STAGE # 1: The Peiod of Mission Influence (1927 – 1938)

As mentioned above, the SIM missionaries were the prominent architects for the new evangelical Christian teachings in southern Ethiopia. As Fargher  (1996, 1997) points out in his books the first expatriate missionaries provide the converts with a host of new concepts: instant conversion, ethical idealism, family restructuring, nonprofessional leadership in the church, and a new authority structure, i.e. the Bible rather than tradition. For this reason, it seems that the first SIM missionaries taught the first converts that, “everything which was not of the new Christian faith, as they understood it, was of Satan. The missionaries preached Christ as the one who could deliver people from this bondage which was usually fear,” (Fargher, 1996, P. 128). During conversion to the “new Christian religion,” believers took the New Testament truth as guide and authority. As Davis (1961) puts it, “they displayed a great capacity for simple, childlike faith, and they have continuously showed an unusual readiness to obey whatever they found in the word of God,” (P. 244).  Following conversion, the new believers immediately alienated themselves from societal norms and some communal life activities.  One of the first things potential members of the new churches’ movement were taught in pre-baptismal classes was the absolute necessity of living “separated” lives.” 

Dr. Lambie (1942) himself writes clearly that the first SIM missionaries were not ready to “compromise” with Spirit-revealed truth, whether it was “another religion,” in fact other than “the new Christian religion,” cultural or traditional issues: “for those won from the tree worship, the devil worship, the spirit worship, and the nature worship, the animistic religions of Abyssinia, the issue is equally clear. We must show the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus. We must speak the truth in love. There must be no compromise with Spirit revealed truth.” (P.169).   Raymond Davis (1966) seems in agreement with Lambie when he writes about this very issue of “compromise.” For Davis, “this radical break with the old way of life, coming at the beginning of the church, effectively set the pattern to follow. It did not come at the white man’s instigation, but arose naturally from the confrontation of Christianity and culture” (p. 77).  For  Albert Brant (1992) what the missionaries did at this very stage was some how blameless. He reasoned out his view point this way: “why does the missionary bother with such matters? Because in their new-founded faith our people, [the KHC believers], looked to us, [the SIM missionaries], for guidance. The devil had led them far from God. They were like children who needed direction, and they recognized it. Our only desire was that in all things they might please the Lord (p. 196). Thus, for Vincent Donovan (Taber, 1978) in this very initial period, the missionaries  should have stayed in existence only as a counseling, guiding factor, not as an authoritative, controlling, supplying source, (p. 105). For Fargher (1997) and Howard Brant (1984), in addition to the primary change of religious viewpoint, “the New Church’s’ Movement”  also brought some other major effects in the life of the new converts: cultural, socio-political and economical. As Brant (1984) puts it clearly  not only politically was the new church forced to be reckoned with, but there were economic factors as well.

SIM missionaries brought schools and new ideas of development. Believers’  children went to school, and many of those who were not believers when they started schools, converted en route.  The result was that, besides their conversion to evangelical Christianity,  in some areas, the believers were the most educated and economically advanced citizens of their areas. In fact it was undeniable that lack of communication and shortage of Scripture in the vernacular languages were some of the huge challenges for the pioneer expatriates. For this reason many of the SIM missionaries went through periods of discouragement; they had come to Ethiopia to preach but could not do so until they had learned the vernacular. In regard to the converts age group, although preaching was always directed to individuals, the first fruits of the Gospel in southern Ethiopia were predominantly healthy adult males; women were converted and baptized but not in the same numbers as men. The reason seems that  no special attention was given to contact women and children ,(Fargher, 1996, pp. 132-136).

In sum, the SIM pioneers in this specific stage were known more of by their ethical preaching: “their immediate impacts of the preaching was ethical rather than social, but the former quickly affected the latter (Fargher, 1996, p. 132). Thus, alienation from the society, lack of fundamental biblical knowledge and counseling were some of the major results of this stage.

As Davis (1966) writes, focusing on this particular stage,  “families were divided, husbands from wives, children form parents. Participation in the new movement required the costly step of coming out of the old life into the new” (p. 243).

STAGE # 2 – THE PERIOD OF THE SUFFERING INFANT CHURCH(1936-1941)

On October 3, 1935, forty years later after its defeat in Adwa, in 18963, Mussolini’s Fascist Italy under General de Bono crossed the Mereb River and invaded Ethiopia. The Italians entered Ethiopia with the pretext of civilizing the people. According to Guy Playfair (1943), “it is true the Italians had greater worldly knowledge, but also greater darkness. If brutality characterizes the brute, whether the domesticated bulldog or the lion, leopard or hyena of the jungle, then the Italians were little less than brutes and deserve all that they have suffered”(P.26).

 With the flight of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, for exile in England, Addis Ababa fell to the enemy in May 1936. By mid-1937 all of the protestant missionaries were forced to withdraw from Ethiopia. After only nine short years of work in the land and after having received 18,870 pound sterling as compensation for their expropriated, schools, hospitals some other institutions, from the Italian invaders, the last of the seventy-five SIM missionaries were expelled from the country in August 1938, (Davis, 1984; Cotterell, 1973; Fargher, 1996, 1997; SIM publication, nd; Spencer, 1984). At the time of the mission expulsion, in Walitta there were only two fellowships at infant stage possibly with 48  professed Christians. The SIM missionaries had baptized only 2 converts from the Kambata/Hadiya region and another 3 unidentified believers at the SIM  head quarter, Addis Ababa.   

For those two infant churches and for those handfuls of newly converted “seeds,” the tyrant fascist invasion, the expulsion of the SIM missionaries as well as the situations in the new Churches movement areas created very pressing external and internal challenges. The first major external challenge was related to the invasion itself that the southern part of the country was affected seriously by the war. The Fascist armies made Walaitta, one of their central bases for the southern regions (Balisky, 1997, P. 180). Then, according to Cotterell (1973), by mid-1939, after three years of occupation, the Italian authorities parade and displayed their military might in Soddo town, the capital of Walaitta. When the parade was over, the foreign invaders made a proclamation: “The one who gatheres and preaches [the Gospel]to the people in the [domains] kingdom of Italy, beware,” (Balisky, P. 180, as quoted from Eshetu). 

The second challenge was focused on language use. As mentioned earlier, before the SIM missionaries evacuated from Walaitta, they had succeeded in translating, printing and distributing the Gospel of Mark and a few other selected portions of scripture in a small number of copies in Walitta language. For the most part, the Walaittas had to use the Bible in Amharic, a very different Semitic  language for the Omotic language speaking Walaittas. But after the missionary withdrawal from the country, “the Italian invaders replaced the Ethiopic script [Amharic] with the Roman script” (Cotterell, 1973, P. 101). Due to these reasons, the believers were forced to become, “Christians but without having the Bible.”

The third challenge arose from the Roman Catholic Church. Since the Roman Catholic Church had served as advance agents for the Fascist invaders, the church labeled all the evangelical believers as a threat for the advancement of the invasion. The Roman Catholic Church became one of the persecutor  for those new and  infant churches (Cotterell, 1973; Balisky, 1997; Wondiye, 1998)

Davis (1966) writes that the Italian military and political authorities bitterly fought to suppress the new church movement, which they looked upon as a potential threat because of its size and external allegiance. The Roman Catholic Church, backed by the Italian occupational government, tried hard to draw the evangelized church into the orbit of its influence. When this failed persecution increased. Guy Playfair (1943) writes about the extent of the persecution as follow:

 When the Italian realized that the Church was making progress in spite of persecution they arrested fifty church leaders, who were taken to prison under police escort, where each of them was given up to one hundred lashes and one poor man, who lives to tell the story, received four hundred. None of these men could lie on their backs for months. They were left bleeding and torn with their flesh like raw meat. Three of them died while the others languished in prison. The authorities gave them no food. This had to be supplied by friends who came some from far away, carrying daily bread to their imprisoned companions (p. 26).

Although the persecution seemed fierce the converts were extremely bold enough to preach the Good News to their people. Lambie (1942) testifies such an amazing experience this way, “one of the Walaitta evangelists [Wandaro] received two hundred lashes from the Italians for preaching the Gospel, but he continued to preach”(p. 171).  

 The fourth challenge was internal which occurred by the SIM itself. Although there was ample time to recruit the future indigenous leaders before the Italian invasion took place, the SIM missionaries only transferred the leadership responsibility at the last minute, after the war had already started. In April 1937, at the eve of their final departure, the missionaries appointed  Ato Biru Dubale as the leader of the Walaitta believers, (Balisky, 1997, P. 175). In addition to such a big leadership responsibility, the missionaries assigned Ato Biru the responsibility of guarding the SIM Otona [Walaitta] compound.

On August 29, 1937, Ato Shigute and Ato4 Sebro, who escorted the pioneer SIM missionaries, as they were leaving Lambuda, in Hossana, to Addis, were ordained by the missionaries as elders of the Kambata church at the last minutes (Cotterell, 1973 ; Grenstedt, 1995).    Many indigenous writers, (Wondiye, 1998; Getachew, 2000; Berehanu, 1983), refer to this last minute leadership transfer process as an evidence of lack of trust and confidence of the indigenous leadership style and personal qualities of the people. Lambie (1942) agrees with the indigenous writers when he writes on this point that, ”one of the last acts performed by our missionaries before they were forced to leave was to instruct some of the more advanced believers in the principles of church organization and in the ordaining of elders” (p. 170).  Although little had been done by the SIM expatriates, after they left the country, an indigenous pattern of worship with antiphonal singing, services led by active coordinaters, baptisms coinciding with early communion services and monthly meetings extending through the night at different places” (Grenstedt).

The persecution and the hardship had overwhelmed the newly growing infant Churches and the believers were fueled by little more than the basic truths of the Gospel, their changed lives and joyful witness were echoing from horizons to horizons. The movement blew like a fresh wind to most parts. Opposition was widespread and often fierce. As mentioned earlier, there were many imprisonments and beatings. The prominent leaders like Wandaro ‘rewarded’ forty stripes with the cruel hippo-hide whip-a wide stripe of inch-thick hippo hide cut into strands with sharp metal pieces at the end of each strand (Davis, 1966, p. 125). This came not from traditional religionists, but from those with vested interests in the Roman Chatolic church, sympathizers with the invaders and the Italian “conquerors.” At times, church gatherings were held under cover of darkness or in remote locations (Davis, 1984 and 1966).

Although the challenges of the new believers were full of different difficulties in this stage, as Davis (1984) quoted from Jeldu’s testimony,  “as thirsty cattle turn to the water, so the people began to turn to God. People everywhere began to leave their Satan worship and pagan practices. As a bomb bursts and spreads its fire, so the Word of God burst and began to spread throughout the [region.],” (p. 9).

 Laurie Davison, the first returnee with the British army, reported to the SIM International office such an incredible story:

It is our earnest hope that no member of our mission will do or say anything to destroy the autonomous structure of this amazing Walaitta church. The membership today stands at somewhere around fifteen thousand baptized believers, and its remarkable history comes a grand second to that record in the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Cotterell, 1973, p. 103).

Malcolm Forsberg, one of the pioneer SIM missionaries in Ethiopia (1966) confirms the report as follows:

Following the Italian occupation the church had grown, spreading in every direction from the original centers in Walaitta and kembata. During the occupation the church had worked out its own form of government and discipline. The people recognized its elders and officers. Discipline was administered without partiality. The number of members was approaching the 160,000 mark. The churches in the various tribes had joined hands in an organization, which they called The Fellowship of Ethiopian Evangelical Churches5. (p.195).

Lambie (1942) emphasizes such a magnificent reality when he writes:

When we left Abyssinia [Ethiopia] there were two churches in this area. They seemed weak and helpless, but in the five years under Italian oppression, instead of being snuffed out, as one might suppose would have happened, they have had this phenomenal growth. [The news] caused our hearts to go up in songs of praise to God for what He has wrought (P. 171).    

 As many writers recorded, when missionaries left the country due to the invasion of the Fascist Italy, to count more than a hundred believers was difficult. But after the missionaries had returned back to Wallaita alone it was difficult to find a man who was not a Christian. “The Gospel light had not been snuffed out but was blazing more strongly than ever” (Davis, 1966, p. 103). This was true not only in the geographical triangle of  Walaitta, Kambata/Hadiya and Sidamo, but also in the other areas of the southern parts of the country. The Good News had spread like wildfire. Because of the Gospel message many tribes stopped their former animosity and became one in Christ:

The Walaitta in former years hated the Kembatas. They had frequent pitched battles. Now the biggest of the seventy churches is on the border between the two countries, a place that was formerly very dangerous territory. Those who practiced the most heathenish rites are now children of the King. Those who raided each other on the slightest excuse, or no excuse, now build churches and entertain the evangelists from the other tribe (Lambie, 1942 p. 170).

In Walaitta the churches established their own structures. From Davison’s report the following extracts were taken:

The territory was divided into fifteen sections, with one Ruling Elder in each section. Then each section was divided into individual church areas, with four or more elders in each church. The elders of the church concerned settle minor matters of dispute that arose within a church. Matters a little more difficult were referred to the Ruling Elder of the district, who may call the elders of several of his churches together and settled the matter. Matters of great importance were taken by the Ruling Elder to the Monthly Meeting, were the Council of Ruling Elders regularly considers such matters, (Cotterell, 1973, p. 105). 

Playfair’s (1943) words provide a good summary for this section:

The movement is all-glorious and we are glad that no white man was there during these awful years of Italian rule. Had a white missionary been there the new converts might have looked to him instead of the Lord for help and men would have praised him and robbed God of His glory. It has been given the Lord can carry on His own work (p. 32).

Clarence Duff (1980) agrees with playfair’s observation in that, “looking back now it is very evident that God in his perfect wisdom did take out his foreign messengers for a good purpose, and returned them in his own good time to work with and alongside a church that had learned by experience to depend on God and not on man for its life (p. 384).

As Lambie (1942) writes, “the Holy Spirit is the perfect guide and is adequate for all emergencies. War and oppression furnished good soil for the Word of God, in Ethiopia” (p. 172)

STAGE # 3 – THE PERIOD OF THE YOUNG GROWING CHURCH (1942 –1973)

In June 1940, Italy’s entry into World War II on the side of Germany made Britain and Ethiopia allies against a common enemy. Emperor Haile Selassie, who had spent most of his exile in England, believed that the turning-point had come in his country’s affairs, and flew from London to confer with the British Army chiefs in Sudan, Khartoum (Willmott, 1960). “The Fascists had scarcely established themselves, when in 1941 triumphant Ethiopian patriots, aided by the British, stormed their way back to the capital city of Addis Ababa by way of the Sudan” (Brant, 1993, p. 3). On May 5, 1941, exactly five years after the Italian entry in Addis Ababa, Emperor Haile Selassie returned to his capital. As soon as the reigns of control were back in his hands the Emperor had shown his desire for reform in the Orthodox Church by introducing the Amharic language into religious life. Not only were all the EOC liturgical services then conducted in Ge’ez, but also all theological books of every kind were in Ge’ez, which is incomprehensible to the laity as well as to a majority of the clergy (O’hanlon, 1946, p. 68). The Emperor was also insistent that the study of John’s Gospel and the Book of Psalms be made part of the daily curriculum in the government schools (Cumbers, 1995, p. 17).

For Brant (1992), “missionaries had been prepared to bear the Good News to a waiting people. And Haile Sellasie had been prepared by God to facilitate the propagation of the Gospel in his land,” (p. 105).  According to Cumbers (1995), “although the Emperor might have been trying to establish Christian principles, he was thwarted by generations of prejudice on the part of the Orthodox Church” (p. 17)                Back to top

From his own frame of reference, the Emperor started the awesome work to maintain Ethiopia’s independence and to modernize the country (Grenstedt, 1995, P. 76). For his overall strategy of building the nation, the Emperor showed willingness to invite the foreign mission agents to become part of his nation building. Haile Selassie’s concern was to gain technical, medical and educational support from abroad and to benefit from the missions in his modernization process (Grenstedt, 1995, p. 77).

In February 1942, the Ministry of the Interior gave a general permission to societies, which had previously worked in Ethiopia to return, subject to four simple conditions to which nobody could object, (O’hanlon, 1946).  

Brant (1992) writes:

Haile Sellasie was different. He was solicitous of the help of foreigners, especially of missionaries. As soon as he returned to Ethiopia after exile in Europe, he called for the return of missionaries. He was the first sovereign to give them a free hand to work in the interior. He encouraged missionaries by granting permission for many stations from which to teach and to minister to the needs of his people (p. 107).

But in relation to SIM, for about five years, ever since the last SIM missionaries left the country in 1938, almost no news about the believers or the places where the mission work had commenced in Ethiopia had been available, (Duff, 1980). After the Ethiopian patriots and the British Allied Forces liberated Addis Ababa from Italian occupation in May 1941, three men, Glen Cain, Lieutenant Laurie Davison, and Allan Smith, who served in World War II with the British forces returned to Ethiopia as employees in the British army. From them the good news came out to the SIM people.                                                                                                            Back to top

According to Wallmott (1960) and Davis (1984) Lieutenant Laurie Davison, the former SIM missionary to Walaitta, in Addis Ababa sought out some young believers from Walaitta and Kambata, and listened to the wealth of experiences they had to relate. As Davison listened to the talk that flowed between the men, he noticed one recurring theme – that of multitudes in Kambata and Walaitta areas having turned to the Lord. For Davison the numbers mentioned by the people who reported such good news sounded incredible. As a result, he sent to Khartoum, Sudan, a great message, which was relayed at once by Dr. Thomas Lmbie to the General Director, Dr. Bingham, then visiting the Nigeria: “Glorious news from Ethiopia reports existence seventy functioning churches in Walaitta and Kambata areas. Result work of native evangelists. Hallelujah!” ((Wallmott, 1960, pp. 54-55). 

Dr. Thomas Lambie (1942) reported such magnificent news this way:

For nearly five years we have been in complete ignorance of what was going on in Southern Abysinia. But on January 6, 1942, there reached us news of the most amazing character. It is glorious news! News that a whole lifetime of mission work has not equaled. News that changes much that I have written. News of a movement in Abyssinia that is so far beyond our fondest hopes and prayers that we can only stand in awe and reverence. Our little faith is rebuked by the working of the mighty Spirit of God (p. 170). 

According to the assembled facts by Laurie Davison, the number of believers in Walaitta alone had increased to fifteen  thousand, and the churches to more than  fifty. Men and women, entire families, with the fire of God burning in their hearts, had spread out over most of their homeland to share the wonderful works of God, (Cotterell 1973; Davis, 1984).

Based on Davison’s detailed report, after seven solid years passed, in May 23, 1943 the Rev. G. W. Playfair, successor to Dr. R. V. Bingaham, as General Director of the SIM, with Alf Roke and Norm Couser, former SIM missionaries to Ethiopia, arrived in Addis Ababa. From a report written by Playfair, come the following extracts:                                                                                                                                                                                         Back to top

Upon entering the city it was necessary to see the British Consul and Ethiopian officials to present our passports and pay our respects. In order to be granted permission to visit our former stations it was necessary to obtain an interview with His Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie. . . During our interview, His Majesty told us that the Mission policy for the new era was under consideration and until this policy was announced he could not allow any of us to our former stations. [But with some exceptions, the Emperor granted us] to visit Soddo and Yergalem, which are in the Walaitta and Sidamo tribes (Playfair, 1943, p.17).

The reason why the Emperor refused to grant permission for the SIM band was not specifically stated in Playfair’s report. But according to John Hathaway Spencer6, one of the principal advisors of Emperor Haile Sellassie from 1936-1974, the reason of refusal for granting permission for SIM had a historical reason:

The Sudan Interior Mission was no longer permitted to operate its hospital; this diminished role was due, in part, to the activities of Dr. Lambie following the Italian occupation. The SIM society encountered the most antipathy and difficulties, because of its . . . proselytizing in violation of the new legislation (Spencer, 1984, p. 170).

    According to different writers (e.g., Cotterell, 1973; Wondiye, 1998) Of all the reasons given by Spencer, the one  about Dr. Lambie was a strong reason for the Emperor to refuse giving permission to the SIM society. Dr. Peter Cotterell the SIM writer puts it this way:

Dr. Lambie went to surrender to the Italian authority. His telegram to ‘The Times of London’ concerning the use by the Italians of mustard gas had been published in the issue of March 25, and the Italians knew his open condemnation of the aggression. His action now, in surrendering personally, was criticized as unnecessary by some of the missionaries. Lambie, of course, based his action on Romans 13:1, ‘be subject to the higher powers.’ Rome was governing and he must be subject. Not everyone shared his phlegmatic approach7 (1973, p. 87). After the Emperor had issued a No.3 decree on August 27, 1944,8 which regulated and controlled the missionaries’ activity, for some reasons, the ban was lifted and the SIM once again was granted permission to resume its work in Ethiopia in 1946.

The Imperial Decree on Missions divided the country into “open areas,” that is, non-Orthodox Christian areas where mission work was allowed in full, and “Ethiopian Church Areas” (“closed areas”), that is, areas where the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) was predominant and should be preserved. In the “open areas” the mission societies were allowed freedom to preach the faith of their respective denominations. But the language to be used for education was understood to be Amharic in all areas of the country, (Grenstedt, 1995; Spencer, 1984).                                                                                                                                     Back to top

Although the Decree in general had little effect on SIM ministries in Southern parts of the country, the rules of language hindered them a lot from communicating the Gospel in local languages and prevented translations of the Bible into the vernaculars. According to Grenstedt (1995), “the consequence was that the SIM missionaries who arrived post Italian invasion in general were less contextualised than missionaries arriving before the Italian occupation. The new missionaries didn’t learn to communicate in local languages like their colleagues before the Imperial Decree but used languages, which needed translation (p. 85).

At this very stage, according to Grenstedt (1995), there were different opinions between the SIM central leadership and SIM missionaries in Ethiopia on how self-government in the indigenous churches should be interpreted. For instance, Mr. Beacham and Mr. Playfair, who were serving the mission society in important positions at the International SIM Office, strongly stressed “separation” from the so-called “worldly practices” like drinking, smoking, and dancing. By “drinking” they did not even differentiate between traditional “beer-drinking” [Tella?] and local common drinks like the weak “borde.” But for those who were serving in the fields, banning the believers from drinking local borde was totally irrelevant to the context (Grenstedt, 1995, p. 83-85)

Back to top

Finally, at a Field Committee meeting in May 31 – June 4, 1947 SIM, as an institution, sharpened its attitude and promulgated the following rules, aimed at changing the cultural traditions:

1.        Henceforth no Christian servants are to be employed except those who have taken a stand against drinking; dancing; tobacco; adult male circumcision and such things of the old life.

2.        Missionaries must not attend a Communion Service of a church, which has not taken a stand against these same things.

3.        When the Kambatta Bible and Teacher Training School is being conducted, one of the rules for admission will be definite separation from the worldly practices, (Grenstedt, 1995, p. 83)

Such issues, i.e., local beer drinking, male circumcision, the eating of raw meat, the case of baptizing polygamists etc. were not dealt by the missionaries properly.

The missionaries also limited the educational level of the believers to elementary classes, [some argue that it was fourth grade]. As Fargher writes, “the main purpose of this education was to [enable the believers] to [read and] teach their Bible,” (1995, p. 124). Those who disobeyed the educational level restrictions, even if for their own children, were excommunicated from the church and pushed away from the community life (Getachew, 2000).

Slowly, the relationship between the missionaries and the believers faced some problems. The missionaries criticized many believers and some dynamic leaders and evangelists, who were courageous enough to challenge the missionaries with their leadership style and some other issues. Slow by slow some senior converts were forced to change their membership to another denomination. Among those key leaders, who decided to leave the church due to such controversies, was Ato Biru Dubale, the first leader for the Wallaita congregations. Many congregations became spilited from the “mahber” (fellowship), (Getachew, 2000; Cotterell, 1973; Grenstedt, 1995; Wondiye, 1998 and 2000).

STAGE # 4 – THE PERIOD OF AGONIES AND HALLELUJAH  (Post 1974  and the aftermath)

During this period, a big turning point took place in the Kale Heywet church’s history. In February 1974 all of the SIM related churches unanimously voiced for independence and autonomous self administration. After almost about forty years of holding the name “SIM related churches”, they agreed to change their names to “the Kale Heywet Churches”, literal  translation as “the Word of Life Churches”. The national coordinating office opened in February 1974. The first general secretary of the Church , Ato Tekle Wold Giorgis, was appointed, and the church started its ministries in a new way. During the same year the country failed under the communist administration. Suffering and persecution broke out all over the nation. Almost all of the Kale Heywet congregations were stamped out. The government confiscated most of the churches’ property. In 1976  the government appropriated 33 upper level academic schools, which had been run by the SIM mission. At the same time more than 200 elementry level academic schools, run by the Kale Heywet church, were also taken over. Some 1740 church buildings were sealed shut, some 97 Bible schools were closed (Getachew, 2000; Cumbers, 1984). Christians were killed, tortured, and  thrown in jails and prisons. Finally, for the second time the SIM missionaries left the county after handing over almost all the remaining property and the mission stations, except the head quarter,  to the government.

Although the situations  were very pressing and awful, the Kale Heywet Church did not stop its mission in doing the great commission assignment, which she received from the Lord. In fact one can refer to at the communist era as the era of “a great tribulation” for the whole evangelical churches at large and for the Kale Heywet Church in particular. Yet, it was a period in which the Kale Heywet church and the believers had demonstrated a great deal of endurance and faithfulness. Due to this reasons the church has grown in every aspect of its holistic ministries. After the fall of the Derg regime, 1991,  things have changed. Relatively speaking freedom of worship for all religious groups has been respected. Today, as the Kale Heywet Church Deputy General Secretary of the Spiritual Ministries confirms, the Ethiopian Kale Heywet church comprises 5412 congregations with about 4.5 members.

To sum up this section, this fourth stage is refer to  in the church’s history as a period of great harvest. But the question which remains unanswered would be the future relationships between the Kale Heywet  Church and SIM. For sure this question needs a serious attention from both parties.          Back to top

REFERENCE

Balisky, E. Paul (1997). Walaitta Evangelists: A Study of  Religious Innovation in Southern Ethiopia, 1973-1975. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of  Aberdeen, Scotland. 

Berhanu Deresse (1983). The History of Kale Heywet Church: Out Reach, Planting and Growth. Unpublished master’s  thesis, Nairobi International School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya.

Brant, Albert E. (1992). In the Wake of Martyrs: A Modern  Sage in Ancient Ethiopia. Abbotsford, Canada: University Printers.

Brant, Howard (1984). Church and Mission Under Fire in Ethiopia 1974-1977. Unpublished manuscript,

Cotterell, Peter F. (1973). Born at Midnight. Chicago, IL: Moody Press.

Cumbers, John (1995). Count it All Joy: Testimonies from a Persecuted Church. Kearney, NE: Morris publishing.

Davis, Raymond J. (1966). Fire on the mountains: The story of a miracle- the church in Ethiopia. Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan Publishing House.

______________.(1984). The Winds of God. Charlotte, NC: SIM International Publication.

Duff, Clarence W.(1980). Cords of Love: A pioneer mission to Ethiopia. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.

Fargher, Brian L. (1996). The Origins of the New Churches Movement in Southern Ethiopia 1927-1944. New York: 1996.

______________. (1997). Ethiopian Revivalist:  Autobiography of Evangelist Mehari Choramo. Canada:   Enterprise Publications. 

Getachew Bellete (2000). “ Elohena Haleluya” (Agonies and  Hallelujah: The Story of the Kale Heywet Church in  Ethiopia, Vol III). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Artistic Printing Enterprise.

Grenstedt, Staffan (1995). Ambaricho and Shenkolla: From Local independent Church to the Evangelical Mainstream  in Ethiopia – The origin of Mekane Yesus Church in Kembata Hadiya. Uppsala, Sweden: The Swedish Institute of Missionary Research.

Lambie, Thomas A. (1942). Doctor Carries On. London: Fleming H. Revell Company.

________________ (1943).  Boot and Saddle in Africa. London: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Playfair, Guy W. (1943). Trials and Triumphs. Toronto, Canada: Livingstone Press Limited.

Plueddemann, Jim (2002). Agenda for a gracious revolution: Repositioning missions in the 21st Century. Retrieved from http:/sim.org/Directors_Page_4.asp

SIM International. Position Paper (1978). Unpublished   Manuscript

Willmott, Helen M. (1960). The Doors Were Opened: The remarkable advance of the Gospel in Ethiopia. London, England: Hazell Watson and Viney LTD.

 Wondiye Ali (1998). “Bemekera wist Yabebech Betekristian” (Church Out of Tribulation: The Story of the Kale Heywet Church in Ethiopia, Vol. I). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Commercial printing Enterprise.

___________ (2000). “Yekule Lelit Wegegta” (Awakening at Midnight: The Story of the Kale Heywet Church in  Ethiopia, Vol. II). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Artistic Printing Enterprise.

   Home   | News | Magazine| Activities| History | Contact Us|