They served up the Word of God along with meat, greens, and nshima—a dish made from cornmeal. The mission team from Minnesota wanted to provide nourishment to Zambian kids who often receive just one meal per day.
Zambia, in southern Africa, boasts natural beauty that includes the world’s largest waterfall. The majestic Victoria Falls attract tourists from around the world. Even so, this country has one of the highest undernourishment rates on earth. Nearly half of its roughly 16 million people cannot get enough food on a daily basis.
The late president Frederick Chiluba declared Zambia a Christian nation after he took office in 1991. Today, according to Operation World, around 87 percent of the people self-identify as Christian, and 25 percent as evangelical.
Yet Christian beliefs are often syncretistic, mixing a pagan worldview with Christian practices.
Twofold Ministry
After graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary, Wilbroad Chanda returned to his native country of Zambia in 2003. In addition to serving as pastor of Christ Community Church in the northern city of Ndola, Chanda runs Lighthouse Christian School, which provides education for orphans. He seeks to influence his country through the twofold provision of food and a quality Christian education that can help break the vicious cycle of poverty.
Last August Chanda met Shawn Powers, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Burnsville, Minnesota. Powers had travelled to Ndola with his friend Doug Hayes, who serves in orphan ministry throughout Africa.
Powers’s first trip to Ndola introduced him to the severe poverty affecting most Zambians. In early 2016 he returned with a team from his church. Shocked by the sights of slums, the group realized many Zambian kids only get one meal per day. They conducted a Vacation Bible School at Lighthouse Christian, and included high-quality meals for the children who came.
Unmasking False Hope
During both visits to Zambia, Powers spent time at an informal college launched by Chanda in recent years. Each trip also served as an opportunity to bring in Packing Hope theological resources provided by TGC International Outreach (IO).
Last year Powers provided instruction to 35 seminary students in a week-long course on homiletics. Current and future pastors learned to write sermons for better preaching of God’s Word. They also benefited from a bounty of Packing Hope books, including five English Pastors Book Sets.
On the return trip this year, Powers’s team transported ten suitcases of IO resources, including Thabiti Anyabwile’s Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons, Kevin DeYoung’s Taking God at His Word, Gloria Furman’s The Pastor’s Wife, David Helm’s Expositional Preaching, and Ramesh Richard’s Preparing Expository Sermons. The team also handed each student an ESV Global Study Bible—courtesy of Packing Hope.
These resources are intended to spur healthy discussions about the false hope pervading many Zambian churches. One practical example is how they “illuminate the prevailing heresy of prosperity preaching,” Powers explained.
Continuing Partnership
Chanda reports more than 70 students hope to attend the Pastor’s College, which has moved into a bigger space to support growth. New classes have been added for pastors’ wives and other church leaders.
Additionally, Powers plans to teach more classes in Ndola and keep taking biblical materials. He says God is working through Zambian pastors to spread the gospel and through believers in the United States to supply them with needed resources.
Powers sees himself as a middle-man: “I have the privilege of connecting the two.”
