Kombolcha is an industrial town in the northeast part of Ethiopia, about 376 kilometers from the capital city. The town has a population of around 125,654 people (as of 2021). Most people in Kombolcha are Muslim (74%), while 23.4% are Ethiopian Orthodox, and only 2.32% are Protestants. In fact, there are fewer than 2,000 Evangelical believers in the whole town. We have also noticed that most of the businesses and local government positions are led by Muslims.
There are ten evangelical denominations in Kombolcha, but there are no Bible schools or theological colleges, except for one distance learning program run by a single denomination. Because of this, Bible knowledge is quite low, and most church leaders have not had much training. Only a few full-time ministers have been able to study theology somewhere else. This has made it easier for false teachings to spread, especially among the youth. Some of these teachings sound good at first but actually lead people away from true Christian beliefs, especially about Jesus Christ and living a holy life.
A few years ago, the internal war deeply affected the people of Kombolcha. Many families are still struggling with economic, physical, and emotional problems. The Evangelical Christian community has also been hurt by these events. There have been some trauma healing workshops, but they haven’t continued regularly.
To help, Biblica NEA held a two-day Equipping Biblical Leaders (EBL) training on June 26-27, 2025. We worked together with the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia (ECFE) in Kombolcha Town. Fifty church leaders, both lay and full-time, from ten local churches joined us for the training. Everyone was eager to learn and took part actively. We were happy to give each participant a free Amharic Bible and teaching materials to help them in their ministry.
Here are two testimonies from people who attended the training:
1. My name is Tesfaye Mekonnen. I am serving the Lord in Emanuel Baptist Church as an elder. The training we got on these two days is very nice and helpful in returning us to the Word. Unless a person has the correct understanding of the Word, he cannot lead his life correctly. This training was helpful in awakening us to read and study our Bibles for ourselves and equipping us to minister the Word to others. I am blessed by this training and would like to thank the teacher. May God expand your ministry.
2. My name is Belayneh Woldetsadik and I serve the Lord as a pastor in the Heavenly Call Partakers Church. The comment I would like to give about this training is that it really helped us on how we should interpret the Bible and how to prepare and preach our sermons. On top of this, having this training material in our hands will help us to conduct the same training for others. I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to get this training manual for my ministry ahead of me. I am happy and glad that you delivered your training with such printed copy. God bless you and your institution.
