wfn.org | Zambia: Adventist Church Centenary

[Christian B. Schäffler (APD Schweiz)]

May 15, 2005

Adventist Press Service (APD)

Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief APD

Fax +41-61-261 61 18

APD@stanet.ch

http://www.stanet.ch/APD

CH-4003 Basel, Schweiz

 

 

Zambia: Adventist Church Centenary Draws Country's 

President, Predecessor

 

Rusangu, Monze/Zambia.	 Returning to the mission station where 

Seventh-day Adventist Church work first began in Zambia a century 

ago, Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa joined church officials and 

members in noting the 100th anniversary on May 6. The following day, 

former President Kenneth Kaunda, who led the nation for 27 years, 

visited the celebrations. 

 

"I want ... to commend the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other 

churches for the tireless efforts to fight evil in our society 

through the preaching of the word of God, Mwanawasa told the 

audience at the Rusangu Mission in Monze, near the Zambian 

Adventist University, which grew out of the primary school 

started by early missionaries. 

 

The message of the Adventist Church first entered Zambia through 

American missionary, W. H. Anderson, in 1905. Anderson and a few 

helpers trekked from Southern Rhodesia (today known as Zimbabwe) 

to establish the work at Rusangu in the Monze region of Zambia. 

In Zambia, Adventist Church membership has since grown to almost 

500,000 out of a national population of 10 million, or roughly 

five percent of the country. 

 

Mwanawasa, a Christian who has also attended satelite 

evangelistic meetings held by the Voice of Prophecy, an Adventist 

media ministry, in the nation's capital, Lusaka, said that while he 

had wanted to attend the Adventist centenary, a scheduling conflict 

almost prevented him, until it was "suddenly" resolved. Zambia's 

ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), had planned a 

convention for the same day but the convention was cancelled. 

He credited it to the power of prayer. 

 

Mwanawasa commended the Seventh-day Adventist Church "for 

living up to the mission and vision of our Lord ... set for the 

church" and urged the church to continue on the same path. He also 

commended the church for the innumerable contributions it has made 

to "the spiritual and social development of our people and country." 

He cited the education, health development and relief sectors in 

which the church had made significant contributions in national 

development. 

 

The president then spoke about the Bible's transforming power: 

"Biblical teaching transforms and shapes the hearts, minds and 

characters of people and turns them not only into good disciples 

of Christ Jesus but also into good and responsible citizens. If a 

nation has the fortune to be led by God-fearing men and women of 

high moral integrity, it will certainly prosper as public affairs 

would be in safe and responsible hands." 

 

Earlier, Cornelius Matandiko, president of the Adventist Church 

in Zambia, thanked Mwanawasa "for providing an atmosphere in Zambia 

which enables freedom of working and [the] freedom to knock on any 

door for the purpose of witnessing for the Lord that we love. 

Without the freedom of worship our church would never have grown 

beyond Rusangu." 

 

And Pardon Mwansa, president of the Adventist Church in the 

Southern Africa-Indian Ocean region, thanked Mwanawasa for 

travelling more 125 miles (200 km) by road from Lusaka in order 

to officiate at the occasion. 

 

The next day, Zambia's first president, Kenneth David Kaunda, 

commended the early missionaries as "true servants of the people 

who practiced to the letter one of the Lord's greatest 

commandments: 'to love our neighbour as we love ourselves." 

Kaunda said this when he officiated as guest of honour on Sabbath, 

or Saturday, May 7, in services at Rusangu Mission in Monze, 

during the church's centennial celebrations. 

 

Referring to the early missionaries, Kaunda, the son of a 

missionary himself, said: "They understood clearly that the 

neighbour the Lord was referring to did not need to be of their 

own race, nationality or even religion, but any human being 

created in the Lord's image." 

 

Kaunda, a leading luminary of anti-colonial freedom fighters, 

said that the church in his time "identified with the oppressed 

and stood side by side with us in our campaign for change." He 

added that while preaching the word of God was the primary task 

of the church, "we should remain mindful that its work is 

multi-faceted. This may include advocacy campaigns for human, 

social, economic and political rights of citizens." 

 

He also said the church may find itself at loggerheads with 

those in power, "but as servants of the people, you must 

not relent in raising the concerns of the voiceless.... 

As Christians, we have a responsibility to continue advocating 

for every human being to enjoy their God-given rights, 

especially the weak and vulnerable in society." [Editor: George 

Mwansa for ANN/APD]