Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church

The Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church was founded in 1927 in southern Ethiopia by the Evangelical organization missionary SIM and Dr. Thomas Alexander Lambie. [1]

The first missionaries had initially planned a trip into the western part of Ethiopia, but after prayer felt they were being led to the South Central area.[2] The early missionary work was concentrated among the Welayta, Kambaata, and Sidama peoples, which are the three most densely populated awrajas (regions) in Ethiopia. This area was, as fertile spiritually as it is geographically. At Dembi Dollo Lambie worked with an Ethiopian evangelist named Gidada Solon.[3]

The few missionaries that entered the country all had to exit the country during the country's invasion by the Italians. They left a handful of believers with the translation of portions of Scriptures and the Gospel of Mark. What the missionaries found when they returned after the five-year occupation of the country was astounding. The handful of believers was multiplied by thousands, and the fledgling congregation was very strong. The price of planting this church in Ethiopia was at a very great cost, it even cost of the lives of three of the earliest missionaries. Nearly 100 missionaries toiled hard for about ten years before they left the country during the invasion. The Italians were not friendly to the Orthodox Church and treated the new Evangelical believers harshly.

Changed lives were very evident among the converts who had followed the animist way of life. The congregations that grew in the absence of the church planting missionaries wasn’t lacking anything. In fact, their unprecedented absence was a boon in a way as it gave birth to a church with an indigenous local texture. The devotion of the believers was pure and their worship biblical as well as culture-sensitive. Returning missionaries, aside from church planting in unreached areas, provided needed biblical and theological teachings to the growing church. It was this unwavering commitment to the teaching of the Word of God, that kept KHC healthy and strong.

Since 1974, the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church Development Commission, a church-related humanitarian aid organization, has had an important influence in supporting schools in the south and west of the country (teacher salaries, books, tables and chairs). [4]

In 2013, it had 7,774 churches and 6,7 million members. [5]

In 2020, the denomination had 9 million members, 10,000 churches, 9 theological schools, 145 Bible Schools. [6]

The denomination has a charismatic confession of faith. [7]

• Christianity in Ethiopia

• Kale Heywet Church website
• Kale Heywet Church website North America