ACKNOWLEDGMENT

“Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9).

I praise our Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who bestowed on me the capacity to contribute to this book in Use of Talents, while I am passing through many challenges.

I exceptionally thank Prof. Jostein Ådna ; he had exerted great effort in the process of realizing this book. I am truly thankful to Mr. Sigurd Haus, the project Leader of “Use Your Talents innovation Project” and the Norwegian Mission Society leaders. They really encouraged and supported me to continue working on this topic until I came this far. For this book preparation, I have received great assistance from Ass. Prof. Bjørn Hallstein, and I exceedingly thank him.

Finally, I appreciate and thank my wife, Kasech Kesese, for her lovely support in my entire ministry in God’s kingdom.

May this book be a blessing and means of “Use of Talents” in today’s church for the growth of the kingdom of God.

Rev. Esayas Emene

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS IN MATTHEW 25:14–30

BY ESAYAS EMENE ENICHA (REV.)

List of Abbreviations

'

EECMY Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus

NT The New Testament

OT The Old Testament

SWS South West Synod

DASSC Development and Social Services Commission

ED Economy Development

DMT Department of Mission and Theology

UYT Use Your Talents

General Introduction

In the global south, especially in Africa, congregations have the potential to transform the spiritual, economic, and social situations of communities. For many years, the focus on development work was separate from the congregations, and “featured an institutional and sometimes pragmatic focus, including interest in the workings of increased donor partnerships with faith-based organizations (FBOs).”4 Less attention is given to the role of beliefs and norms.5 Consequently, the congregation’s ministry is limited to evangelism, teaching and discipleship.6 In addition, the “dependency syndrome” which grew out of long reliance on foreign funds affected the view of the congregations’ potential in terms of transforming their community.7 It is the same in the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY).

“Use Your Talents (UYT) is an approach…and a movement. It influences people’s mindsets, to break out of a cycle of negativism and dependence of outside help, to being actively involved in change processes to improve living conditions.” 8 The UYT movement is initiated by the Malagasy Lutheran Church to express that development should start from the grass-roots, where people get together and seek to solve their own problems. Based on the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30, the vision of ‘Use Your Talents’ is: To stimulate and support everyone in the church to use his or her talents to build his/her respective community.

Though the UYT approach is based on the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:1430, there seems to be no description of an exegetical presentation of the text which applies it contextually. Therefore, this book presents the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 Exegesis and its application to the Use Your Talents project in the South West Synod (SWS) of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The main focus of the book is to find out how the Parable of the Talents is appropriately understood

4 Barbara Bompani, Religion and development: Tracing the trajectories of an evolving sub-discipline, Progress in Development Studies, (2019), 173.

5 Ben-Willie Kwaku Golo, Ernestina Novieto, Religion and Sustainable Development in Africa: Neo-Pentecostal Economies in Perspective, Religion & Development 1(1), 2021, 74.

6 Musa Danladi, The Local Church as Primary Development Agent (2012), 1.

7 Øyvind M. Eide, Revolution & Religion in Ethiopia: The growth and persecution of the Mekane Yesus Church 1974-1985 (Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University Press, 2000), 68.

8 Use Your Talents Evaluation Report, May 2020, page 1.