THE BAPTIST CHURCH MWILAMBA

The history of the Baptist work in Zambia dates back to 1905, when two English
missionaries of the Baptist faith, serving under the Nyasaland Industrial Mission
(Malawi), trekked on foot into Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). These were the Revds
W.A. Phillips and H.L. Wildey. They established a mission station at Kafulafuta.
The station was named after the river Kafulafuta, some 500 miles north of
Livingstone, which was then the terminus of the railway from the Cape (South
Africa). It was there that the Baptist work was born, directly supported and
controlled from England by and through the Nyasaland Industrial Mission which had
sponsored and sent the two missionaries on an exploration assignment in what was
then known as North West Rhodesia. Phillips and Wildey built a church and opened
a primary school at the station. The two men ran the mission station on their own
until 9 July 1913 when they were joined by the Revd Joseph J. Doke and his son
Clement Martyn Doke. The Dokes were sent to Kafulafuta by the South African
Baptist Missionary Society (SABMS) to investigate the possibility of taking over the
mission station so that it could form a link between the Baptist work in the south and
the greater work in the Congo.2 J.J. Doke and his son together prepared a
favourable report. This was presented by Clement Doke to the South African Baptist
Missionary Society Board in November 1913, because his father had died on 15
August 1913 at Umatali.3 As a result the South African Baptist Missionary Society
took over Kafulafuta Baptist Missionary Station towards the end of that year. The
first South African Baptist Missionary Society missionaries to come to the Kafulafuta
station were Dr Clement Doke and Mr and Mrs German. Miss Olive C. Doke did
not join them until 1916.
Apart from making a link between the south and the Congo, the South African
Baptist Missionary Society Board had another reason for taking over the Kafulafuta
Baptist Mission Station: the Nyasaland Industrial Mission had sponsored Phillips and
Wildey but was not able to maintain adequate financial support.  All this time the
country we now call Zambia was a territory under the administration of the British
South African Chartered Company (BSCC).

THE GROWTH OF THE BAPTIST WORK

The South African Baptist Missionary Society embarked on an intensive programme.
Bible Translalion By 1918 the Gospel of John was received in print and a
collection of eighty-three hymns was produced in the same year. On Christmas Eve
1921 the first edition of the full New Testament was received with great rejoicing.
Later the Psalms were bound with the New Testament. The translation of Genesis
and Exodus were achieved by Dr C. M. Doke in 1924. He was by then Professor of
Loston Popo Chambala, "The Development of the Baptist Union of Zambia," Baptist Quarterly 38.1 (January 1999): 46-51.

THE BAPTIST UNION OF ZAMBIA 

Bantu Studies at Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg. Selections of the Old Testament came into print by about 1945; the full translation of the Bible was
received over a long period of years at refresher courses for evangelists and church
leaders. The chief translator of these was Olive Doke; she also instructed groups of
women and ran an open Bible Class in later years.
Education The school at the Mission Station played an important and significant
role in this programme. Projects covered parts of modem North Wester, Central and
the whole of the Copperbelt Province. The Education Programme involved the
recruitment of pupils from all over these provinces; they came to Kafulafuta School
as boarders. The school curriculum included basic reading and rudimentary
arithmetic. The main objective of the education programme was to enable the pupils
to read the Bible and assist the missionaries in the evangelization of the people in
the area.
Evangelistic Outreach In the continued effort of evangelism in 1931 the
Scandinavian Independent Baptist Union missionaries from Sweden, led by Mr
Anton Johannesson, came to Kafulafuta Baptist Mission Station. Through
consultations with the South African Baptist Missionary Society they established the
first Scandinavian Independent Baptist Union Mission Station at Mpongwe.
As missionary work expanded at Kafulafuta, the need to establish another
mission station became apparent. Fiwale Hill Mission was opened in 1936. By then
much progress had been made in training and equipping local church leaders and
evangelists to work alongside the missionaries. Prominent among these local church
leaders were the late Revds Paul Kasongo, Anasi Lupunga and Bob Litana. Bob
Litana and the late Revd A.J. Cross were the founders of Fiwale Hill Mission. Miss
Olive C. Doke continued to serve at Kafulafuta, mainly among women, even after
her brother Clement had gone back to Johannesburg in 1921 as a result of his wife's
poor health.6
In the same effort of advancing church growth an outreach visit was made to
Bwana Mkubwa Mine in 1922 and again in 1925 to a growing Christian group. The
mission report of 1924 stressed the work of some of the African staff. Paul, the
Apostle to the Lambas, developed leprosy, but for very many years he was the only
chief guide and counsellor of missionaries and nationals. That year about 2,378
village services were reported, attendances totalling 54,551 with about 344
conversions, of which sixty-three were women and girls.
Another indigenous church was established in the Ndola Compound and, with
government help, a church school was built there. Some Christian groupings were
already there and they requested to come under the wing of the Mission and the
work went on quite well. This work in the town of Ndola was spearheaded by the
Revd Arthur Cross. Because of the great need of the growing church there, he
shifted from Kafulafuta and settled in Ndola Town. This led to enlarged ministry,
even among other denominations and other Christian Europeans who expressed
interest and desire to join the Mission. Hence these churches were known as 'Free
48 THE BAPTIST QUARTERLY
Churches'; to this day many of our members claim membership of the Free Church,
although they are now more aware of being Baptists.
Meanwhile groups were gathering in other mine compounds, so the Revd Arthur
Cross and Miss Doke shared with the Christian mine managers the need for church
buildings to meet the spiritual needs of the fast developing Copperbelt. The United
Copperbelt Mission was formed and Arthur Cross was seconded as Superintendent
to the Mission. Our Free Churches became the basis of the United Copperbelt
Mission (UCM) work.
Since the emergence of modem ecumenism from the UCM, and the opening of
the Baptist Union of Central Africa work and that of the Southern Baptist churches,
most of our members who go to the towns transfer to these two churches. Indeed,
most of the pastors in these churches are from Lambaland Baptist Church, trained
in the Fiwale Hill Mission College.
SOME OF THE CHALLENGES FACED
Transport means From the early days in Lambaland the gospel was proclaimed
by means of itinerating - at first on foot, later on bicycles, and recently by
motorized vehicles. Our forefathers or national church leaders used to carry the
early missionaries on what we call 'amachila', made of poles like a handy stretcher
put on the shoulders of two men or four sometimes on the backs of some of the
Machila men'.'
Conduct of the people As they went out preaching the gospel, they found some
particular strongholds in the people's lives which they fought to break by means of
the Word of God. Adultery bound many people, but through the influence of the
Word many lives were transformed. Although adultery today remains an issue,
against which the Christian Church ought to preach in the strongest terms. Drinking
too was rampant; it took time even among Christian leaders to stop drinking beer.
The practice of worshipping the spirits of ancestors was very strong among our
people. However, through God's grace they overcame that. Polygamy was another
problem, for many men had two or three wives and some wanted this practice
accepted in the church. In spite of all this, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was
mounting to higher levels of influence.
The work progressed in the towns under the Baptist Union of Central Africa and
at Kafulafuta, Fiwale Hill Mission and Mpongwe under the Scandinavian Baptist
Union; by 1960 church government was in the hands of the nationals.
Fiwale/Kafulafuta had formed a central committee on which the Missionary
Superintendent sat as Adviser. Later, on 5 March 1972, this committee was
constituted into an Association, which is now called the Northern Baptist Association
of Zambia (NBAZ). In the same year churches under the Baptist Union of Central
Africa formed an association of indigenous Christian churches, now called the
Zambia Baptist Association (ZBA). In 1974 another association was formed, the
Mpongwe Baptist Association of Zambia (MBAZ), working in partnership with the
THE BAPTIST UNION OF ZAMBIA 49
Scandinavian Baptist Union.
When the Southern Africa Baptist Missionary Society left, the Australian Baptist
Missionary Society (ABMS) stepped on to the soil of Zambia in 1969 and worked
in partnership with NBAZ for twenty-nine years. The Australians always worked
closely with the nationals, initially under a three-year agreement, which was
renewed as the need continued. Eventually in 28 June 1998 there was a moving
farewell handover ceremony.
The three associations (NBAZ, ZBA, MBAZ) decided to form a Union and in
1975 the Baptist Union of Zambia was born.