The Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church was founded in 1927 in southern Ethiopia by the evangelical missionary organization Sudan Interior Mission and Dr. Thomas Alexander Lambie.
[1] The first missionaries had initially planned a trip into the western part of Ethiopia, but after prayer felt that they were being led to the South Central area.
[2] The early missionary work was concentrated among the Wolaita, Kambaata, Hadiya and Sidama peoples, which are the three most densely populated awrajas (regions) in Ethiopia.
[citation needed] What the missionaries returned after the five-year occupation of the country, the handful of believers had become thousands, and the fledgling congregation was very strong.
[citation needed] Since 1974, the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church Development Commission, a church-related humanitarian aid organization, has had an supported schools in the south and west of the country by providing teacher salaries, books, tables and chairs.