As you read this, I’m somewhere over the Atlantic flying home after almost four weeks in Africa.

Since leaving Addis Ababa on February 24, I’ve spent the last 18 days at Justo Mwale University (JMU) in Lusaka, Zambia. This is a brief account of my experience.  [Read a day-by-day journal of my week in Addis here.]

Lusaka is in many ways the antithesis of Addis Ababa. 

• Where Addis is built of the side of mountain with constantly heavy traffic on roads curving around hills, Lusaka is on flat land with a grid system of roads that are uncrowded and placid by comparison.
• Where Addis has high population density with buildings packed together, Lusaka feels spacious and spread out, with lots of people growing corn in their compounds.
• The amount of food and variety of choice in Lusaka is amazing! American-size grocery stores in modern shopping centers have huge aisles of food; Addis has nothing remotely similar. (I’m told most shopping centers are owned and operated by South Africans.)
• English is far more pervasive in Lusaka than Ethiopia, even billboards and signs are in English. Yesterday I saw the “Fountain of Purity Hair Salon” which reminded me of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency mystery series set in Botswana, which is just south of Zambia.

My host is Justo Mwale Univeristy (JMU) which is owned by the Reformed Church in Zambia and offers degrees in theology, education and Christian ministry.  Over the past weeks, I had the privilege of meeting some of the people God is using to transform Africa, both students and faculty.

Consider this:  the fastest church growth over the past century has been in sub-Saharan Africa.  In real numbers, Christians in sub-Saharan Africa grew from fewer than 9 million in 1910 to more than 516 million in 2010. The share of the total population that is Christian climbed from 9% in 1910 to 63% in 2010. 

Justo Mwale University is training the pastors to serve these growing churches across all southwest Africa.

My Impressive Students

I was invited back to JMU to teach an intensive class in preaching to second-year Bachelor of Theology students, as I did in the spring of 2018.  It was a joy to reconnect with my students from last year as well, who seemed happy to see me again.  These future pastors come from all across central and southern Africa— Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa, in addition to Zambia. 

My many interactions with my class convinced me they take their calling to be preachers and pastors seriously and believe God is personally at work in their lives, churches and nations.  I found them to be thoughtful, sincere and passionate. Most were eager to learn.   We often had stimulating dialogues, as I presented material and after each of them preached a sermon to the class.

As is my usual practice, I offered personal appointments outside the classroom with each student to get to know them personally and hear their stories. 

A standard question was “How did God call you and bring you to Justo Mwale?” Several told detailed stories about many hardships faced and obstacles overcome.  Often their stories included the death of one or both parents and being raised by aunts or grandmothers.  It was a reminder how, even in the 21^st century, life is still fragile here.

Their most frequent question to me was “What is ministry like? What challenges will I face?”  I shared some of my experience, all the while knowing that they might easily face many more challenges than I ever did! 

Many JMU students take “sustainability” courses about how to make ends meet with minimal payment as pastors, such as growing vegetables or wives learning sewing or tailoring. These students will be posted by their respective denominations into congregations without any choice by the student. Their desire to serve wherever God sends them is impressive. 

Engaging the Faculty

I was graciously invited to preach to the students and faculty in the weekly chapel service.  Afterwards,  I was warmly welcomed back to JMU by Dr. Soko, Vice-Chancellor and administrative head of the university. To my great surprise, they had planned a reception for me after the chapel service, with food for everyone.

I was also invited to join the weekly Wednesday morning faculty Bible study.  On my second Wednesday on campus, Dr. Soko suspended the Bible study and instead invited me to share about coaching.  As I had on several occasions in Addis, I spoke about the power of coaching to help individual leaders and organizations reach their full potential.  Faculty members asked excellent questions and some were clearly intrigued. 

At the end, Dr. Soko decided to continue the coaching discussion requiring all the students to join the faculty for another presentation the following Wednesday.  My second presentation focused on how these future pastors could use coaching skills such as deep listening and asking good questions in their church leadership roles.. Hopefully, I planted some seeds the Lord will cause to bear fruit.

A Three-Hour Worship Service

Dr. Soko and his wife took me to a large Reformed Church in Zambia congregation that packed 600+ people into a building with concrete block walls and a corrugated tin roof.  It was Youth Sunday.  On such special occasions, everyone dresses up in the “uniform” of their class or group. 

I saw teens in white shirts/blouses and blue ties/scarves;  the Men’s Guild in sober black suits with narrow black ties sporting the church logo; the Women’s Guild in military-looking costumes with shirts with epaulettes on their shoulders and hats with strings hanging down their backs.

 Here’s a little boy proudly wearing his blue hat and shorts, with his gold sash that must be the standard uniform for the preschoolers!

Worship began with a half hour of singing as people slowly gathered and things got rolling.  I’m used to contemporary music but it was so loud, when Dr. Soko leaned over to describe what was happening, I’d just smile and nod, not able to understand a word he was saying!

A sermon by a teenage boy was followed by LOTS of presentations: little kids reciting Bible verses, middle school girls dancing, a drama by high schoolers, the women’s choir, and then a 50-strong youth choir who had people up and praising.

Of the many things I love about African worship, in Zambia my absolute favorite is the choirs.  Like the Welsh, Zambians are a singing culture. Each choir lines up down the center aisle, then slowly sways/dances their way forward in a call-and-response style until they form a semi-circle facing the congregation. Their voices blend powerfully especially when singing acapella.  After singing their way into position, each choir sang two or three songs with refrains.  [A JMU student from Mozambique said: “In my country, people who have nothing to do sit around and drink.  Here in Zambia, they sit around and sing!”]

After the choirs came prayer where all 600 of us prayed out-loud simultaneously, sounding like a buzzing beehive.  Then came another sermon (this time by a very impressive teenage girl), then a final hymn and closing prayer.  I was starting to rise, thinking “those 2 ½ hours weren’t bad at all but I’m looking forward to getting out of this hot building.”  But it wasn’t over! Now came another 30 minutes of announcements.

As a special guest, I was introduced and asked to offer a greeting.  To lots of smiling faces, I said I wished I had a way to bottle up their “joy in the Lord” and take it back with me to give American worshippers a shot in the arm of their passion.  In the global church of Jesus Christ, we have so much to gain from them!

It was also good to spend these weeks with long-time friends Dusty and Sherri Ellington and their son Chris.  We have known each since Dusty and I served on the staff together at First Presbyterian Church, Visalia, CA after he graduated from seminary.  Dusty and Sherri celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary during my stay.

Thank You!!

I’m grateful for your prayers for my health and safety and my ministry these past weeks.  I had many more opportunities than I expected when I left the US almost a month ago.  I am truly blessed to serve God’s global church where it is growing the fastest.

Blessings in Christ,

Rich

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