Zambia trip details

Through Further Still Ministries, Southeast Christian Church, and Francis Bukachi's Hope Alive Initiatives, Kurt and I had a great "DC" ministry trip to Zambia in mid-July 2024. This was our fifth trip to Africa—after Ghana in 2015 and 2016, Burkina Faso (BF) in 2018, and Malawi in 2019.   

As always, our team is leading one module among many in the last two years of a three-year HAI process to train church leaders. Broadly, the goal is to develop a vision and strategies for "ministry multiplication": don't just start something; prepare others to start in the future as well. More specifically, we're training on discipleship and developing lay-leaders—while other experts provide training to start schools and other businesses, learn skills such as mechanics and video production, operate medical and dental clinics, etc. 

DC and HAI both emphasize empowerment and multiplication. We often describe it in light of a popular metaphor: don’t give a man a fish; teach him how to fish. But our goals are grander: we want to teach the man how to teach others to fish. In discipleship terms, we would point to the four generations of II Tim 2:2 (Paul, Timothy, faithful people, who can teach others). Addition is ok, but we’re aiming for multiplication which is far more powerful. 

In broad terms, how did this trip compare to our others? First, it was average in terms of size—a bit larger than we had in Ghana or BF, but smaller than Malawi—about 50 regulars and 70-80 overall. 

I had been introduced to Mary by email and had heard about "the pastors". It became clear when we got there that Mary is the org/logistics person who sets things up for the pastors. Of pastors, Francis Membe and Daniel had already been active in the training. Another one, Kennedy, was working and missed it.) Christopher was prominent among the new pastors. (The event was hosted at his church. Here's the route we took.)  

Second, we were in Ndola—the third-largest city in Zambia, but not a capital city (as Ouagadougou in BF and Lilongwe in Malawi). We were west of the downtown area, in a "suburban" environment—more akin to our first trip to Ghana. Zambia is much more prosperous than Malawi (and probably BF; I don't know since we didn't get out of the capital due to minor security concerns) and roughly equivalent to Ghana. (As with previous trips, paved roads were fine; not paved were mixed but often rough. Stores in-town were modern, but it degenerated as you moved from the city center.) 

Third, language was really interesting this time. Mary (the organizer in Zambia) had said they were good with English, but Francis had told us that we would need translators. Both were correct, given the strength of the accents in play. We’ve had English in Ghana; French in BF; and a local language (Chichewa) in Malawi. This time, English and Bemba were the dominant languages. English was good for most people, but the accents were so thick (them to us and us to them), that we used a translator for talks and small groups. (Think Ireland.)   

The translators ranged from very good to excellent. For very good, they could translate easily from local English to Bemba, but struggled with our English to Bemba. When the B-level translators were not sufficient, an A-level would take over. (This happened on Sunday morning when I preached, starting with a B and then moving to the pastor who was an A. He said that he wanted to make sure that everyone understood what I was saying!)  

Given the English, it was relatively easy to form relationships and have more meaningful conversations with the people we were training. (Tougher than Ghana and easier than BF and Malawi.) They were very kind, extremely friendly, and quite enthusiastic.   

Fourth, Kurt and I want to take different people on each trip—particularly those who haven't taken an international ministry trip in the past. We want them to see God move in radically different ways and empower them to go “further still”—to do a range of other things, from everyday life to international missions. And we want the locals to be inspired by laypeople doing ministry. This time, it was powerful for me and Kurt to see them experiencing Africa for the first time, reminding us of things that are now easy for us to take for granted.  

Our team this year: Becca, Renee, Charlie, and Jonathan. (Becca is a nurse and homemaker; Renee is a retired businesswoman; Charlie is a retired engineer; Jonathan is an IT consultant.) They were a strong group—working hard before and during the trip, adapting on the ground, teaching well, and leading small groups effectively. (We had teams of 6 and 5 in Ghana—and then 4 in BF and Malawi.) We needed more people this time and wanted women on this trip—with more people to train and the prevalence of women among the trainees (roughly 50/50).  

All of our team members are "grads" of DC: Thoroughly Equipped and former DC co-leaders. As such, I'm extremely confident that they can teach and run really good small groups, even with the challenges at hand. We do a handful of meetings (with modest training) before we go. But to a large extent, given their background in DC, I can just "roll them out there" and know that it's going to be really good. (We use our lighter/shorter curriculum, Getting Equipped [GE], in Africa.)  

 

The Training 

The "DC" training was our usual. On Monday AM, Becca led off with “Identity in Christ”. And then, Kurt taught on Spiritual Warfare with some help from Jonathan. On Tuesday, Kurt and Renee led the group through Neil Anderson’s “Steps to Freedom in Christ” booklet. (For the second consecutive trip, we finished with an exciting ceremony to burn lists of sins that had been confessed.)  

Here, the most noteworthy thing was the response to confessing "sexual sin" late in the Freedom Appt—a ton of energy and laughter that we didn't understand. Someone shouted out something—which led to a lot of laughter—that we didn't have translated at the time. (Later, we learned she was saying "praise God"!) As best we could tell, it was a lot of nerves, some embarrassment, and some concern about gossip. Sexual sin is not talked about much in their churches and it is an emerging issue in their society. So, it's an awkward phrase where it's coming out, but people aren't sure if they can or should talk about it.  

When they learned they could fold up the list of sins, use initials, and we would burn the lists soon, they mostly engaged the exercise. Looking back, all day had been building to that climax—and when it hit, it was a big step forward for many of them. One other observation: Zambians are known as really nice/friendly people (and lived up to that reputation). But the flip side of that is often that is more difficult to have deeper friendships and to have candor on sensitive topics. That seems to be the case in Zambia as well.  

On Wednesday AM, Kurt and I taught on discipleship (4 models [funnel, 4 chairs, kingdom worker vs. believer, and M1-7] and 6 points about our goals in DC/GE). On Thursday AM, Charlie taught on how to read the Bible effectively and I taught through Genesis 3. Kurt and I did some more on leadership and discipleship on Friday AM. Francis wrapped up the AM session by throwing some hammers to challenge them on "next steps".  

The rest of the time (Wednesday/Thursday/Friday afternoons) was small group discussions. In terms of material, we use GE (or DC) material/questions on unity/conflict/fellowship, leadership, marriage, and stewardship. The plan is always to model an effective small group with avid participation, facilitating more than teaching, striving to empower rather than teach at folks. As the week continued, we let the translators control more and we explicitly handed off leadership to someone in the group on Friday—to model empowerment and to make things more efficient (with less translation). As with all the other countries except Malawi, the Zambians were comfortable in the small groups. (All of the groups were smooth except mine. It's too long of a story to share, but we had an OK W, a weak R, and thankfully, a much better F to close things out.)  

The cultural aspects of the discussions were not as interesting/unique as some of the previous years. They didn't have big trouble with “leave/cleave” or significant issues with church discipline (compared to some wild stories we had heard before). Inside the church, there was modest trouble with fathers sacrificially loving their wives and being involved with children. Inside the church, there was little trouble with laziness and the usual problems with temptations for financial debt. 

More broadly, the tribal-cultural influences seemed to be much less of a factor than in Ghana. (Maybe this is a side benefit of a more-heavily "Christian country".) And the Muslim influence was again limited (as in Malawi vs. Ghana and BF). For the first time, we didn't hear a mosque with loudspeakers to do regular prayers on this trip.  

 

Aside from the training... 

We opened the week by visiting four churches on Sunday AM. Kurt and I delivered sermons (me on the book of Ruth). The other pairs gave shorter "testimonies". There are trade-offs on this, but I think I liked to open with a church service as a warm-up to the training—rather than to open with training and then close with a church service.  

Each morning session started with some worship/singing. After lunch, we had a rousing time of worship/singing/dancing. What to do with repetitive singing and dancing? Again, tradeoffs. Repetitive is, well...repetitive. But it also allows one to focus more on the (fewer) words. The dancing was also similar every day—and at times, seemed like a performance for some people. Bottom line: Whatever worship looks like, you have to avoid its regular elements devolving into ritual/routine or performance. Our team enjoyed the out-loud praying on occasion; instead of having leaders pray every time, all of us would pray at the same time. moving from spectator to participant. 

Perhaps because it's been so long and I've visited Africa five times now, I tend to take these things for granted. So, this time, I was struck by the perceptions of those on our team—for whom all of this was novel and fresh. Yet another reason to bring new people every time we come to Africa! 

On Friday, Francis closed by talking about how the Lord provides blessing for us as we participate in His will. John 13:17 describes the blessing of knowledge. In Psalm 90:17, it's a blessing of the work of our hands. And in Acts 1:1, he noted the emphasis on "do and teach". Then he made a great point: We often limit God and His blessings, by not following God. When that's the case, don't blame God (or Satan) for the results. Don't slander them; they're innocent! 

At the end of the training, they had an amazing, hour-long celebration—with speeches by all parties; they gave each of us a small Zambian flag and a keychain with Zambia on it, prayer for group members, and a series of farewells. Most exciting: their confidence that God would be increasingly working through them to change Zambia and Africa.  

On Friday PM, after the training was done, Mary hosted a dinner for the team and some of the local pastors in her home—potluck and tons of different sorts of food. She has a really nice home. We were honored there as they practiced impressive hospitality. The children were great and participated in the evening. And Kurt led a home anointing at the end of the evening, using a hilariously large bottle of oil. 

 

Miscellany 

The Zambians were in the ballpark with the Ghanaians for the most/best dancing. Worship was inspiring—each morning and afternoon. Drums, keyboard and bass to supplement a trio of backup singers with a lead singer. (Only Malawi has used extensive harmony when singing.) The Malawi women dressed as we had seen in other countries. But the Malawi men dressed well and conservatively—with little color.  

Travel was easy: no delays/hassles with airplanes. We had a 1:20 layover the first time in Addis and our plane was 20 minutes late, but things worked out with about 15 minutes to spare. Ethiopian Air had one hard landing, but much better food this time. I didn't ever have a window, so my sleep wasn't great. But I think that's an advantage. Along with my penchant for irregular sleep, the sleep turmoil seems to mean that one good night of sleep allows me to catch up with little if any jet lag (coming and going).  

I had productive conversations on every flight going to Zambia and little on the way back. Prayers for Jack (evangelical Catholic), the man I met from India/Kerala at Dunkin Donuts in the Dulles Airport, Michael (who told me about Pastor Joseph Banda in Lusaka), and DJ (an Indian in precious metals). DJ talked with me about karma—people getting what they deserve. It's always struck me that Christianity has some sense of karma in its teaching (especially with reap/sow, in Proverbs, and the idea that non-believers are judged by their works), although we're generally allergic to the word. Of course, Christianity is much more noted for mercy (not getting the negative we deserve) and grace (getting a positive we don't deserve). I asked DJ if Hinduism had a place for mercy and grace—and he said yes, but I didn't get any elaboration on that. Prayers for DJ that our discussion of grace will be bear much fruit.  

"Best Bed Lodge" was terrific—the best lodging we've had in Africa, by a nose over Cakes Lodge in Malawi and Bob/Bonnie's compound in Ghana. A/C, hot showers, good beds, and even a two-channel TV (with American movies on one and Malawian movies on the other). Electricity was generally off 8-6ish, preserving it for use in the copper mines and other forms of industry. Our hosts used a generator to power the mics. As in Malawi, we had our own room. (We had roommates in Ghana both times and bunk-style sleeping in BF.) Really, it was far nicer than one could reasonably expect.  

BBL's food was really good. In the AM, we had an "English breakfast": two poached eggs, sausage links, bacon/ham, baked beans, white toast, and tea (vs. coffee). For dinner, we had ribeye, fish, chicken (fried and curry), and pork—with sima, rice, or fries—and greens of various sorts. The lunch at the church was easily the best we've had. The pigs in a blanket were ok, but the best was various forms of shepherd's pie in a delicious pastry. As for crazy foods, I ate a fish eye on T PM and two fried caterpillars on F PM at Mary's (common for pregnant women to eat for nutritional value). One other funny thing: we had peanut butter, honey and jelly containers for the toast. After a while, they apparently ran out of everything except orange marmalade. We all decided that it’s good for recipes but the worst jelly-like option for bread.  

After dinner and the debrief sessions, people mostly headed to their rooms. I played Quixx with Ivy and Joan (along with Francis as observers/mentees from the Kenya team). We played No Thanks with a group of five. I snuck in an afternoon game of Star Realms with Jonathan. Once the training was over, we played a few more games—The Mind with Ivy and Joan; The Crew with Becca, Renee and Kurt.  

We usually play more games, but the team members were prepping more than normal, needing more sleep than me, or staying in contact with home and the world. This team definitely used phones more than we have before. As for me, it was a time to fast from phone, text, email, and current events. After a too-busy-to-sustain pace over the previous 11 months, it was good to get solitude (quiet time and reading for an hour or two after others had headed to their rooms).  

The money exchange was interesting this time. Usually, we hand money to our hosts who exchange it with a bank. This time, we got to do the exchange. They would only accept bills from 2017 or later (not sure why) and the rates differed substantially for larger/smaller bills (20k/$ for $20 and below vs. 24k/$ for $50+; again, strange). At the airport, we got 25k for $1 as we bought "Deez Nuts" snacks (presumably because 25 was easy to use in calculations).  

We had a group walking twice per day (pre-breakfast and pre-dinner)—about two miles per trip. Usually, we went through the surrounding neighborhood. But a few times, we went out to the main road and walked past the big soccer stadium (capacity of 44K).  

On the trip, I read Marilynne Robinson's Reading Genesis (really good; tons of nuggets for my notes); Richard Reeves' Of Boys and Men (strong on bringing attention to men/boy issues, even if a mixed bag on how to address it socially and through public policy); and John Feinstein's The Last Amateurs on the Patriot League's men's basketball season of 2000-2001 (light read; good stuff, especially in light of recent changes to NIL, students as athletes and employees, etc.).  

On the longer flights, I also pounded movies: Ordinary Angels (good), Cabrini (really good), Space Jam (ok); Land of Bad (good), All the President's Men (good/classic), and Bill Engvall comedy special (good). 

The weather was beautiful: sunny or partly cloudy with highs about 80 and lows in the lower 50s—and no threat of rain. (They have a wet season and it does get 100-degree hot in their summer.) Accordingly, the mosquitoes were only a minor issue again—in general and in particular, with the preventative measures we take. (We had mosquito nets for the second time [as with Malawi]. I didn't use mine; didn't seem necessary.) No significant trouble with illness, thankfully. One member got diarrhea and another was constipated, but medicine took care of both.  

It was really dry there, leading me to allergic responses and light bloody noses. But Benadryl is now illegal there, so I used Zyrtec to moderate symptoms. Speaking of illegal: anything other than small motorcycles are illegal in Zambia since they're "dangerous". Speaking of public policy: a previous president had encouraged/mandated everyone to have one or two fruit trees in their yard. The result was a lot more greenery than we've seen in Africa.  

Mary had us drive out to a cement factory. It's owned by the wealthiest man in Africa. He had tried to partner with the Zambian government on electricity for the plant. But the government refused or provided a bad deal. So, he decided to make his own, using Zambian coal. Ironically, with Zambia depending on hydroelectric quite a bit, the recent drought caused trouble for both farming and electricity. On the way back to town, we were passed by a truck with "John Galt" inscribed on it. How fitting! The hero of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged steps up and goes around government when it gets in his way and harms society to boot. I'm guessing that the owner has more than passing familiarity with Rand, government, corruption, and ineptitude. 

We’re super-excited to see what the Lord does through HAI and our work in Zambia. We’re optimistic that the work will spread to other countries in the area. As for us, it looks our next trips are Kenya in 2025 and Cameroon in 2026. Stay tuned!