Levine 1974: 73, Getachew Haile 1984: 113). Hence,
some scholars argue that Christianity cannot be labeled as a recent arrival among the Somalis.7
Nevertheless, the Somalis were entirely Islamized at the end of the 16th century (Braukamper
1997: 31; Ali Abdrahman 1975: 109-141)

In the modern era of Christian mission, the first Christian missionaries to work among
the Somalis were Catholics who arrived in Somalia around 1881(Fahlbusch and Bromiley,
1991). The Catholics had a significant and effective mission work among the Somali people
especially in the area of development. Venanzio Francesco Filippini, the RCC Bishop of
Mogadishu, reported in 1940 a membership of 40,000 Somali Catholics in the southern Bantu
regions of Juba and Shebelle (Tripodi, 1999). They also translated parts of the scriptures into the
Somali language although the Somali language had no official script until 1972.8

The first protestant body to arrive among the Somalis was the Swedish Oversees Mission
and the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM), on their way to reach the Oromos in Ethiopian
through the south, stationed at Kismaayo, Jubaland in 1898.9 Eventually, the SEM succeeded in
reaching the Oromos, and opened a station at Kismaayo to reach the Somali living in the British-
Kenya (Abdullahi, 2005). The SEM were able to plant churches with more than 400 Somali
converts with notable ones as Daher Bin Abdi and Musa Yusuf.10 Per Olsson, an SEM
missionary translated the Gospels of Mark and Luke into Somali in 1915 and 1929 respectively
with the help of Daher Bin Abdi and Musa Yusuf.11 The translation works were published by

7
Ibid.
8
The exhaustive list for the Biblical and other translations into Somali language was first researched and compiled
by B.W. AndrzeJewski. See B.W. AndrzeJewski, Biblical Translations and Other Christian Writings in Somali: A
Survey, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapier 21 (1990), 105-121
9
See Kajsa Ahlstrand, Kyrka i Jubaland? EFS Missionsfa lt i Jubaland 1904-1935, Missionsvetenskap E-uppsats,
Uppsala Universitet, Vårtermin 2014
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
 21

British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). The SEM missionaries, however, were expelled from
Somalia when fascist Italy took control of Somalia.12

After fascist Italy was expelled from Ethiopia and Somalia, and the Ogaden region
was formally given to Ethiopia under the treaty between Ethiopia and Britain in 1949. The Sudan
Interior Mission (SIM), the Mennonite mission under Eastern Mennonite Mission and Mennonite
Central Committee started their mission work in the 1950s in different parts of Ogaden and
Somalia (Abdullahi, 2015). The SIM reached the Somalis in the Ogaden region and planted
13
churches The Mennonites, which later gave birth to the Meserete Kristos Church also planted
churches in Dire Dawa and was very active in Somalia.14 The Mennonites had its first martyr in
1962 when a fanatic Muslim man stabbed a 33-year-old Canadian born missionary, Merlin
Grove, to death in Mogadishu (Abdullahi, 2011).

The SIM translated the New Testament in 1976 and the whole bible into Somali in
1979 with the Latin script of the Somali language which was officialized in the 1972 under the
Siad Barre government.15 In 1974, the military rule of Siad Barre had expelled many
missionaries from Somalia and confiscated their properties (Haile and Shenk, 2011). Later on, in
1979 the military junta that ruled Ethiopia known as Derg, did the same by expelling the
missionaries.16

The Christian mission was mostly affected in the Ogaden region (and Somalia) as a
result of the Ethio-Somali war (also known as the Ogaden war) of 1977-78. Many Somalis were
displaced from the Ogaden region to Somalia and as a result famine occurred in the area (Lewis,
I. M. 2008:71). The Missionary doctor, Tibebu Haileselassie, who upon graduation from Addis
Ababa University went to Kebri Dehar, Ogaden, with his wife Lishan Agonafer to serve and
reach the Somali people with the gospel, was taken as a captive by the Western Somalia
Liberation Front (WSLF) to Somali where he served in Somalia prison as a doctor and teacher

12
i detta tecken evangeliska fosterlands-stiftelsen 150 år. 35 (“SEM’s 150 years” published in Swedish
13
See H M Willmott, The doors were opened, London (S.I.M.)
14
Significant accounts of the early MKC history are found in Alemu Checole, assisted by Samuel Asefa, “Mennonite
Churches in Eastern Africa,” in Anabaptist Songs in African Hearts, ed. John A. Lapp and C. Arnold Snyder
(Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 2006), 207-210
15
See B.W. AndrzeJewski, Biblical Translations and Other Christian Writings in Somali: A Survey, Afrikanistische
Arbeitspapier 21 (1990), 105-121
16
See Getachew Belete, Elohi ena Haleluya, Ye Kale Hiwot Betekirstian Tarik, Vol 2, 1992 E.C
 22

for 11 years. Dr. Tibebu was a member of the Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers’ Church, an
indigenous Pentecostal church that was established in 1967 in Addis Ababa.17 After the end of
the Ogaden war, until the downfall of the Derg regime, much of the mission work in the Ogaden
area was halted due to the harsh treatment of Protestants especially the Pentecostals by the
military government.

After the downfall of the Derg in May 1991, the Somali region became the 5th region
of the country. Many Ethiopian evangelical churches which were running their works
underground for many years became public.18 Consequently, the Ethiopian Full Gospel
Believers’ Church (EFGC) made the first appearance in the Somali region in 1992 by planting
the first church in Jijiga. Following EFGBC Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) planted their
denominational churches in the region.

Currently, there are eleven planted denominational churches under the Evangelical
Churches’ Fellowship of Jijiga alone. From these the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane
Yesus (EECMY), Ethiopian Kale Hiwot Church (EKHC), Ethiopian Guenet Chruch (EGC), and
Ethiopian Assembly of God (EAoG) have planted their churches in many zones and towns of the
Somali region of Ethiopia although there is no evangelical church that operates its service in the
Somali language in the region. Para church ministries such as Horn of Africa Evangelical
Mission Engagers (HoAEME) and Somali Believers’ Fellowship (SBF) also operate in the
region through their home missionaries. Even after the declaration of freedom of religion in
Ethiopia by the FDRE in the 1995, the Somali region still remains as among the least
evangelized region in the country with 0.06% of evangelical presence almost all of whom are
non-Somali residents in the region.19 The main reason for the low number of conversion is said
to be the socio-cultural barriers between missionaries who are sent from different parts of
Ethiopia to Somali region and the Somalis who inhabit the region.

2.3.Culture and Mission

17
Lishan Agonafir, Tibebu Yemidrebedaw Eregna, 2013
18
Ibid. Also see Getachew Belete, Elohi ena Haleluya, Ye Kale Hiwot Betekirstian Tarik, Vol 2, 1992 E.C
19
2007 National Census
(http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=274&format=raw&Itemid=521:
accessed April 2020 )
 23

Although there is a wider definition of culture in anthropological and Missiological

literature within the evangelical tradition— the current study drafters of the Willow bank Report
proposes the following helpful definition of culture:

Culture is an integrated system of beliefs (about God or reality or ultimate meaning), of

values (about what is true, good, beautiful and normative), of customs (how to behave,
relate to others, talk, pray, dress, work, play, trade, farm, eat, etc.) and of institutions
which express these beliefs values and customs (government, law courts, temples or
churches, family, schools, hospitals, factories, shops, unions, clubs, etc.), which binds a
society together and gives it a sense of identity, security and continuity.20

Lingenfelter and Mayers assert more succinctly that culture is ―the conceptual design,
the definition by which people order their lives, interpret their experience, and evaluate the
behaviour of others.21 Finally, Hiebert adds that it is ―the set of rules that govern the games of
life that we play in our society,22 while Nida describes culture as ―the rhyme and reasonǁ of
life.23

In addition, Kraft correctly asserts that ―culture consists of two levels: the surface
behaviour level and the deep worldview level.24 That is, a given people group‘s observed
customs and symbols are undergirded by beliefs, feelings, and values which dictate their views
on what is appropriate, beautiful, good, evil, right, and wrong.25 These ultimately refer to the
people group‘s worldview—―the culturally structured set of assumptions underlying how a
people perceive and respond to reality.26 As worldview governs observed behaviours, customs,
and symbols, an important strategy toward understanding that worldview is to probe the visible
elements of a people‘s culture. Affirming this methodology, Hiebert writes, ―Human behaviour

20
See ―Willowbank Report, sec on 2, (Lausanne Occasional Paper 2. Lausanne Commi ee for World
Evangelization, 1978) http://www.lausanne.org/all-documents/lop-2.html#I (accessed June 14, 2020).
21
See Sherwood Lingenfelter and Marvin K. Mayers, Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for
Personal Relationships (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 18.
22
See Paul Hiebert, ―Cultural Di erences,in Winter and Hawthorne (4th ed.), 375.
23
See Eugene Nida, Customs and Cultures: Anthropology for Christian Missions (Pasadena, CA: William Carey
Library, 1954, 1975), 25, 45.
24
See Kraft, Anthropology for Christian Witness, 11.
25
See Hiebert, ―Cultural Di erences,in Winter and Hawthorne (4th ed.), 376; and Lloyd Kwast, ―Understanding
Culture‖ in Winter and Hawthorne (4th ed.), 398; also H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper &
Row, 1951), 33.
26
See Kra , ―Culture, Worldview, and Contextualiza on, in Winter and Hawthorne (4th ed.), 401
 24

and material objects are readily observable. Consequently, they are important entry points in our
study of culture.27 Edward T. Hall well summarizes the relationship between these layers of
culture by adding, ―the various facets of culture are interrelated—you touch culture in one place
and everything else is affected.28

The importance of studying the relationship of the missionaries’ culture and that of
their host cultures has been raised by a number of scholars. Finley writes:

Once missiologists start thinking about the factors in the missionary’s native culture that
should be taken into account in designing their training, the logical next step is to apply
those same cultural factors in deciding where in the world missionaries from any given
country are likely to be more effective. This could be done by comparing and contrasting
characteristics of the missionary’s native culture with characteristics of possible host
cultures.29

Keyes and Pate further assert that there is a greater general cultural proximity between
missionaries from the majority world and their host cultures.30While ethnographies list religion
as one category of culture, I would add two biblical considerations. First, culture, like the human
body, is one complex integrated whole. You may dissect a body and analyze its parts; but stub
your toe and your whole body reacts. Similarly, though some anthropologists view religion as
superstition or magic, they agree that religion affects all of culture.

Why? At the heart of every culture is its world view-peoples’ perception of

themselves in relation to life and the universe. This world view dominates and determines all
else. The Apostle Paul said of our creator: "He existed prior to all things, and in him all things
hold together (Col. 1:17)," and "In him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28)."
Second, God created mankind and his environment and called it "very good (Gen. 1:31)."
Though sin distorted all things and left man spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), the image of God was
never completely erased (Rom. 2:14-15). “Every culture has elements of divine order and satanic
rebellion; each has potential for the revelation of God’s truth and for its concealment or

27
See Hiebert, ―Cultural Di erences, in Winter and Hawthorne (4th ed. 2009), 375.
28
See Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture (New York: Doubleday, 1976, 1981), 16.
29
See Finley, 250.
30
See Keyes and Pate, ―Two-Thirds World Missions, 191.
 25

mutilation (Hesselgrave 1978:79).” The extent of mutilation in any culture increases in direct
proportion to that society’s ignorance of or disobedience to God’s Word. Conversely, the extent
of divine order in a society increases in proportion to its application of God’s laws.

2.4. Cultural Distance and Cultural Tightness as Barriers for Mission

One of the principal goals of many missionaries is to bring the gospel to people
groups who have yet to respond positively to it (Matt. 28:19–20; Winter and Koch, 1999).
However, the gospel is resisted in many cultures and missionaries may find that few people are
willing to put their faith in Jesus Christ (Woodberry, 1998). Recent research in social
psychology, cultural psychology, anthropology, and biology concerning cultural tightness-
looseness (Aktas, Gelfand, and Hanges, 2016; Carpenter, 2000; Geeraert, Li, Ward, Gelfand, and
Demes, 2019; Mrazek, Chiao, Blizinsky, Lun, and Gelfand, 2013), one of the more well-defined
dimensions describing cultures (Hofstede, 2011; Triandis, 2004), provides insights into why
some cultures are more closed to the gospel and what missionaries can do to better demonstrate
Christ’s love to people from such cultures.

Tight cultures have strong expectations concerning adherents to social norms

and little tolerance for deviance from them. Loose cultures, in contrast, have fewer expectations
for conformity and may even encourage new forms of behaviour and social interactions. Cultural
tightness is defined as “the strength of social norms and degree of sanctioning within societies”
(Gelfand, Nishii, and Raver, 2006: 1226). People in tight cultures have less variation in their
behaviour and are held more accountable for their behaviour than people in loose cultures. This
tightness spills over into organizations and other institutions, resulting in less variety and
innovation within the culture. Tightness-looseness can be viewed as composed of two
dimensions: (1) the strength of norms, depending on how clear and pervasive they are in the
culture, and (2) the strength of sanctioning, depending on the degree to which deviance attracts
negative responses.

Cultural tightness-looseness was first described by Berry (1967) and Pelto (1968) who
classified the Japanese, Hutterites, and Pueblo Indians as tight cultures with strong social norms
and with severe sanctions for violation of them. In contrast, the Skolt Lapps of Finland, Thais,
and modern western cultures were classified as loose because of their lack of formality and order
 26

and their tolerance for deviant behaviour. Triandis (1989, 1994) then described it as one of the
three main dimensions of culture (along with collectivism and complexity). More recently,
Michelle Gelfand of the University of Maryland and colleagues have been studying cultural
tightness-looseness in depth (e.g., Geeraert et al., 2019; Gelfand et al., 2006; Gelfand et al.,
2011)

David R. Dunaetz (2019) indicates that radical Islam tends to flourish in tight cultures.
He lists suicide bombing as a manifestation of the cultural tightness seen in radical Islamic
cultures. With predominantly Islamic nature of the Somali culture, it is a must to whether the
Somali culture is tight or not. Understanding the main elements of the Somali culture will help us
understand the tightness of the culture to missionary endeavour.

2.5. Main Aspects of the Somali Culture

In an introductory part of the thesis, the culture and societal structure of the Somali
people has been presented. Under this subtopic, the main aspects of the Somali culture that are
relevant to mission studies are presented. The Somali people, as predominantly Muslim and
nomadic people have been largely influenced by Arabian culture. Two of these aspects of the
Somali culture: Islamic and Arabian influence and clan politics and their nomadic lifestyle which
are decisive and relevant to missionary endeavour would be discussed below.

2.5.1. Islamic and Arabian cultural Influence

Although Islam is an integral part of the historical life of the Somalis since the 16th
century (Ali Abdrahman, 1975) the influence of the Somalis by Arabic culture goes back earlier
than that. According to I.M. Lewis (1988) states that Somalis traditionally claim to have been
descended from the noble Arabian lineages and from the family of the Prophet. This claim,
dismissed by Somali nationalists today as fanciful, and nevertheless part and parcel of the
traditional and profound Somali attachment to Islam.

Not only with their religion, Lewis (1988) claims that Somalis also show their
longstanding relations with Arabs in their facial features. They commemorate the many centuries
of contact between the Somali and Arabian coasts which had brought Islam and many other
elements of Muslim Arab culture. This includes their language and Af Soomaali. The Somali
 27

language contains considerable number of Arabic loan-words, and Arabic itself which is
sufficiently and widely known to be regarded as almost a second language.

The adherence of the Somali people to Islam is another major aspect that should be given
emphasis in the study to understand the cultural tightness and Missiological challenges against
the evangelization of the Somali people. As seen earlier, although the Somali people were
reached with the Gospel at the same time as the Oromo of the western Ethiopia, it is estimated
that there are less than a hundred native Somali Christians today in the Somali region of
Ethiopia. Multiple episodes of persecution from the Islamic communities in the Somali region
for the last 50 years resulted in the burning of both Evangelical and Orthodox Churches and
killing of several foreign and indigenous Ethiopian missionaries.31

This reminds us the conclusion made by the prominent Somali historian, “to be Somali is
to be Muslim” seriously (Ali Abdirahman 1977:109). Although this conclusion has a very
pessimistic connotation for a missionary endeavour among the Somalis, it bears the truth of what
has been in reality. This may show how the Somali culture has been hugely shaped and affected
by Islam and Arabian cultural influence which has hindered the Gospel expansion among the
community.

2.5.2. The Nomadic Lifestyle and Clan-Based Social Structure

The second aspect of the Somali culture is their clan-based division and nomadic
lifestyle. The majority of Somalis belong traditionally to a pastoral nomadic culture, herding
camels (the traditional prestige wealth), sheep and goats and cattle. About 60 to 70% of the
population are said to be nomadic or have nomadic affiliation, although many of them today live
in urban centers. . The rest live on farm and production of livestock. The smaller proportion of
the population, primarily live in the urban coastal areas having traditional economic base in
commerce and fishing (Lewis 2008).

The distinction between nomad and cultivator coincides roughly with the most
marked internal cultural division in the Somali nation. The fertile area between the Shebelle and
Juba rivers is occupied mainly by farmers and agro-pastoralists who additionally speak their

31
In August 2018 alone multiple evangelical churches were burnt down in Somali region. See World Watch Report
(opendoors.us)
 28

own distinctive tongue, known as Af-Maymay (although often referred to as a ‘dialect’, which is
not properly mutually-intelligible language, related to Somali). These people form two clan
confederations called Digil and Rahanweyn, or Digil Mirifle, known collectively, in some parts
of Somalia, as Sab (Lewis 2008).

Lewis (2008) lists the other main branches of the nation which are respectively the
Dir, Isaq, Hawiye and Darod. Strictly speaking, the Isaq are derived historically from the Dir,
who together with the Hawiye are linked as ‘Irir’ at a higher level of genealogical grouping. In
terms of their multi-functional lineage organization, based on descent traced exclusively in the
male line, these pastoralist groups provide the stereotype of traditional Somali socio-political
organization. Despite their local variations, they are the quintessential Somalis.

Figure 2.1: The Somali Clan

(Lewis 2008, pp. 109)

The Somali nation as a whole consists of six main divisions, which are to some
extent geographically distinct. The main Dir clans, principally the Esa and Gadabursi, are in the
Harar-Borama-Zeila area; but the Biamal (or Bimal) are historically important Dir group based
around Merca in southern Somali. The neighbours of the Dir in the northwest are the Isaq (whose
 29

centre is now the Somaliland republic) who live next to the Darod, the largest and most widely
distributed of all the Somali groups. The members of this huge clan-family inhabit northeastern
Somalia (now known as ‘Puntland’), northeastern Kenya, and the Ogaden region of eastern
Ethiopia (‘Western Somalia’) which is named after one of their most famous clans. Today, (in
post-revolutionary Ethiopia) this is administratively known as ‘Region Five’. The Somali State
hero and famous oral poet Sayyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan, the so-called ‘mad mullah’ who
from 1900 to 1920 waged a ‘holy’ war against the Christian colonizers of his country (and others
who did not share his fundamentalist views), belonged to this clan.

The Somali nomadic lifestyle as distributed along their clan lines is another reason
why the Somali culture is tight. Although the clan-based structure is not always as such against
Christian conversion (as it may clan provide protection to converts in their respective clans32, it
tightens the prospect to an outside missionary endeavour to the Somalis.33

2.6.Cultural Barriers in Somali Context

As stated earlier, tight cultures pose a great barrier to the spread of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. The history of evangelical mission among the Somalis indicate similar thing which
discussed earlier. With this, we shall now see the main manifestations of cultural barrier in the
global as well as Somali context. Jonathan Lewis et al (1987) described the following three
manifestations of cultural barriers: linguistic, social and rivalries/prejudices.

2.6.1. Linguistic Barriers

The Somali language is spoken in the eastern part of the Horn of Africa east of a
line running roughly south west from Djibouti to the River Tana in Kenya. The language is under
the Cushitic language family and the number of speakers might be estimated at around eleven
million. Given the great upheavals of recent times, there has been a large increase in the numbers
of people living outside of the Horn of Africa, with diaspora communities in the UK, the US,
Canada, the Gulf States, Yemen, Scandinavia and elsewhere.

32
Aweis A. Ali interviewed Haji Shafi Ibrahim Faarah, a prominent Somali-Muslim convert who indicated he had
protection by his clan even after he was converted to Christianity. See “Courage in Our Conviction A Conversation
with Pastor Shafi’i Ibrahim Faarah” by Aweis A. Ali (AweisAli.blogspot.com accessed June 2020).
33
Ali, Aweis A. A Brief History of Christian Missions in Somalia, African Research Journal of Education and Social
Sciences, 7(1), 2020 54-61
 30

The Somali language itself is classified into different dialect groups with the major
division being between what are known in Somali as Af Maxaad Tirhi and Af Maymay. As
stated earlier, Af Maymay is spoken predominantly by the agriculturalists in the central and
southern regions and Af Maxaad Tirhi in all the other areas. Along the Banaadir coast in the
south, particular dialects are also spoken, although these are closer to Af Maxaad Tirhi than Af
Maymay. What has come to be known as Standard Somali is a variety of the language in which
there is still variation, but which is understandable to the vast majority of speakers given its use
in mass media such as the Somali Section of the BBC World Service. This is based on Af
Maxaad Tirhi, which had become something of a lingua franca variant prior to broadcast media
as it was the dialect of the vast majority of the nomadic population who were more mobile, and
also because poetry in this dialect became more widely known. All the poems in this collection
are in Af Maxaad Tirhi. Af Maxaad Tirhi is also the main dialect spoken in the Ogaden region of
Ethiopia. The Somali language was first officially written in 1972 when the Latin alphabet was
adopted. Prior to this, various writing systems had been used to greater or lesser extents but none
had gained any official status. However, the Somali language can be one cultural barrier for
cross cultural missionaries working among the Somalis unless missionaries are trained
beforehand.

The most obvious cultural barrier which distinguishes one people from another is
language. People who speak a language different from one’s own are obviously foreign. To a
slightly lesser degree, the same is true of those who speak a different dialect of one’s own
language. Dialects or regional variations of the same language are distinguishable because of
differences in accent, vocabulary or a grammar setup. Often these groups of the same language
understand each other. Because of these linguistic barriers, Bible translators have often identified
a need for separate translations for different dialects. Currently, more than 4,500 linguistic
groups need separate Bible translations.

Dialects may reflect geographical, economic or social distances of members of the

same tribe or ethnic grouping. Often, significant cultural differences beyond language exist. For
example, a study by Joel Garreau (1981) identified nine distinct regions in North America each
with its own economy and value system. Culturally and economically, these regions could well
be considered as separate nations. Although most North Americans speak the same language,
 31

their regional culture may be sufficiently different that distinct strategies may be needed to
communicate the gospel with these “nations.”

In many countries, a national language is spoken for the purpose of trade, education,
and government, but many local languages and dialects are spoken in the homes and in the
localities where the language originate. For example, in Cameroon, West Africa, English and
French spoken as national languages, but 183 distinct languages and dialects are spoken
regionally. Cameroon must not be thought of as evangelized community simply because colonial
French and English-speaking congregations were established throughout the country that could
not help as such help the society for an adequate Christian conversion. Thus, in terms of the real
mission, in line with the Great Commission, we can say Cameroon has to be reached with the
Gospel for salvation only when its 183 linguistically defined “nations” have heard and really
accepted the Gospel by their own willing and been ministered in their own languages. Although
the many dialects of Somalis have become stumbling block for further Gospel expansion, the
responsible missionaries need to seriously study the languages for the purpose of advancing
Christianity among the community.

2.6.2. Social Barriers

The socio-cultural barriers have also been hindrance for Gospel expansion among
the Somalis community. Within the Horn of Africa, including Somalia there are three major
socio-economic groups: nomadic pastoralists, sedentary agriculturalists and townspeople. For
example, in Ethiopian Somalia region, the nomadic pastoralists form the majority and live over
most of the territories with camels, sheep goats and other cattle. The agriculturalists mainly live
along and between the Shabeelle and Jubba rivers in the central and southern regions, where
various crops are grown as well as livestock kept. In towns and cities people are involved in
trade, catering and other services such as telecommunications and finance, although many people
still also have links to the countryside through their kin.

As well-known and agreed upon by most scholars, in the past, the clan groups of Somali
pastoralists, was deeply rooted in a semi-desert land in which water and pasture are sparse.
Living in such area has inevitably led them to the socio-economic system of raising livestock,
namely nomadic pastoralism. This gives priority and value to the camel, which has become the
 32

livestock of measure which is most valued in that environment (D.D. Laitin and Said Samatar
1987, p.284) because it is the one which can withstand the nature of the land to the greatest
extent and can survive droughts which occur regularly in that environment.

Such a nomadic and pastoral lifestyle of the Somalis is one of the social barriers for
missionaries’ efforts in the region. Although it has been tried to settle the nomadic Somalis along
the main cities in the Somali region by subsequent governments,34 majority of the Somali
population in the Somali region of Ethiopia are still nomadic pastoralists (EDHS 2016). It is this
socio- cultural barrier which has hindered an evangelical mission in the region.

2.6.3. Rivalries and Prejudices

As discussed above linguistic, socio-cultural and sociological factors do prevent

the Gospel expansion from one culture to the other. For example, the difference in socio-
economic status is reflected in the way that people identify themselves within the society. As
stated earlier, the whole of the Somali nation is divided into a number of clan groups, the major
division being between the agriculturalist clan confederacies: the Digil and Rahanweyn, and the
pastoralist clan groups, the Dir, Isaaq, Hawiye and Daarood. These major clan groups are divided
into clans and sub-clans etc. In addition to these major lineages there are people belonging to
other groups, including those who are regarded as of a lower status and who traditionally
undertook occupations deemed degrading by the nomadic pastoralists such as hunting wild
animals, leatherwork and ironwork. These include the Yibro (singular: Yibir), Tumaal and
Midgo (singular: Midgaan) (Lewis, 2008)

It is through nomadism that a society emerged in which groups do not see

themselves as rooted in a particular place where they are permanently settled, and their political
system is not based on the land where they live, on being ‘the people of such and such a place’ It
is not the land, from which they benefit and on which they come together, that provides the basis
of relations within their society and how they organize those relations. Rather, the way in which
they relate and identify themselves within society is on the basis of patrilineal lineage, which
different groups share. The economic and social system of nomadism and the political structure

34
William Don McClurkin, the missionary martyr, was once approached by HIM Haileselassie in the 1950s to start
mission at Gode with the emperor’s plan to make Gode a model city and settle the Somalis. See Charles Partee,
Adventure in Africa: The Story of Don McClure: from Khartoum to Addis Ababa, p. 396
 33

based on shared descent led to a clash with the notion of a central power and system of
governance among the lineages, which might arise independently to become a power which
would rule over all the individual lineages. This has meant that historically, such a system of
governance has only ever been brought into Somali society from outside by foreign powers as
reviewed above (see I.M. Lewis 2008)

Thus such a Somali clan politics and rivalry has historically been proved to be
another cultural challenge to evangelical mission in the region. A good example is that of Siad
Barre’s conflict with Isaq clan at during his reign (Lewis 2008: 71). In post-Siad Somalia also
there were several conflicts between clans and sub-clans that led to abolishment of the central
government. This has made the evangelization of the Somalis very difficult.35

2.7. Summary

The chapter reviewed literature relating to socio-cultural barriers (i.e, Social,

cultural, Islamic, economic and political norms) to evangelical missions among the Somalis
particularly in the Ethiopian Somali region. In this process, the tightness of Socio-cultural norms
of the Somali culture have become barrier to evangelical missionaries’ efforts in the Somali
region of Ethiopia was mainly focused on. It also examined how did Islam influence the Somali
culture and how it affected their lifestyle and hence their psychological well-being. Finally, how
cultural barriers were overcome in other similar societies. As observed earlier evangelical
mission has had a number of phases among the Somalis in its course from the 1890s to 2020
which started in the late 19th century with the advent of the Swedish Evangelical Mission to
Kismaayo and Jubaland. Currently, as stated earlier, there are numerous evangelical churches
and mission organizations working in Somali region of Ethiopia. Yet, Evangelical Christians in
Somali region so far are minorities about less than 0.5% of the total population of the region.
Almost of all of these evangelical Christians living in the Somali region are non-Somalis who
settled in the region for work or other purposes. The reason for the absence of indigenous
evangelical Christian community has been the challenge of socio-cultural barriers as thoroughly
discussed. In addition to this literature review, this study further adapted data collection methods
in the proceeding chapter which would help to collect fresh data for the purpose of strengthening

35
Currently Somalia stands among the top-5 countries in the world in severity of Christian persecution according to
world watch list. (ww.opendoors.com accessed June 2020)
 34

this literature survey on the socio-cultural challenge and develop an alternative contextual
mission approach which could further promote the evangelical mission in the Somali region.
 35

CHAPTER THREE

METHODS OF THE STUDY

3.1. INTRODUCTION

The aim of this chapter is to set out the methodological approach undertaken to
examine an evangelical missionaries’ experience in the Somali region with emphasis on socio-
cultural barriers such as language, nomadic lifestyle and clan structure. This chapter presented
the aim of choosing methodological approach adopted for data collection. It further presented
the sample which was selected and set out the method used for gathering fresh information and
how the data analysis would be designed. Finally, it further discussed ethical consideration in
the process of data collection for with this study.

3.2. Study Design

A qualitative Research approach was chosen for the purpose of data collection for
this study. The process of research involves empirical work being carried out with the collection
of data which can concur, refute or contest theories which in turn allows for understanding and
clarification for different observations (May, 1997). Qualitative research involves a process
known as induction, whereby data is collected relating to a specific area of study and from this
data the researcher constructs different concepts and theories. Thus, a qualitative approach was
considered as it allowed greater capacity to gain more depth and meaningful data on the
missionaries’ experiences of the Somali socio-cultural challenge and its impacts on mission than
a quantitative approach which is more structured in scale and numerically based data collection.

Moreover, qualitative research approach relates to the perceptions to the social

world (Van Manen 1977, 28). The data collected through the open-ended questions which reveal
the way things are (Gall, Borg and Gall 1996). The purpose of the Delphi method is to, "...obtain
the most reliable consensus of opinion of a group of experts" (Dalkey and Helmer, 1963, 458).
The Delphi method is named after the Greek Oracle at Delphi, and has been adapted in studies to
allow anonymity; eliminate confrontation, group domination, and geographical barriers; and
most importantly, it allows researchers to measure the level of agreement on the issue under
consideration (Dalkey and Helmer, 1963, 458). This method illuminates instructional strategies
 36

used to promote social presence from an expert perspective. To be considered experts for the
purposes of the Delphi in this study, participants meet the criterion described in the procedure
below.

In a Delphi study, the researcher sets the criterion and selects the experts who are
qualified to answer the questions. The researcher then administers the questions and combines all
the responses for data analysis. The respondents are kept anonymous to each other but not to the
researcher. The size of the Delphi group does not depend on statistical power; thus, the literature
recommends 10 to 18 on a Delphi panel. The Delphi method can ask participants to validate the
researcher's interpretation of their responses. "In addition to the richness issues of traditional
surveys, Delphi studies inherently provide richer data because of their multiple interactions and
their response revision due to feedback. Moreover, in Delphi research method participants are
open to the interviewer (Okoli and Pawlowski, Suzanne D., 2004). The data gathering was done
using open-ended questions that the participants completed at their own pace and had time for
reflection. In this method the participants are expected to describe the experience of the
challenge of Somali culture and its impacts and how the missionaries have dealt with the issue
(See Annex.)

3.3. Sample respondents/ Participants and Data Collection Procedures

The participants of this study were 10 missionaries working in the Somali context. Before
describing the methods of data collection, let me offer a brief description of the participants.

The participants were selected with four criteria: (1) they have to be working in the Somali
region. (2) They have to be present in the Somali region by the time this research was being
carried out. (3) They should be able to communicate online since there were travel and meeting
restrictions due to Covid-19 pandemic. (4) They were willing enough to participate in the
research.

Of the ten missionaries, four were women. All of them were present in the region by the
time this research was being conducted.
 37

Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Jigjiga, Horn of Africa Evangelical Mission

Engagers and the mission called 10/40 ministries were interviewed via email and phone to
provide information about the Somali region mission endeavour. Accordingly, 10 missionaries (-
----male and -----female were selected who reasonably meet the criteria to participate in the
Study. The questions which were prepared in English and Amharic (see the Appendix) were
emailed to each participant. To protect the anonymity of the respondents —would be carefully
kept. The received responses were anonymously combined and would be ready for further
analysis.

3.4. Operational Definitions

Evangelical or evangelicalism would be defined as a movement within the

Protestant Christianity that is founded on the following presuppositions: Biblicism or the
commitment to the authority of Scripture; Crucicentrism, an emphasis on Christ‘s atoning work
at the cross; conversionism, the conviction that one must be converted through saving faith
because of Christ‘s atoning work; and activism, the resulting commitment to evangelism,
missions, and Christian service.36 As discussed in chapter two, evangelicalism in Ethiopia is
generally broader than that of the North America or Europe and, like the rest of Africa, the terms
“evangelical”, “Protestant” and “Pentecostal” are typically used synonymously.

Secondly, the word mission would be defined as the consensus of evangelical

missiology, which flows from the mission of God (missio Dei) as ―God is the one who initiates
and sustains mission.37 Hence, the researcher understood mission to be all that the church does
to promote the Kingdom of God, while missions is the specific work of the church and its
missionaries to make disciples of all nations through evangelism, discipleship, church planting,
and related ministries.38

3.5. Instrumentation

36
This has been best articulated in David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s
to the 1980s (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989).
37
See A. Scott Moreau, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee, Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and
Practical Survey (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 17.
38
See Moreau, Corwin, and McGree, Introducing World Misssions, 17
 38

The open-ended, written response questions were designed to answer the research
questions, how are evangelical missionaries working in the Somali region adapting the Somali
culture? What challenges are evangelical missionaries facing in the Somali region? How are
evangelical missionaries progressing in the Somali language skills? How do evangelical
missionaries face the nomadic structure of the Somali society? What kind of help are evangelical
missionaries getting from their sending churches in order to overcome the challenges? The
questions are structured within a discussion board: category 1 (Cultural Difference), category 2
(Progress Made by Missionaries to Solution).

The category 1 questions for the missionaries: to describe their comfort level of
working in the Somali cultural context; how long they have been serving in the Somali context;
the differences between their culture and the Somali culture. Further the missionaries’
respondents would be asked to describe how the missionaries were progressing in adapting to the
Somali culture and how they were facing the challenges in the cultural context.

In the category 2 type of questions the missionaries’ respondents to describe how they
were carrying out their mission task relation to their individual lives and their sending
Church/organization.

3.6. Data Management

The responses would be collected through both softcopy and hardcopy from May
June 2020. The researcher personally travelled to Somali region and directly collected data from
the respondents.

3.7. Method of Data Analysis

Once the information was properly gathered and translated into English it would
be thoroughly read and reflections was made based on the researcher personal field observations
for the purpose of classification and further interpretation of the collected data.39 Following Van
Manen advice, the main approach in the qualitative aspect of the study would be theme analysis:
a means of structuring the experiences and the research finding. .40 Through this method of data

39
See Creswell, 150-52
40
See Max Van Manen, Research Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy (Albany, NY:
State University of New York Press, 1990), 78-79.
 39

analysis the evangelical mission practice in the Somali region and its challenges would be
explored.

3.8. Summary

The aim of this chapter was to set out the methodological approach undertaken to examine an
evangelical missionaries’ experience in the Somali region with emphasis on socio-cultural
barriers such as language, nomadic lifestyle and clan structure. It presented the aim of choosing
methodological approach adopted for data collection. It further presented the sample which was
selected and set out the method used for gathering fresh information and how the data analysis
would be designed. Finally, it discussed ethical consideration in the process of data collection for
with this study.
 40

CHAPTER FOUR

Data Presentation analysis

4.1. INTRODUCTION

The paper so far discussed the contextual background of the study and literature
review in chapters one and two. Chapter three also developed data collection methods. This
chapter presented and analyzed the collected data through the developed data collection methods
in chapter three as promised. In this process this study explored how evangelical missionaries
have been working in the Somali region adapting the Somali culture, language , the socio-
cultural structure and the challenges they faced in the region and finally how the missionaries
have overcome the challenges.

The findings in the data analysis for this study demonstrated three categories. The qualitative
data collection method was used in developing open-ended questions to generate information so
that the generated categories were identified themes, and recurring patterns were also emerged.
Category 1 is the challenges of socio-cultural difference; category 2 is mission progresses and
the way forward for further mission work.

Category 1 questions were for the missionaries’ respondents to describe their observation
regarding their work in the Somali cultural context; how long they have been serving in the
Somali context; the differences between their culture and the Somali culture. Furthermore, they
were asked how they have dealt with the Somali cultural challenges and promote the mission
work in that context.

In Category 2 they were again asked how they were carrying out their mission task in relation
to their individual lives and their sending church/organization. The Delphi method used for data
collection helped the researcher in illuminating the challenges evangelical missions faced and its
impacts of the mission efforts in the Somali region.

4.2. Data Presentation

 41

The responses given by the missionaries were grouped by frequencies. The names of
respondents were carefully coded with alphabet from A-J. Of the 10 respondents four were
female respondents coded as D, E, H and I), six were male respondents coded as A, B, C, F, G,
and J). All of the responses were in Amharic language and have been translated into English for
the purpose of this study.

Category 1 –Cultural Difference/Distance

As stated above under this category questions were developed and asked for the
purpose of understanding the socio-cultural barrier against the missionaries who liv and worked
in the Somali-Muslim context. The questions were presented to understand the experience,
degree of satisfaction and the elements of the Somali-Muslim culture that the missionaries found
whether it was enjoyable or difficult. For example, questions 6 to 14 related to the differences
between the Somali culture and the culture of the missionary.

Question number 1: How long have you been serving in cross-cultural ministry among the
Somali people? More than 20 years? 15-20 years? 10-15 years? 5-10 years? 3-5 years? 1-2
years? Less than 1 year?

The aim of this question was to measure the experience of the missionaries in the Somali mission
field. Of the 10 respondents, respondents A and J indicated that they have served in the Somali
context for 10-15 years while F and I said, they have been serving for more than 5 years. Four
respondents (B, C, E and H) said they served 1-2 years in the region while two respondents (D
and G) indicated that they have been in Somali for less than a year.

Question number 2: Are you an indigenous Somali person? If not where are you from?

The main purpose of this question was to learn the association between cultural adaptability and
missionary background in the Somali context. None of the respondents said to be Somalis. Four
of the 10 missionaries (A, B, C and J) were from Southern Nation and Nationalities Region
(SNNPR) while there was one missionary from Jijiga (D), two from Addis Ababa city
administration (E and H), one from Amhara (F) and two from Oromia region (G and I).
 42

Question number 3: How comfortable do you feel in a Somali-Muslim cultural context?

Very comfortable? Comfortable? Uncomfortable? Very Uncomfortable? Further
Comment?

This question was asked to determine the comfort level of the missionaries in the Somali-Muslim
cultural context. Respondent B, D, E, H and I note that they were “comfortable” working in the
Somali context. Respondent A left the question unanswered while the rest four said they were
“uncomfortable” working in the Somali context. None of the respondents said they were “very
comfortable” working in the Somali context. Of the five who responded “comfortable” two were
from Addis Ababa, the rest were from SNNPR, Jijiga and Oromia. All of the female respondents
(D, E, H and I) said they were “comfortable” working in the Somali-Muslim context.

Question number 4: What aspects of Somali-Muslim culture do you really enjoy?

The main aim of this question was to understand how the missionaries have welcomed the
Somali-Muslim context.
Table 4.1: Aspects of Somali-Muslim Culture Respondents Enjoy
Respondents in What aspects of Somali-Muslim culture do you really enjoy?
line with their
given codes
A “Their modesty especially the women’s dressing culture. They also have
great respect for religion”
B “I admire their love for their fellow Somali. They also do not hold
grudges”
C “They support each other, and I like that. Although it may differ from clan
to clan, their cultural conflict resolution aspect is interesting.”
D “Their cultural dressing styles and the way they eat is interesting.”
E “Their do have freedom to well expressing their thoughts without any
shame.’’
F “I admire their support for each other and their communication ability.”
G “In my short stay I have seen how they trust each other. They trust their
fellow Somalis.”
 43

H “They do have worriless lifestyle.”

I “They do not hold grudges/complaints(openness).”
J “They do help each other.”

Question number 5: Which aspects of Somali-Muslim culture are difficult for you?
The purpose of this question was to understand the seemingly cultural barrier between the
missionaries and the Somali people.

Table 4.2: Aspects of Somali-Muslim Culture Respondents Find Difficult

Respondents What aspects of Somali-Muslim culture are difficult for you?

A “Their wedding ceremonies. On the day of the wedding the husband has to
give a minimum 50,000 Ethiopian birr to the families.”
B “Their language, eating habit, and their inactivity (for work)”
C - C respondent did not answer the question.
D - D respondent did not answer the question.
E “Their loud voices when they talk.”
F “Their marital culture is very difficult because they see women as a
money material. When a girl marries, her family gains money from the
marriage. Most Somalis also do not like to work. Begging seems to be
considered as a norm in the Somali culture and I found this to be
difficult.”
G “Their fast and loud voices.”
H “The polygamous nature of their marriage.”
I “Their language.”
J “They do not like to work.”

Questions 6-14, asks the opinion of the missionaries if their culture is similar or different from Somali culture
in the following areas.
The range of similarity or difference has been denoted with “Very similar” “Similar” “Different” “Very
Different”. They were also allowed to put their comment if they have additional remarks to make.
 44

To understand the cultural differences, the native area where the missionaries came from is listed as follows (refer to
question 2):
Respondent
A: SNNPR
B: SNNPR
C: SNNPR
D: Jijiga, Somali region
E: Addis Ababa
F: Amhara region
G: Oromia region
H: Addis Ababa
I: Oromia region
J: SNNPR

Question number 6: How the Somali people value or view time?

Respondents A, C, F, I and J said how they value or view time is “very different” in their culture
from that of their culture. While respondent D said that it’s “different” from my own home
culture. Respondent A commented, “The Somalis do not have a very effective value view of
time.” Similarly, respondent F also noted, “The Somalis have a very different view of time from
my own because they spend much of their time talking while others (non-Somalis) do value their
time and effectively engage in work most of their time in the region.” Respondents B, E, G and
H similarly said the view of time is “similar” to their home culture.

Question number7: How does the Somalis’ food stuff taste?

None of the respondents except respondent D said the Somali taste of food is similar to their
culture. Respondent D said the Somali food taste similar to that of his/her culture. Respondents
A, C, D, F, H and I said the Somali food tastes “very different” from that of their own cultural
food while B, E, G and J said that the Somali food tastes “differently”. Respondent A noted,
“The Somalis use too much sweet in their foods.” Similarly, respondent F also said “They use
sweet substances in their food. Beside the sweets, they also eat Camel meet with rice. In my
culture, we eat Injera. Most Somalis do not eat Injera.” Although respondent C said the taste is
very different from his culture, he commented that he loves their foods.

Question number 8: How do Somalis verbally communicate?

Only respondent G said the Somali verbal communication is “Similar” to that of his culture, and
commented that the Somalis are “people of information”. Respondents A, B, C, F, H, I and J said
the Somali verbal communication is “very different” to that of their culture. Respondent D said
 45

it’s “different”. Respondents A and F commented on the loudness of the voice of the Somalis
during communication as something they do not relate to their culture.

Question number 9: Do Somalis have nonverbal communication pattern?

Respondent A, B, D, G, H, I and J said the Somali nonverbal communication is “similar” to that

of their culture. Respondent E said it’s “very similar” while C and F noted that it’s “very
different” and “different” respectively. Respondent F indicated that “Somalis do not much use
nonverbal communication because they naturally do not seem to keep secrets.”

Question number 10: How much do Somalis build relationship with others?

Respondents B, G, H, I and J said the Somali culture has a “different” relationship building
culture while respondent said it’s “very different” because Somalis are very fast and very
communicative to form relationships. Respondents A, C, and E agreed that the Somalis are
“Similar” to their culture in building relationship.

Question number 11: How do Somalis resolve conflicts?

Except E and G all respondents noted that the Somali way of resolving conflicts is “very
different” from that of their own culture. Respondent A noted that the Somalis use clan-based
reconciliation system with punishment in money to ensure justice while respondent F noted that
the Somalis see conflict resolution as a means of earning money because “no reconciliation is
guaranteed without punishment which in most cases involves money.”

Question number 12: How do Somalis people handle and manage Family Life and
Relationships?

All of the respondents said the Somali family life and relationship management is “different”
from theirs. For example, Respondent F commented “the Somalis live in clan and they consider
all of the members of their clan as their families. “Regarding families, respondent F noted,
“women can give birth for many men.” Respondent G also added, “in Somali culture, older
people and children are given good position in the family.”

Question number 13: How is hospitality performed?

 46

All respondents except C and E said the Somali hospitality is similar of “very similar” or
“similar” to their culture. Respondent C noted that “the Somalis love people everyone. They
highly respect guests.” Respondent F added that the Somalis prepare meal for honoured guests,
and in most cases the meal is rice and camel meat. Respondent A supported this view.

Question number 14: How do the people view about work?

All of the respondents said the Somalis view about work is different from their view. For
example, Respondent A commented, “most Somalis do not like to work.” Respondents C and F
justified this observation.

Category 2: Progress towards Mission - Efforts and its Maintenance

Under this category missionaries were asked how they were thriving in their mission
field. Missionaries were asked how they tried to overcome the cultural challenges starting from
how they were managing their own spiritual and family lives, how much they were supported
by their own home sending church/organization.

To understand the progress in the course to overcome the socio-cultural barriers, the experience of the missionaries
in the Somali mission field is listed as follows: (refer to question 1)

Respondents
A: 10-15 years
B: 1-2 years
C: 1-2 years
D: less than 1 year
E: 1-2 year
F: 5-10 years
G: less than 1 year
H: 1-2 year
I: 5-10
J: 10-15 years

Question number 15: How would you rate your preparation for cross-cultural ministry
before coming to the Somali region?
Very Adequate? Adequate? Inadequate? Very Inadequate? Any comments?
Respondent D and F said they had adequate preparation for cross -cultural ministry before
they came to Somali region. Respondent F commented that his church had prepared him in cross
cultural ministry beforehand. All other respondents indicated that they had “very inadequate”
preparation before the came to Somali region.
 47

Question number 16: How would you rate your financial support? Very Adequate?
Adequate? Inadequate? Very Inadequate? Any comments?

Respondents D and E said they had “adequate” financial support while all other respondents said
the financial support was “very inadequate.” Respondent A commented, “The food and house
rent in Somali region is very expensive.” Respondent F noted that “My church cannot afford
more than it is doing now.”

For questions 17-20, How would the missionaries rate their overall health in
Question number 17:Marriage? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very unhealthy?
Comments?
Respondents A, F, H and I said the are married and their marriage is “very healthy”. All the rest
were unmarried. Respondent F said his marriage plays great role in the mission field.

Question number 18:Family Life (including children)? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy?
Very unhealthy? Comments?

All the unmarried respondents left the question unanswered. Among the married, respondent A
commented, “my first daughter had an accident that left her impaired. She cannot hear or talk.
Otherwise, my family is very healthy.” Respondents F, H, and I said their family is “very
healthy”.

Question number 19:Physical Health? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very

unhealthy? Comments?

Respondents C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J said they were “very healthy” physically. Respondent B

said he is “healthy” but commented that he had been exposed to “heavy ventilator air”. He also
had kidney problem because of the water in Somali. Respondent A said, “I do not feel healthy
because my kidneys are not working well because of the salty water here.”
 48

Question number 20:Spiritual Life? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very unhealthy?
Comments?
All of the respondents answered that their spiritual life is very healthy.

Question number 21: How often have you received care (encouragement, pastoral care,
prayer support) from your mission agency or sending church? Very Adequate? Adequate?
Inadequate? Very Inadequate? Any Comments?

This question was asked to understand how the missionaries were getting help and equipment
from their sending organizations in order to overcome the cultural barriers they face in the
mission field. Only respondent D and F said they receive “adequate” care from their sending
church/mission agency. All other respondents said the care from the sending church/mission
agency was “very inadequate” or “inadequate”. Respondent G commented, “They only need my
report.”

Question number 22: Are there aspects of support, care, or resources that you need for
your ministry that are lacking? If so, what are they?
Table 4.3. Lacking Support, Care or Resources for Missionaries
Respondents Are there aspects of support, care, or resources that you need for
your ministry that are lacking? If so, what are they?
A “Yes, there are but it’s difficult to list down since the Somali people are
very ‘material dependent’”
B “Yes, there are. I want to learn language but I cannot afford the payment. I
also need a job that can connect me directly to the Somali community.
Commodities are expensive here and I cannot afford to eat a well-
balanced food; hence, I need help in this area.”
C “Yes, there are. It would be good if they call me regularly. I need prayer
support. I also lack trainings related to Muslim Evangelism”
D “No, there is nothing I lack currently.”
E “I need more care and prayer”
F “I need a house since the house rent here is very expensive and I cannot
afford it.”
 49

G “It is better if they send me encouraging words and also other supporting
missionaries who can labour with me in the mission field.”
H “I need prayer.”
I “The commodity cost in Somali is rising daily. The Salary paid to me
should be increased accordingly.’’
J “I think I need a job that can connect me directly to the Somalis.”

Question number 23: For how long do you hope/intend to stay in Somali? Wanting to leave
immediately? Less than 1 year? 2-4 years? 5-10 years? More than 10 years? Any further
Comments?
The main aim of this question is to understand the determination and the plan of the missionaries
to overcome the challenges in the Somali region in order to be fruitful in the mission field.
Respondents G and C did not want to specify as to how much longer they hope to stay in Somali.
Respondents A and D said they plan to stay for “more than 10 years”. Respondents B and H said
they hope to stay for “less than 1 year”. Respondents E, F, I and J said they intend to stay for “2-
4 years” in Somali mission field.

Question number 24: How well are you doing in language learning? Excellent? Well?
Average? Below Average? Poor? Any Comments?

This question aimed to understand the level of proficiency in Somali language of the
missionaries. None of the respondents said they were doing excellent or average in learning
Somali language. Respondents A, D, E, G and H said they are doing “average” in learning
Somali language. Respondent F said he is doing “poor” in language learning and commented, “I
have several reasons.” On the other hand, respondents B, C, I and J said they are doing “below
average”.

Question number 25: What are your main areas of ministry? Evangelism?
Teaching/Discipleship? Church Planting? Spiritual Warfare? Humanitarian Aid?
Translation? Media development? Others?

The purpose of this question was to understand their Main Areas of Ministry.
 50

Table 4.4: Main Areas of Ministry

Respondents What are your main areas of ministry? Evangelism?
Teaching/Discipleship? Church Planting? Spiritual Warfare?
Humanitarian Aid? Translation? Media development? Others?
A “Evangelism and church planting.”
B “In all areas except translation”
C “Evangelism, teaching, church planting, spiritual warfare.”
D “Evangelism”
E “Evangelism”
F “Teaching and discipleship.”
G “Evangelism and humanitarian aid.”
H “Evangelism and teaching.”
I “Humanitarian aid and evangelism.”
J “Evangelism and church planting”

Question number 26: How has prayer ministry been a part of your ministry?

The purpose of this question was to understand the role of prayer ministry in reaching Somalis as
the missionaries engage in maintaining the challenges in the mission field. All the respondents
indicated that prayer has great value in their ministry. Respondent C put three ways prayer has
been incorporated in his ministry saying, “first I identify how Satan is working in the society.
Secondly, by strategizing the places where prayer is needed most. Thirdly, I pray for the people
to have open hearts so that they may hear the gospel.” Respondent E said she prays daily and
has a prayer support group. Respondent F indicated that he prays with his family. Respondent G,
H and I said they usually fast and pray for success in the ministry.

Question number 27: How have you experienced success in your ministry? Please
comment.
This question intends to measure the success rate of the missionaries and how the missionaries
have dealt with the challenges in the mission field.
 51

Table 4.5: Success in Ministry

Respondents How have you experienced success in your ministry? Please comment.

A “I am successful in evangelizing the Somalis.”

B “I have been communicating well with the elders and young Somalis
where I live”
C “I have been consistently praying for the Somalis”
D Did not answer
E “I have been able to develop friendship with Somalis.”
F “Although success can be expressed in many ways for me being able to
communicate and live with the Somalis is a success.”
G “I cannot say I am successful since I have just begun my ministry this
year”
H “I am trying to evangelize the Somalis and I have seen successful.”
I Did not answer
J “I am growing my friendship with the Somalis this year; I only had non-
Somali friends before this year.”

Question number 28: In what areas have you experienced failure? Please comment.
Again, this question also intended to understand where the missionaries need help.

Table 4.6: Failure in Ministry

Respondents In what areas have you experienced failure? Please comment.

A “I have failed in planting a Somali church.”

B “I have failed to learn the Somali language”
C “I could not immerse myself into the Somali culture.”
D Did not answer
E “I have tried to communicate the gospel to many Somalis but they did not
 52

come to Christ. Maybe it’s because of my failure.”

F “I did not learn language and also I was not able to have fruits in church
panting as much as I expected. ”
G “I just began my ministry this year”
H “I am not fluent in Somali language till now”
I Did not answer
J “I am trying my best but I have not seen a Somali-Muslim convert in my
ministry till now.”

Question number 29: What are you most excited about in your present and future
ministry?
Generally speaking, all respondents were excited to see Somalis coming to Christ in the future.
The respondents used different expressions. Respondent A, D, F, G, I and J said they want to see
a Somali church where Somalis can worship freely in their culture and language.

Question number 30: Please feel free to comment on anything else relevant to your cross-
cultural ministry experience in Somali region.
The last question was a free space for the missionaries to comment anything they thought as
relevant to the missionary work in the Somali region.

Table 4.: Comments on Cross Cultural Missions Approach

Respondents Please feel free to comment on anything else relevant to your cross-
cultural ministry experience in Somali region
A “We should not use our own/home cultural description and approach in
the Somali region. For example, we should not put crosses on church
halls. Our women should not walk with men. Our women should dress
Somalis dressing style.”
B Did not answer
C “It is very mandatory to learn the language and the culture before going to
cross cultural missions. And studying more about the people you want to
reach”
 53

D Did not answer

E Did not answer
F “I believe some correction should be made in the cross-cultural mission in
Ethiopia. I have been serving in cross cultural mission for over 14 years in
different places and what I saw is that sending churches and organizations
are bothered only about their reports.. They do not cross-culturally train
missionaries beforehand. After the missionary comes to the Somali region,
he/she is expected to send report regardless of the training he had. Hence,
the missionary tries to make up reports. This should stop.
On the other hand, when they ask for reports, sending churches and
mission organizations should also ask the health of the families of the
missionaries.”
G “In my short stay I have seen that mission agencies try to isolate a Somali
converts from their own society and fund money to the Somali converts
that eventually make the converts to be isolated from their society and be
depend on the money that comes from foreign mission agencies. This
highly hurts our mission since most Somalis think they would get money
if the get converted.”
H Did not answer
I “The Somali harvest needs more missionaries. Churches should send
missionaries after equipping them in cross cultural principles related to
their task.”
J “I believe Somalis can be saved. Anyone who wishes to work in this
difficult place should have this conviction.”

4.3. Summary

This chapter presented and analyzed the collected data through the developed data collection
methods in chapter three as promised. In this process this study explored how evangelical
missionaries have been working in the Somali region adapting the Somali culture, language , the
 54

socio-cultural structure and the challenges they faced in the region and finally how the
missionaries have overcome the challenges.
 55

CHAPTER FIVE

DATA DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH FINDINGS

5.1. INTRODUCTION

In the above chapters three and four this study developed data collection methods
and presented the collected data respectively. The present chapter disused and analyzed the
gathered information in line with its research questions and study objectives. Following the
discussion and analysis of the data collected the chapter demonstrated the research findings,
conclusion and forwarded recommendations for practical action which may help in the Somalis’
field mission.

5.2. Overview of the Study

The purpose of this study was to determine, how the Evangelical missionaries have
been working in the Somali region adapting its culture and maintaining the challenges they might
have faced in the region. The study further explored how the Evangelical missionaries have been
adapted to the Somali language skills, structure of the Somali society and what help they have so
far received from their sending churches in order to advance their mission efforts in the region.
In so doing, the data collected based on the following questions:

 How are evangelical missionaries working in the Somali region adapting the Somali
culture?
 What challenges are evangelical missionaries facing in the Somali region?
 How are evangelical missionaries progressing in the Somali language skills?
 How do evangelical missionaries face the nomadic structure of the Somali society?
 What kind of help are evangelical missionaries getting from their sending churches in
order to overcome the challenges?

Respondents were sent a set of open-ended research questions. After all the data was collected,
respondents were emailed all the combined responses to read and then were given the same
questions to either change or add to their responses. None of the respondents changed or
elaborated on their responses. Finally, the respondents sent their responses.

5.3. Result of the study

 56

As an outcome the research made, the following results have been obtained from the
analysis of data collected based on the above key questions. Discussions of the findings of the
study were presented under three major themes: cultural adaptability, cultural barriers and the
missionaries’ progress for problem reduction. The study focused on missionaries’ experience,
what challenges they were facing and how they have dealt with the challenges.

5.3.1. Culture Differences and Cultural Distance between the Missionaries and their Host
(Somali) Culture

The category 1 of the open-ended questionnaire tried to understand the cultural

difference between the missionaries and the Somali culture. As indicated from the data, none of
the missionaries were ethnic Somalis; hence, some degree of cultural distance was already
presumed. Regarding the degree of cultural distance in relation to evangelism, Engel and Norton
(1978) described the E1 to E4 principle to help missionaries understand cultural distances
between the missionaries and their host culture. E1 is the host culture that is closest to the
missionary. E2 is culturally more distant. E3 would be more distant, and E4 very distant.
Accordingly, it is more difficult to evangelize E1 than E4.

The questionnaires measured the cultural aspects of race, economics, time,

communication, family, relationship, hospitality, and spiritual worldview in both the Somali-
Muslim and evangelical missionaries’ home contexts. While a study of the relevant literature has
been foundational, the theme analysis has been founded on the descriptions of non-Somali
transcultural workers (missionaries) at work in the Somali-Muslim context

It has become evident that there are some definite differences between the cultures of the
Somalis and that of the missionaries. These have been most notable in the areas of conflict
resolution, time, work, verbal communication, building relationship and marriage pattern. On the
other hand, some aspects of Somali and the missionaries’ cultures are rather similar. The
strongest areas seem to be hospitality and nonverbal communication. It has also become apparent
that the missionary from Jijiga (respondent D) culturally seems be closest to the Somali people.
This was especially evident when considering the cultural aspects of economy, time, family, and
relationships. In short, as the missionaries have described their experiences, it seems that there is
some favorable continuity between the cultures of the missionaries and the Somali-Muslim
contexts in which they serve.
 57

It is undeniable that the result from the questionnaires demonstrates that there was a
significant cultural distance between the missionaries and their host (Somali) culture. Majority of
the missionaries responded that there was a huge difference between their home cultural
understanding of time, work, verbal communication, building relationship and resolving conflict.
This informs that the Somali culture is an E4 culture to evangelical missionaries working in the
area, and the work needed to evangelize the Somalis is bigger.

Regarding the degree of comfortability, 50% of the respondents were comfortable

working in the Somali culture of which all except one were female respondents (40% of the
total). Hence, generally speaking, female missionaries were able to adapt to the Somali culture
more than the male missionaries although the average experience of the female missionaries was
1-2 years (in contrast to the males 2-4 years).Majority of the missionaries also found the work
habit, the loudness of their voice and the marriage (wedding ceremony) tradition of the Somalis
generally difficult. Some of the difficulties are not only difficulties but also unadaptable
traditions. For example, although a missionary might adapt to the loudness of the voices of the
Somalis, it is biblically and morally incorrect to adapt to the polygamous nature of their marriage
or that of the “laziness to work” as described by the missionaries.

Those inadaptable traditions added to the already existing cultural distance between the
missionaries and the Somali culture; seem to make a huge cultural barrier to the propagation of
the Gospel for salvation in the Somali region. Although the Somali culture, regarded as E4, can
be very difficult for evangelization, the ideal culturally adaptable missionary seems female
(respondents D, E, H and I) and born in Jijiga (D), which can give a very good cultural exposure
and inherently good adaptable nature to the missionary growing up in the region. This does not
mean there is generally no trait in the Somali culture to form a spontaneous bridge or
communication with foreign culture. In fact, one missionary admired the communication ability
of the Somalis. Other respondents (50%) were fond of the Somalis love and support for each
other. Some missionaries also liked the dressing style and the modesty of the Somali women
(20%). If such appreciations accompanied with the motivation to overcome the cultural barriers,
can lessen the ethnocentric tendency in the missionaries’ mind and help immensely in the
evangelization of the Somali people.

5.3.2. The Missionaries’ Progress in Maintaining the Mission Field

 58

This category 2 of the open-ended questionnaire asked how the missionaries were
responding the cultural, physical and spiritual requirement in the mission field. Therefore, this
category was discussed under three fundamental questions: the missionaries’ life, the
missionaries’ effort and the sending church/organization’s effort to overcome the challenges in
the mission field.

The Missionaries’ Life

This constituted the physical, spiritual and family lives of the missionaries. Majority of
the respondents said that they had healthy to very healthy spiritual physical health. However, two
missionaries mentioned that the salty nature of the water in Somali has been a threat to their
physical health. One missionary (respondent A) specifically indicated that he has suffered from
kidney problem due to the water in Somali.

The missionaries’ health should be given priority by the senders as well as by the
missionary himself. Unless the missionary is safe and alive, he/she could not reach the host
culture. Hence, adaptability to the physical environment of the host culture in order to cop up
with the environment and stay as a missionary is a very necessary thing. Regarding spiritual
health, all the missionaries indicated that they have a healthy to very healthy spiritual health.
This is more evidenced when we see how they were engaging in spiritual warfare and prayer.
Even though not all indicated to have a strategized prayer, they all said they pray. Some (20%)
specifically indicated the strategies of their spiritual warfare.

Overall, majority of the missionaries were doing great in their personal lives maintaining
very good physical, family and spiritual aspects of their lives. This also indicated the balanced
nature of their ministry giving the necessary time and space to respective aspects of their lives
which in turn saves the missionaries from burnout.

The Missionaries’ Effort

This constituted the language proficiency and ministerial positions of the missionaries.
The results of the survey with 10 evangelical missionaries serving in the Somali-Muslim context
showed that their main areas of ministry included evangelism (90%), discipleship and teaching
(30%), church planting (30%), humanitarian aid (20%), and prayer and spiritual warfare ministry
 59

(10%).This shows that most cross- cultural missionaries in Somali are engaged in evangelistic
activity. This cross-cultural evangelism is, however, accompanied by church planting or
discipleship only in 30%. This has to be also understood alongside with the success of the
missionaries that only 30% said they were successful in evangelizing.

Most were successful in establishing communication with the native Somalis evangelism
was also the preferred ministry for the short experienced since the average experience of those
who said evangelism was their main ministry is 1-2years, however, those who had more
experience had added either church plantation or discipleship and teaching. The nature of
evangelism as a communication has helped the missionaries to establish relationship as well as to
gain proficiency in the language; however, unless it is accompanied by discipleship or church
planation effective long-lasting mission cannot be established.

Regarding the proficiency of the Somali language, 40% said they were doing below
average while 50% said they were average and 10% said “poor”. None of the respondents were
excellent in their language proficiency. Although the Somali language with its Arabic influence
and different dialects, different to master in short time, even those who had stayed for more than
10 years did not attain an “excellent” proficiency in Somali language. Generally speaking,
Somalis appreciate the efforts of foreigners to master their difficult language (Lewis 2008: 24). If
missionaries are able to equip themselves in the Somali language, this would provide them a very
good opening in their evangelistic endeavor towards the Somalis. Here this should also be given
with preparation training for the missionaries. For example, respondent (F) has been serving in
the Somali context for more than 5 years; however, he admitted he had a poor Af Soomaali. He
also indicated that he should have a very good preparation regarding language beforehand.
Ethiopian churches and mission agencies need to train (or fund) beforehand their cross-cultural
missionaries to learn the language of the host culture to which the missionary is going to work.

The Sending Church/Organization’s Effort

Under this part, the care provided to the missionary by sending agent, before and
during the mission activity was discussed. Before the missionary came to the Somali region, the
care provided by the sending agent (church or organization), had to be in the form of training.
Regarding the preparation, 70% of the missionaries said they had an “inadequate” preparation
 60

before coming to Somali. This should be understood with the fact that all of the missionaries,
although working in a tight culture of Somali, are from different parts of Ethiopia. After the
missionaries arrived in the Somali the care provided by their senders took different form starting
from prayer ministry to regular encouragement to financial support. Here, 80% of the
missionaries said they received inadequate support or care from their senders. Adding to this fact
one missionary (i,e., respondent G) indicated that he was only contacted by his senders during
the yearly report. Evidently, the support from the sending church or organization was beneath the
average. This has hindered the missionaries’ mission progress by overcoming the socio-cultural
barriers in the mission field.

Regarding their current need, 90% of the respondents said they had current lacks in their
mission activity. Among the things the missionaries listed a fund to learn language, financial
support, regular phone call or encouragement, training on Muslim evangelism, prayer, and job
are listed by the missionaries. This gives a yellow light on Ethiopian churches’ treatments of
their cross-cultural missionaries. For example, some missionaries asked to fund to learn the
Somali language which has a direct effect on their battle against the cultural barrier to reach the
Somali people with the Gospel. Others asked training on Muslim evangelism. Others asked a job
that connects them directly to the Somali community. All these have a huge impact in the course
of the missionaries’ progress to overcome the cultural barriers. Nonetheless, sending churches’
check up on their missionaries has not been found to be satisfactory and a huge work is needed.

This is also further indicated by the missionaries’ last comment on the questionnaire
where some missionaries said to learn the language and culture before going to cross-cultural
missions as mandatory. On the other hand, other missionaries also condemned the report-only
culture of sending churches. One missionary frankly said, “They [the churches] do not train
missionaries beforehand. After the missionary come to the Somali region, he/she is expected to
send report regardless of the training he had. Hence, the missionary tries to make up fake reports.
This needs to stop.

The Success and Future Prospects of the Missionaries

The greatest achievement for most of the missionaries (60%) was to have been able to
communicate and form friendship with the Somalis. Only 10% of them said their achievement
 61

was evangelism while another 10% said they were “trying” to evangelize. Since success in
mission can be measured in many ways including a mere presence in the society (especially as
compared to the tightness of the Somali culture), the achievement of the missionaries’ is should
not be understated. However, what the missionaries listed as failures illuminates their progress in
the battle to overcome the cultural barriers to win Somalis for Christ. 30% of the respondents
said they failed to learn the Somali language while 10% of the respondents said they could not
immerse themselves into the Somali culture. 20% indicated they failed in church planting and
20% indicated their failure in winning Somalis. At least 50% of the respondents’ failures related
to the nature of their battle against cultural barriers and the support they need in their future
endeavour. Failures frustrate missionaries. That is why 70% of the respondents indicated that
they only want to stay as missionaries up to 1-2 years from now. Only 20% said they want to
stay for more than 10 years. Missionaries’ frustration and burnout can be due to several reasons
but it should not be neglected that failing to overcome cultural barriers (linguistic and social)
contribute the lion’s share. Failing to adapt to the Somali culture also indicates the missionaries’
experience of culture shock.

Figure 5.1: Level of satisfaction and culture shock

The fact that majority of the missionaries did not project to stay for more than 2 years in the
mission field indicates that they were in culture shock (See Fig 5.1). Describing the experience
of culture shock by missionaries in contrast to tourists in the U.S, Paul G. Hiebert states
 62

It is the culture shock everyone experiences when they enter a new culture. Tourists do
not really experience it because they return to their American-style hotels after riding
around looking at the native scenery. Culture shock is not a reaction to poverty or to the
lack of sanitation. For foreigners coming to the U.S. the experience is same. It is the
shock in discovering that all the cultural patterns we have learned are now meaningless.
We know less about living here than the children, and we must begin again to learn the
elementary things of life—how to speak, greet one another, eat, market, travel, and a
thousand other things. Culture shock really sets in when we realize that this now is going
to be our life and home.41

In this wise, from what we saw earlier from the missionaries’ response of comfortability in the
Somali region, it can be concluded that most of the respondents were in culture shock, and have
had it difficult to adapt to the Somali culture.

Hiebert states that culture shock occurs in missionaries in problems at three levels, namely at
cognitive, affective and evaluative levels. At cognitive level, missionaries misunderstand the host
culture, and misunderstandings are based on ignorance of the beliefs, feelings and values of the
host culture. Here, from the responses of the missionaries we can see that there was a significant
knowledge gap on aspects of the Somali culture before they arrived in Somali. Majority of the
missionaries indicated that they did not have a proper preparation regarding the cultural barriers
they would face as they work among the Somalis. The misunderstanding has left majority of the
missionaries in culture shock. The solution to this misunderstanding is to learn how other culture
works.42 In the meantime, although the missionaries were willing to fill this knowledge gap
through trainings, the results indicated that they did not get necessary training from their senders.

At affective level, missionaries sometimes suffer from their own ethnocentrism. For
example, from the responses the missionaries gave on the aspects of the Somali culture they
found difficult, some indicated that the Somalis’ food stuff and their marriage ceremony pattern
were difficult for them. The missionaries judged those Somali cultural aspects based on their
own (the missionaries’) home culture. It could be seen that such conclusions are driven from
ethnocentric attitude. Hiebert notes that,

41
See Paul Hiebert, ―Cultural Di erences, in Winter and Hawthorne (4th ed.), 375.
42
Ibid, 377
 63

When we (American missionaris) first encounter other cultures, we find it hard to see the
world through other cultural eyes. We are ethnocentric. The root of ethnocentrism is our
human tendency to respond to other people’s ways by using our own affective
assumptions, and to reinforce these responses with deep feelings of approval or
disapproval. When we are confronted by another culture, our own is called into question.
Our defense is to avoid the issue by concluding that our culture is better and other people
are less civilized.43

Such ethnocentric tendencies make cultural adaptation difficult for the missionaries and the
solution to such ethnocentrism is empathy.44The missionaries need to learn and appreciate
others’ cultures and their ways. Finally, at evaluative level, missionaries tend to make a
premature judgement about a certain culture. Such premature judgments are not only too quick
but also other cultures are perceived as inferior and ignorant without a good analysis of them.
Although this was not indicated in the response of the missionaries, the antidote to premature
judgment that is cultural relativism45 has not been seen in the missionaries.

Adopting total cultural relativism is dangerous in itself since missionaries will be forced to
believe and accept that all cultures are good and right.46 This will compromise the absoluteness
of God’s truth. Hence, missionaries are not forced to accept every aspect of the host culture as
“good” and “right”. In fact, they may judge the host culture by themselves if they are well
informed about the culture. Heibert concludes, “Our tendency to make premature judgments is
based on ignorance and ethnocentrism.”47Moreover, as Christians, missionaries clam another
basis for evaluation, namely, Biblical norms. Hiebert sums it up,

As divine revelation we stand in judgment of all cultures, affirming the good in human
creativity [good part of cultures] and condemning the evil [harmful parts of culture]. To
be sure, non-Christians may reject these norms and use their own. We can only present
the gospel in a spirit of redemptive love and let it speak for itself. Truth, in the end, does
not depend on what we think or say, but on reality itself. When we bear witness to the

43
Ibid, 379
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid, 380
46
Ibid.
47
Ibid.
 64

gospel, we do not claim superiority for ourselves, but affirm the truth of divine
revelation.

While judging the other culture scripturally, missionaries need to be careful not to impose their
culture on the host with their interpretation of scriptural truths in their cultural context.48 Hence,
with the future prospects of the evangelical missionaries working among the Somalis in the
Somali region, first they should be given the necessary missiological training preparation on the
basics of cultural adaptation as well as the aspects of the Somali culture before in their
preparation before the come to the Somali region. Second, they should be given the necessary
attention and regular follow up by their senders.

5.4. Conclusion and Recommendation

5.4.1. Conclusion

In conclusion, evangelical missionaries working in the Somali region in the Somali context
which is one of tight cultures in the world, face cultural distances (E4) the needs a very well
organized and cooperative effort, with the senders, to reach the Somalis with the gospel. The
lion’s share of the mission effort to overcome the barriers lies on the care and support provided
by the sending church or organization to the missionaries before and after coming to the Somali
region to work among the Somalis in the Somali region. Practical recommendation for sending
churches and recommendation areas for further research are presented as follows.

5.4.2. Recommendation

5.4.2.1. Practical Recommendations for Sending Churches/Organizations and Missionaries

1. Regarding Missionary Preparation: Sending churches/organizations

- should make clear that the missionaries to be sent are ready psychologically before they arrive
in Somali

- should train their missionaries the Somali language before they arrive in the Somali region.

48
Ibid, 379
 65

- should address cross-cultural issues and teach missionaries how to address those issues by
themselves before they make it to Somali.

- make sure the missionaries to be sent have the necessary skills to cop up with the Somali
environment. This includes communication ability, language fluency or the desire to learn a new
language, and avoiding ethnocentrism.

- should also equip missionaries in other jobs or find them jobs that can connect them with the
society before sending them as this will highly affect their evangelistic performance.

- should give more priority for missionaries from Somali or Eastern Ethiopia background since
this will narrow the cultural distance.

2. Regarding Missionary Follow ups: Sending churches/Organizations

- should follow the day to day or regular activities of their missionaries after their arrival in
Somali.

- should be concerned enough to ask about the overall health of their missionaries which includes
their spiritual, mental, physical and social wellbeing,

- must address financial issues faced by the missionaries as much as possible. This affects the
missionaries because the Somali culture is a “care-free” culture and not giving at the time of a
friends’ need is considered a vice in the society. Missionaries need also be reminded to spend
their money wisely.

- should not take reporting as a priority when the missionary is in a tight culture. The missionary
should be given ‘green light’ as long as he/she is engaged in serving in the host culture. While
regular check is good, it should be in a manner that will not stress the missionary.

- should check and recheck evangelistic reports by field missionaries in Somali region. Reports
by missionaries should not be taken at face value. They should be checked in person. This helps
the integrity of the mission activity also helping the missionary to not fall in the traps of making
up ‘facts’ in order to satisfy and please the sending church/organization.

3. Missionaries:
 66

- should be willing enough to be trained and equipped in multiple disciplines including language
skills, contextualization and missionary psychology before they arrive in the Somali region.

- should ask their sending church/organization for training in the areas listed above.

- should be working to address the cultural challenges than the theological challenges as they
arrive in Somali since the greatest barrier to mission in Somali is not theological (Islam per se)
rather socio-cultural.

- should not be ethnocentric when they arrive in the Somali culture, especially if the missionary
is from Northern and Central Ethiopia.

- should maintain their integrity in reporting during their stay in Somali region.

- should be willing to engage and get employed if necessary in a job that can help them in
evangelistic endeavor with the society.

5.4.2.2. Recommendation for Further Research

1. A study needs to be replicated with a larger number of participants.

2. An area for further research is to see if there is a difference between males and females among
missionaries in their encounter as well as progress in dealing with cultural barriers in the Somali
mission field.

3. A study should compare missionaries working in the urban setting and rural setting in the
Somali region.

4. A study should compare the native culture of the missionaries and their respective success in
the mission field.
 67

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Abdalla Omar Mansur. 1995. The nature of the Somali clan system. In The Invention of
Somalia. Pp. 117-134. Ed. by Ali Jimale Ahmed. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press.
- Abdi Ali Ngurusi. 1993. Long Lost Islamic Faith in Rendille. AI-ls/am (Nairobi, Kenya).
September issue. 24-25.
- Abdi Mohamed Kusow. 1992. The Genesis of the Somali Civil War: A New Perspective.
In Proceedings of the Sixth Michigan StateUniversity Conference on Northeast Africa.
Pp. 183-194. Ed. by John Hinnant & B. Fine. East Lansing, MI, USA: Michigan State
University.
- Abdullahi, Abdurahman M. 2015. The Islamic Movement in Somalia: A Study of the
Islah Movement, 1950-2000. Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd, (122, 121, 21)
- Abdullahi, Abdurahman Moallim. 2011. “The Islamic Movement in Somalia: A
Historical Evolution with a Case Study of the Islah Movement (1950-2000).” Ph.D.
Thesis, McGill University, Institute of Islamic Studies, (111, 129, 116)
- Alemu Checole, assisted by Samuel Asefa. 2006. “Mennonite Churches in Eastern
Africa,” in Anabaptist Songs in African Hearts, ed. John A. Lapp and C. Arnold Snyder
(Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books)
- Ali Abdirahman Hersi. 1977. The Arab Factor in Somali History: The Origins and the
Development of Arab Enterprise and Cultural Influence in the Somali Peninsula.
University of California, Los Angeles: Ph.D. Dissertation. 334 pp.
- Ali, Aweis A. 2020. A Brief History of Christian Missions in Somalia, African Research
Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 7(1), 54-61
- Ali Jimale Ahmed. 1995. The Invention of Somalia. Lawrenceville, NJ.: The Red Sea
Press. 265 p.
- Andersen, Earl. 1983. Personal communication. Nairobi: Africa InlandMission.
- AndrzeJewski, B.W., Biblical Translations and Other Christian Writings in Somali: A
Survey, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapier 21 (1990)
- Balisky, E. Paul. 1997. Wolaitta Evangelists: A Study of ReligiousInnovations in
Southern Ethiopia, 1937-1975. PhD. Thesis,University of Aberdeen, Scotland. 452 p.
- Bebbington, David. 1989. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s
to the 1980s. London: Unwin Hyman.
 68

- Berry JW. 1967. Independence and conformity in subsistence-level societies. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology 7: 415–18.
- Besteman, Catherine. 1995. The invention of Gosha: Slavery, Colonialism,and Stigma in
Somali History. In The Invention of Somalia. Pp. 43-62Ed. by Ali Jimale Ahmed.
Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press.
- Bowers, Paul. 1985. Nubian Christianity: The Neglected Heritage. InAfrica Journal of
Evangelical Theology 4 (1): 3-23.
- Braukamper, Ulrich. 1973. The Correlation of Oral Traditions andHistorical Records in
Southern Ethiopia: A Case study of theHadiya/ Sidamo Past. J of Ethiopian Studies 11
(2): 29-55.
- Braukamper, Ulrich. 1988. The Islamization of the Arssi-Oromo. InProceedings of the
B"h International Conference of Ethiopian Studies,Pp. 767-777. Ed. by Tadesse Beyenne.
Addis Abeba: Institute of Ethiopian Studies/Frobenius Institute, Johann Wolgang,
GoetheUniversitat.
- Braukamper, Ulrich. 1992. The Sanctuary of Shaykh Husayn and theOromo-Somali
connections in Bale. In The Proceedings of the FirstInternational Congress of Somali
Studies. Pp. 145-166. Ed. ByHussein M. Adam & Charles L. Geshekter. Atlanta:
Scholars Press.923p.
- Braukamper, Ulrich. 1997. A Vanishing Socio-Religious System: Fandanoof the Hadiya.
In Vol. II of Proceedings of the X!Ifh InternationalConference of Ethiopian Studies, Pp.
314-326. Ed. by Katsuyosi Fukui,Eisei Kurimoto, & Masayoshi Shigeta. Kyoto, Japan.
- Creswell, John W. 2007. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among
Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
- Dalkey, N. c., & Helmer, O. 1963. An experimental application of the Delphi method to
the use of experts. Management Science, 9 (3), 458-467.
- Dunatez DR. 2019. Cultural tightness-looseness: Its nature and missiological
applications. Missiology: An International Review 2019, Vol. 47(4) 410–42
- Engel, James F., and Norton, H. Wilbert. 1978. What's Gone Wrong With the Harvest? A
Communication Strategy for the Church and World Evangelism. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan.
 69

- FDRE States: Basic Information - Somalia Archived 2005-05-22 at the Wayback

Machine, Population (accessed April 2020)
- Finley, Donald K. 2005. Contextualized Training for Missionaries: A Brazilian Model,
PhD dissertation, Asbury Theological Seminar.
- Gall, M.D., Borg, W.R., & Gall, J.P. 1996. Educational research (6th ed.). White Plains,
NY: Longman Publishers.
- Geeraert N, Li R, Ward C, Gelfand MJ and Demes KA. 2019. A tight spot: How
personality moderates the impact of social norms on sojourner adaptation. Psychological
Science 30: 333–42.
- Gelfand MJ, Nishii LH and Raver JL. 2006. On the nature and importance of cultural
tightness-looseness. Journal of Applied Psychology 91: 1225–44.
- Gelfand MJ et al. 2011. Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study.
Science 332: 1100–1104.
- Getachew Belete. 1992 E.C. Elohi ena Haleluya, Ye Kale Hiwot Betekirstian Tarik, Vol
2, SIM Addis Ababa,
- Getachew Haile. 1984. Ethiopian Christian Captives in the Territory of theArami. In
Proceedings of the 1h International Conference of EthiopianStudies, 1982, Pp. 113-119
Ed. by Sven Rubensen. Uppsala Sweden.Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
- H M Willmott, The doors were opened, London (S.I.M.)
- Haile, Ahmed Ali, and David W. Shenk. 2011. Teatime in Mogadishu: My Journey as a
Peace Ambassador in the World of Islam. Herald Press, (22, 42, 114, 71)
- Hall, Edward T., Beyond Culture. New York: Doubleday, 1976, 1981
- i detta tecken evangeliska fosterlands-stiftelsen 150 år. 35 (“SEM’s 150 years” published
in Swedish)
- Kajsa Ahlstrand, Kyrka i Jubaland? EFS Missionsfa lt i Jubaland 1904-
1935,Missionsvetenskap E-uppsats, Uppsala Universitet, Vårtermin 2014
- Keyes, Lawrence E. and Pate, Larry, D. April 1993. Two-Thirds World Missions: The
Next 100 years,Missiology: An International Review 21:2, 188-206.
- Kraft, Charles. 1996. Anthropology for Christian Witness. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis..
 70

- Lamberti, Marcello. 1986. The Origin of the Jiiddu of Somalia. In The"Proceedings of

the Third International Congress of Somali Studies. Pp.3-10 Ed. by Annarita Puglielli.
Rome: Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore.99p.
- Levine, David. 1974. Greater Ethiopia. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress. 231 p.
- Lewis, I. M. 1969. Peoples ofthe Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, and Saho.Ethnographic
Survey of Africa, North Eastern Africa. Part I. ed. D.Ford. London: International African
Institute. 177 p.
____ . 1980. A modern history of Somalia. Rev. ed. London: Longman.279p.
- Lingenfelter, Sherwood and Mayers, Marvin K., Ministering Cross-Culturally: An
Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.
- Lishan Agonafir. 2013 Tibebu Yemidrebedaw Eregna: Denver, Colorado, Band Printing.
- Max Van Manen. 1990. Research Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action
Sensitive Pedagogy (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press), 78-79.
- Maxamed Jaamac Ciise. 1996. Newsgroups: soc.culture.somalia. Subject:The base of
Xeer Somali. Date: 18 Dec 1996 13:00:27 -0800.Organization: Zip
News.mgisse@sympatico.ca (M. Giama Isse)
- Mohamed Haji Mukhtar. 1995. Islam in Somali History: Fact or Fiction.In The Invention
ofSomalia. Pp. 1-27. Edited by Ali Jimale Ahmed.Lawrenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press.
- Mohamoud Hussein Rayis. 1996. A Voice from Somalia. Muqdisho,Somalia, United
Somali Roots. 18 p.
- Moreau, A. Scott, Corwin, Gary R., and McGee, Gary B. 2004. Introducing World
Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Survey. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
- National Census (2007)
(http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=274&format=r
aw&Itemid=521 : accessed April 2020 )
- Nida, Eugene, Customs and Cultures: Anthropology for Christian Missions. Pasadena,
CA: William Carey Library, 1954, 1975.
- Okoli, c., & Pawlowski, S. D. 2004. The Delphi method as a research tool: An example,
design considerations and applications. Information & Management, 42, 15-29.
- Pelto PJ. 1968. The differences between “tight” and “loose” societies. Society 5: 37–40.
 71

- Ronne, Finn Aaseb. 1997. Christianity in the Dynamics of SouthernEthiopia Societies

and Culture: Kambbaata-Hadiiyya. In Vol. Ill ofProceedings of the X!Ifh International
Conference of EthiopianStudies, Pp. 133-148 ed. by Katsuyosi Fukui, Eisei Kurimoto,
&Masayoshi Shigeta, Kyoto, Japan.
- Sergew Hable Selassie. 1972. Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to1270. Addis
Abeba: Haile Selassie I University. Pp. 225-232.
- Schlee, G. 1994. Identities on the move: Clanship and Pastoralism inNorthern Kenya.
Nairobi, Kenya: Gideon S. Were Press, 278 p.
- Taddesse Tamrat. 1972. Church and State in Ethiopia. In Oxford Studies inAfrican
Affairs. General Editors John D. Hargreaves and GeorgeSherperson. Oxford: Clarendon
Press. 327 p.
- “The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and Culture,” Lausanne Occasional
Paper 2. Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 1978
http://www.lausanne.org/all-documents/lop-2.html#1
- Trimingham, J. Spencer. 1952. Islam in Ethiopia. London: OxfordUniversity
Press.Udessa, E1fneh. 1994. The Guji Calendar. In Proceedings of the ll'hInternational
Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Pp. 61-70. Ed. ByZewde Pankhurst & Tadesse
Beyenne. Addis Abeba: Institute ofEthiopian Studies.
- Triandis HC. 1989. The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts.
Psychological Review 96: 506–20.
- Triandis HC. 1994. Culture and Social Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Tripodi, Paolo. 1999. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia: Rome and Mogadishu: From
Colonial Administration to Operation Restore Hope. London: Palgrave Macmillan, (66)
- Underhill, Keith. 2001. Report on trip to Rendille, 7-16 September 2001.Nairobi: Trinity
Baptist Church. 3 p.
- Winter, Ralph D., and Hawthorne, Stephen C., eds. 2009. Perspectives on the World
Christian Movement: A Reader. 4th ed., Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.
- Zorc, R. D. & M. M. Osman. 1993. Somali-English dictionary. Third Edition.
Dunwoody, Kensington, MD, USA. 612 p.
 72

4. Annex
Survey Questions Prepared for Evangelical Missionaries working in the
Somali region.

Category – 1 – Questions about cultural difference/distance

 Are you willing to participate in this survey?

?
1. How long have you been serving in cross-cultural ministry among the
Somali people? More than 20 years? 15-20 years? 10-15 years? 5-10
years? 3-5 years? 1-2 years? Less than 1 year?
?
? 15-20 ? 10-15 ? 5-10 ? 3-5
? 1-2 ?
2. Are you a Somali native? If not where are you from?
( ) ? ?
3. In general, how comfortable do you feel in a Somali-Muslim cultural
context? Very comfortable? Comfortable? Uncomfortable? Very
Uncomfortable? Comments?
- ?
? ? ;? ?

4. What aspects of Somali-Muslim culture do you really enjoy?

- ?
5. What aspects of Somali-Muslim culture are difficult for you?
- ?
 73

For questions 5-13, in your opinion, is your culture similar to or different from Somali culture in
the following areas:
5-13
?
6. View of Time? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different?
Comments?
? ? ? ?
?
7. Tastes in Food? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different?
Comments?
( )? ? ? ?
?
8. Verbal Communication? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different?
Comments?
? ? ? ?
?
9. Nonverbal Communication? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very
Different? Comments?
( ) ? ?
? ? ?
10. Building relationships? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different?
Comments?
? ? ? ?
?
11. Resolving Conflict? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different?
Comments?
? ? ? ?
?
12. Family Life and Relationships? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very
Different? Comments?
 74

? ? ? ?
?
13. Hospitality? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different? Comments?
? ? ? ? ?

14. Views about work? Very similar? Similar? Different? Very Different?
Comments?
? ? ? ? ?
?

Category 2 – Progress to Solution

15. How would you rate your preparation for cross-cultural ministry before
coming to Somali region? Very Adequate? Adequate? Inadequate? Very
Inadequate? Comments?
? ? ?
? ?
16. How would you rate your financial support? Very Adequate? Adequate?
Inadequate? Very Inadequate? Comments?
? ? ? ? ?

For questions 17-20, How would you rate your overall health in
17-20
17. Marriage? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very unhealthy? Comments?
? ? ? ? ?

18. Family Life (including children)? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very
unhealthy? Comments?
 75

( ) ? ? ? ?
?
19. Physical Health? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very unhealthy?
Comments?
( ) ? ? ? ? ?

20. Spiritual Life? Very healthy? Healthy? Unhealthy? Very unhealthy?

Comments?
? ? ? ? ?

21. How would you rate the care (encouragement, pastoral care, prayer
support) that you receive from your missions agency or sending church?
Very Adequate? Adequate? Inadequate? Very Inadequate? Comments?

( ) ? ? ?
? ?
22. Are there aspects of support, care, or resources that you need for your
ministry that are lacking? If so, what are they?
( )
? ?
23. How much longer do you hope/intend to stay in Somali? Wanting to leave
immediately? Less than 1 year? 2-4 years? 5-10 years? More than 10
years? Comments?
( ) ?
? ? 2-4 ? ?

24. How well are you doing in language learning? Excellent? Well? Average?
Below Average? Poor? Comments?
 76

? ? ? ?
? ?
25. What are your main areas of ministry? Evangelism? Teaching/Discipleship?
Church Planting? Spiritual Warfare? Humanitarian Aid? Translation? Media
development? Others?
? ? ?
? ? ( )? ?
? ?
26. How has spiritual warfare prayer and ministry been a part of your
ministry?
( ) ?
27. How have you experienced success in your ministry? Please comment.
( )?

28. In what areas have you experienced failure? Please comment.

?
29. What are you most excited about in your present and future ministry?
?
30. Please feel free to comment on anything else relevant to your cross-
cultural ministry experience in Somali region.