{"id":5168,"date":"2025-03-06T08:07:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T08:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/bold-witness-murdered-by-militants\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T08:07:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T08:07:05","slug":"bold-witness-murdered-by-militants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/bold-witness-murdered-by-militants\/","title":{"rendered":"Bold Witness Murdered by Militants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kitessa was a dedicated church leader murdered by armed militants, leaving behind his wife, Melke, and five children. Because of his passionate evangelism, Kitessa was warned he would be killed if he did not stop preaching the gospel. Still, he remained committed to sharing the gospel and leading a church in his community. On Aug. 25, 2024, Kitessa was returning home after preaching a Sunday service when armed militants opened fire on him. Kitessa’s wife, Melke, was within earshot of the gunfire and quickly tried to reach her husband by phone. When he didn’t answer, she ran toward the sound of the gunshots, finding her husband alive and lying on the roadside. He died before they were able to get medical assistance. Melke is now responsible for raising their five children on her own. The global body of Christ has helped provide for the family’s needs, and Melke requests prayer that her children will remain firm in their faith.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to find out about Christian persecution in Ethiopia and learn how to pray.<\/p>\n

Post a prayer for Melke and family on iCommitToPray.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kitessa was a dedicated church leader murdered by armed militants, leaving behind his wife, Melke, and five children. Because of his passionate evangelism, Kitessa was warned he would be killed if he did not stop preaching the gospel. Still, he remained committed to sharing the gospel and leading a church in his community. On Aug. 25, 2024, Kitessa was returning home after preaching a Sunday service when armed militants opened fire on him. Kitessa’s wife, Melke, was within earshot of the gunfire and quickly tried to reach her husband by phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-5168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-i-commit-to-pray","tag-ethiopia","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nBold Witness Murdered by Militants - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/bold-witness-murdered-by-militants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bold Witness Murdered by Militants - Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kitessa was a dedicated church leader murdered by armed militants, leaving behind his wife, Melke, and five children. 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