More persecution followed Ethiopian Protestants for more than a decade. However, after a change of government, religious equality including the right to worship, build churches and evangelize were restored. Minor and rural issues still exist. Despite these issues, compared to the past, the 1990s have brought the most freedom of religion in Ethiopia. Most of the Evangelical churches, especially Mulu Wongel, Assemblies of God, and Kale Heywet, faced persecution and detentions by previous governments. The state sponsored persecution of Protestants by the 1980s government created what some scholars call an "invisible church" and an underground evangelism where the membership of these churches drastically increased despite this era of persecution.