Dr. Betta Mengistu

Founder and Overseer ·

BEZA International Ministries

Address P.O. Box 2475-1250 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Telephone +251-11-663-9213

E-mail betta@bezainternational.org

Web Beza church.org

Ministry Profile

Located in the heart of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, BEZA is a vibrant international Church, where people from over 40 different nations come together to weekly for worship services. BEZA was started in 2006 to serve the vision: 'Redeeming nations in righteousness.' Our mission statement is, "Empowering people with the Word of God to transform society." With a variety of ministry expressions throughout the country, Beza Church also hosts the annual Africa Arise conference (africarise.org) that draws leaders from across the continent to address the challenges of our continent, as the church, from within the continent.

Dr. Betta and Sophia Mengistu are the founders and overseers of Beza International Ministries. It was at the age of 17 that Betta experienced the miraculous touch of God after an encounter with the Scriptures. Diagnosed with leukemia, and given three months to live, Betta came across the words of Jesus in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." It was his first encounter with the Scriptures, yet somehow he was able to reason that if Jesus came to give him life, he would not die. That was in 1963.

Since that time, Dr. Betta has served the body of Christ in various capacities. He is one of the pioneers in the Pentecostal movement in Ethiopia, and he has shouldered with many responsibilities in the body of Christ over the years. Most notably Betta served as the Africa director for International Bible Society for 25 years.

Betta has been married to Sophia for 52 years, and they have three sons and eight grandchildren.