Life and ministry
Haile Limore [ሃይሌ ሊሞሬ; Hadiyyisa: Hayle Limmoore] was born in Ajaraana in the Duna district of Hadiyya Zone in 1951. Haile became an orphan at an early age and initially grew up with an uncle. He was later taken in by the family’s Ethiopian Orthodox priest. Haile completed his first years of school and the Orthodox catechumenate in Gimbichcho, where he also served as a deacon. He then returned to Ajaraana and completed his secondary education at the Catholic school in Waagabata.
Haile moved to the city of Hosanna for the next stage of his education, attending high and preparatory school. There he joined the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). In 1974, he became the leader of the youth work in the EECMY Sooro and Xambaaro Parish. He then attended the Synod’s Bible school in Hosanna and subsequently became Head of the Synod’s Youth Ministry. (The synod was founded in 1969 as the Kambata Synod and renamed the South Central Synod in 1977/78.)
In 1977, Haile Limore tried to contain the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia (ACE) that was emerging in the southern part of the Hadiyya Zone, among others through Fiqre Fuso. However, some miraculous events during his stay there (such as exorcism, speaking in tongues and an angelic apparition) led Haile to join the new movement. In February 1978, he was baptised “in the name of Jesus [only]”.
Soon afterwards, a congregation of the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia was established in his home village of Ajaraana. Until 1990, Haile was a pastor in Ajaraana but also undertook many missionary outreaches in the surrounding area. Haile wrote hundreds of gospel songs in Amharic and Hadiyya during this time.
- Hailu Limore was not the first to write and sing Apostolic gospel songs in Hadiyya. Addise Tumdedo, the first full-time evangelist of the ACE who (re) baptised Hailu, had already written lyrics in this language. From the very beginning, solo songs played a crucial role in the presentations of Apostolic preachers. Teklemariam Gezahegn already sang Amharic gospel songs and played the accordion at his first appearance in the Hadiyya area as an Oneness Pentecostal (in Weera, Baadawwachcho, in 1970).
Haile Limore moved to Hosanna in 1990, where he became pastor of the main congregation and regional director of ACE. In 1998, he received a call to the Bible school of the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia in Hawassa. Before his departure, he visited many congregations in his region. Haile Limore fell ill and died in Hosanna in 1998.
Manuscript
Haile Limore has left a handwritten notebook.
» Read manuscript
Songs in hymn book
Waa’ina Otossakkam Hawaaraaxxi Mazmulluwwa (2016)
No. 596‒631
Picture
Further reading
Ayele Ashebo and Tariku Gogamo. “የቄስ ኃይሌ ሊሞሬ አጭር የሕይወት ታሪክ” [Short Biography of Rev. Haile Limore]. Unpublished write-up, Hosanna, 2013.
Getahun Lambebo. “The History of Revival in Kambata and Hadiya Areas”. Term paper at Clyde Haney Memorial Bible College. Addis Ababa, 2003.
–––, with the assistance of Deneke Madebo. “የከምባታና ሃድያ ሐዋርያዊት ቤተክርስቲያን 40ኛ ዓመት የምስረታ ክብረ በዓል ምክንያት በማድረግ የተዘጋጀ አጭር ታሪክ” [The Foundation and Growth of the Apostolic Church in Kambaata and Hadiyya: Prepared for the 40th Anniversary of the Apostolic Church in Kambaata and Hadiyya]. Unpublished presentation, Hosanna, 2013.
Cross-reference
» Oneness Pentecostals in Ethiopia (Introduction)