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The Northern Baptist Association of Zambia
Yet the Lamba people are far from primitive. The last president of Zambia, His Excellency, Levi Mwanawasa, was a Lamba. Other members of the tribe hold senior positions in the government and diplomatic service. The current Senior Chief of the tribe is a Baptist Pastor. Several of his auxiliary chiefs are members of Baptist churches. Missionary work was commenced among the Lamba people in 1905 by missionaries from the South African Baptist Missionary Society. Australian Baptists assumed responsibility for the work in 1969. Since 1995 the NBAZ has been independent of regular missionary involvement although folks from a number of countries visit regularly. Today there are almost 600 churches in the Association. The ministry is under the oversight of Rev Lydon Pensulo, the Director of Ministries of the NBAZ. He is assisted by 5 regional directors and other senior staff. None of these leaders receives a regular stipend from the Association. Glenda and I served as missionaries among the Lambas from 1977 -1980 involved in the Bible School, village evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry. Our current ministry among the churches of the Northern Baptist Association of Zambia (NBAZ) is built on relationships established in those years. Our Recent Ministry in ZambiaGlenda and I initially returned to Zambia in 2001. The latest phase of our ministry among the Lamba people commenced in 2007 and we have been returning annually since. God has been pleased to bless our relationship with the leaders and churches of the Northern Baptist Association and to touch the ministry there with some wonderful miracles of healing and deliverance. The intensity of these signs and wonders increased with each visit. An extremely close relationship has developed between ourselves and the past and present leaders of the NBAZ. We are blessed to have their confidence and trust. In 2010 the Northern Baptist Association of Zambia requested us to assist them with training their village based leaders. Whilst there is a Bible College at Fiwale Hill, few men and women have the educational standard or the facility with English which would allow them to enter the Bible College. Many of the pastors and leaders of the village churches are untrained. At their request we have established the School of Leadership Development, a strategy very similar to our School of Advanced Leadership Training (SALT School) in Uganda. This strategy involves students attending eight 5 day intensives over two and an half years. Between the intensives students completing a range of practical ministry and spiritual development assignments. At the close of the course they graduate with a Certificate in Christian Leadership. |
The
Lamba people are a tribal group of approximately 200,000 who live mainly in the
rural area of the Copperbelt province of northern Zambia. (The area is circled
on the map.) They are predominantly subsistence farmers whose lifestyle has
changed little in recent decades. Their homes are simple village dwellings often
made of mud or roughly burned bricks and roofed with thatch or second hand
corrugated iron. Most do not have electricity, piped water or centralized
sanitation. The grow maize and vegetables which they sell to provide the needs
of their families.