Many people have paid their taxes throughout history with a promise from the state that the tax revenue would be used to better the standard of living. As many of us know today, our taxes are used to build infrastructure, provide health care, security etc… It may be puzzling some what the legacy of Gudina Tumsa has to do with paying taxes, and in order to understand this we must refer to Gudina’s last will and testament “The Responsibility of a Chiristian in a Given Society.” In that document Gudina writes that Christians and Churches had a greater responsibility to a nation than just paying their taxes, “A Christian does not stop with paying what is due to the State, such as various; he does more than that by being honest and by fulfilling the demands of the State for the sake of conscience.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.7). Throughout his writings, his holistic understanding influenced him to push the Church and Christians to get involved in development work, collaborating with the government, and to build a better society morally, physically and spiritually.
Gudina Tumsa understood that the Church and a Chiristian had a responsibility to the nation that God placed it in. As can be seen in this quote, “We have not been given a choice as to where we should be born; we believe that God has placed us where we are to do His will” (Pg.2 Witness and Discipleship). Gudina applied his belief of a Chrsitans responsibility in his private life and Church ministry. As leader of the EECMY Gudina during his time there led the Church to work tirelessly to improve the livelihood of the people in Ethiopia. Gudina writes about the efforts of The EECMY in this way, “Through its health, educational and other services, the ECMY has contributed meaningfully to the development of Ethiopia.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.82). Gudina recognized that along with the Churches prime responsibility of spreading the gospel, she also had equal responsibility to better the lives of the people she ministered to, showing his holistic understanding and how it applied in the sense of complete Church ministry. During the Imperial government the EECMY ministered to the needs of people through running institutions. But Gudina in response to the radical change that occurred with the establishment of the socialist government saw the institutional approach of the Church running such facilities as a hindrance, because the public misunderstood it as the Church running a business, and the new socialsit government could have interpreted this as the Church competing with it. This misinterpretation led Gudina To present a new and better way for the Church to work in nation building.
Gudina’s new approach can be found in the Memorandum he wrote to EECMY President Emmanuel Abraham, and it is called the functional approach. According to Gudina, the functional approach meant the church would work with the government by handing over the institutions established by the EECMY. “The government has indicated its intention to take care of all the educational, medical and development needs of the people. THe Church welcomes this move of the Government and plans to hand over these institutions.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.82). Gudina understood that the Church was not like other institutions, in regards to its main purpose was not profit. Thus he deemed the functional approach to be the best way for the Church to work with a willing government to improve people’s lives. But to him the functional approach also menat helping the people help themselves. This is seen when he writes in the Memorandum, “At present the Ethiopian people are in active process of being organized, taking their destiny into their own hands. Marching forward towards handling their own affairs and deciding for themselves.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.60). The short story of feeding a Man a fish best describes Gudina’s approach to nation building. He did not agree with giving them a fish and feeding them for a day, nor did Gudina agree with teaching them how to fish and feed them for a lifetime. Gudina concluded that the best way for the Church to build a nation was to teach the people how to own the lake and feed themselves for generations