The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the largest original and oldest Christian churches in Africa; only surpassed in age by the Church of the East, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Coptic Church of Egypt.

For centuries, Judaism coexisted with paganism until the institutionalization of Christianity in 330 CE. Christianity first reached Ethiopia through the Kingdom of Aksum - a mighty state that succeeded the early D'mt Kingdom - through two boys, Frumentius and Aedesius.

Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia in the 4th century, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (called Tewahdo in Ethiopia) is one of the oldest organized Christian bodies in the world.

ECFE's membership has now increased to 22 denominations with 29,805 local churches and 13 million believers while 29 para-church organizations within Ethiopia and 15 Ethiopian evangelical churches in Diaspora are represented as associate members.