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Fall 2009 | Volume 68, No. 1
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Students witness church growth in Zambia
by Rebecca Carter
After attending class in Zambia this July, seminary church planting students were encouraged by the growth of Chifuema Baptist Church, a village congregation started by a mission team last year.
A trip last year planted two churches in the “urban fringe,” a part of rural Zambia that is accessible by a few hours’ rocky, four-wheeled drive from the cities, said Art Savage, associate director of the World Missions Center at Southwestern.
This year’s class re-visited Chifuema through use of GPS coordinates. “When we drove up on the church,” said Savage, “we saw … what our students did last year has really amounted to this church lasting.” A new building for the church, made out of sticks and elephant grass, represented one of several signs of the people’s commitment.
They wanted others “to come to their Baptist church because they believed that this was the real deal,” Savage said. “So they’re out evangelizing, going out and sharing and encouraging people to come, and doing stuff with kids, and that’s what we want to see happen.”
Savage said the church was really encouraged by their visit. “It really impressed these folks that they saw the same faces,” he said. “And we wanted to see them, [to say] ‘we rejoice with you in this new building that you built’ and to see their passion for worship, their passion for evangelism.”
The pastor of Chifuema was previously a local translator for the team who had been mentored, trained, and then picked by his church to serve in this role.
The team spent Sunday in the bush with the church, attending service in the new building. During that service, nine more villagers made professions of faith.
A follow-up trip is planned for this December to another part of Zambia and will be open to all Southwestern students, with course credit available.
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