Never Alone:
From Ethiopian Villager to Global Leader
In his nearly three decades with Campus Crusade for Christ International, Beleke Shanko has served as national director in Ethiopia, regional director for Southern and Eastern Africa, and most recently as vice president responsible for Global Church Movements. He also serves as a co-founder and president of GACX, a global alliance for church multiplication.
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Overview
In Never Alone, Bekele Shanko begins with his childhood in the shadow of Ethiopia’s Hambaricho Mountain, where his entire community lived in abject material poverty and deep spiritual darkness.
But God began to reveal himself vividly to Bekele’s father, and soon thereafter, the entire family experienced the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even at age 5, Bekele knew that he had been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life, and he would never be the same. Bekele’s father immediately began preaching the gospel of Jesus, boldly inviting his neighbors to reject their worship of evil spirits and follow the true God.
Bekele himself would end up wearing the same mantle ― speaking of Christ to all who would listen. His own sphere of spiritual influence, however, would expand far beyond that Ethiopian village. Just as he had seen God transform his own life, and that of his family and his community, Bekele would come to believe that God wanted to also transform his nation’s capital, all of Ethiopia, the entire African continent and the world.
Thus began Bekele Shanko’s journey to bring that vision to others ― inviting them to trust God for more than they might think possible, and to do so as partners in the vision.
Follow along as Bekele narrates his journey from an impoverished village to conversations about Christ in classrooms and boardrooms, before presidents and the most ordinary of citizens. Along the way, he weaves in lessons on leadership and the power of partnering in ministry. Indeed, he calls partnership “God’s signature on my life.”
Throughout his life, Bekele has focused on humbly working alongside fellow believers ― tapping into each other’s strengths and resources to accomplish daring spiritual goals. “We’re not competing with each other,” he says. Instead, believers can more quickly reach God’s kingdom goals when they combine forces.
Bekele started with citywide strategies, inviting others to trust God for more than they could personally imagine. From there, he easily envisioned a countrywide goal, even as others questioned if this could be possible.
Today, Bekele’s example spurs Christians the world over to consider creative ways to usher more and more people into God’s presence and his kingdom. If there are 5 billion people who do not yet know Christ, why not strategize ways to bring the gospel to them? “If we had a church, a faith community or a group of disciples ― actively witnessing for Jesus in word and deed ― in every rural village, suburban neighborhood, urban high-rise, digital space, and in and through every relational network,” he writes, “then we could say the gospel had gone to every tribe, tongue, people and nation.”
In Never Alone, readers will be challenged to join Bekele in believing God for more than they might have thought possible, yes. But they will also be offered practical principles to follow, thought-provoking questions to ponder and proven strategies to implement.
“Without partnership,” Bekele says, “life itself is impossible.” But with partnership ― partnership with God, his Holy Spirit and each other ― the spiritually impossible is right at hand.
About the author
Bekele Shanko, Vice President for Cru, Global Church Movements
Bekele Shanko joined full-time missionary work with Campus Crusade for Christ International in Ethiopia in 1993. Since then, he has held diverse leadership roles for the organization, including National Director for Ethiopia for five years, Area Director for Southern and Eastern Africa for 11 years, and Global Vice President since 2010.
Bekele also serves as President of the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX), a global network of church-planting organizations, which he helped to launch in 2011; President of the Global Academy for Transformational Leadership (GATL), which he founded in 2008; and leader of the task force “Body of Christ in Every Place,” as part of the Finishing the Task movement.
Bekele was involved in designing and leading major national and international evangelistic projects, such as Operation Philip in Ethiopia, Operation Sunrise Africa in Southern and Eastern Africa, and Global Church Movements, which seeks to plant a church for every 1,000 people worldwide through training and church multiplication.
Before joining Campus Crusade for Christ, Bekele worked for the Ethiopian government as a head of information management for the National HIV/AIDS Control Program for five years. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Statistics and Mathematics from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, an M.A. in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University, a doctorate in Global Transformational Leadership from Bakke Graduate University, and certificates in Executive Leadership and Executive Negotiation from Harvard Business School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively.
