DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70004#0085
83
Another Pentecostal mission arrived in 1956: the Canadian Pentecostal As-
semblies of God Mission. This mainly restricted its work to the urban areas,
where most of its churches are located today. With an ID = 26 it is widely
spread throughout the country (Fig. 31), yet 65% of the churches are located in
the cities, making it one of the most strongly urbanised churches. In addition,
most of its other churches are found in provincial or district headquarters. Its
membership is largely drawn from the small middle class, explaining the use
of English in services and the financial self-sufficiency of the churches which
no longer need financial contributions from the mission. A similar situation
exists in Kenya (see, for example, the observation of de WOLF 1977, 116).
Another US mission, the Zambia Christian Mission, which also belongs to the
“Churches of Christ”, yet known as “Instrumental”, began work in 1962 in the
Sala area west of Lusaka (RANDALL 1970). With the increased migration of
people to the towns after Independence, this mission also directed its activities
to the urban areas with the result that 57% of church congregations are to-
day urban (see Fig. 32). The region around Chipata is another focus of activity.
5. Other Christian Communities
There are 13 churches with over 10,000 members each belonging to this group.
This number includes the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the New Apostolic Church,
both of whom have close contact with their World Headquarters in the USA
and Germany, respectively. These two churches are organised in a strict hi-
erarchy and are not here classified as mission churches. The other churches
in this group can also be described as indigenous in the sense that they are
independent of any mission. There are a further 60 small groups of this kind.
Due to the difficulties experienced in communicating with them, and thus in
obtaining data, these churches cannot be dealt with in the same detail as the
mission churches.
a. Jehovah’s Witnesses
From Barrett’s data (1982, 765) it is estimated that a quarter of the pop-
ulation of Zambia has had, at some stage, close contact with the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, be it as a member, regular visitor or as a strong sympathiser. Ad-
herents of this denomination, which is often labelled a sect, can be suggested
to number 740,000 in 1982 - 83 (extrapolation according to BARRETT 1982),
representing approximately 12% of the total population of the country. It is
therefore second only to the Catholic Church. Zambia has, in fact, the high-
est percentage in the world of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the population. The
monthly magazine, “The Watch Tower”, plays a central role for the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, appearing world-wide in 100 languages of which four are Zambian
(Nyanja, Bemba, Lozi and Luvale).
Another Pentecostal mission arrived in 1956: the Canadian Pentecostal As-
semblies of God Mission. This mainly restricted its work to the urban areas,
where most of its churches are located today. With an ID = 26 it is widely
spread throughout the country (Fig. 31), yet 65% of the churches are located in
the cities, making it one of the most strongly urbanised churches. In addition,
most of its other churches are found in provincial or district headquarters. Its
membership is largely drawn from the small middle class, explaining the use
of English in services and the financial self-sufficiency of the churches which
no longer need financial contributions from the mission. A similar situation
exists in Kenya (see, for example, the observation of de WOLF 1977, 116).
Another US mission, the Zambia Christian Mission, which also belongs to the
“Churches of Christ”, yet known as “Instrumental”, began work in 1962 in the
Sala area west of Lusaka (RANDALL 1970). With the increased migration of
people to the towns after Independence, this mission also directed its activities
to the urban areas with the result that 57% of church congregations are to-
day urban (see Fig. 32). The region around Chipata is another focus of activity.
5. Other Christian Communities
There are 13 churches with over 10,000 members each belonging to this group.
This number includes the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the New Apostolic Church,
both of whom have close contact with their World Headquarters in the USA
and Germany, respectively. These two churches are organised in a strict hi-
erarchy and are not here classified as mission churches. The other churches
in this group can also be described as indigenous in the sense that they are
independent of any mission. There are a further 60 small groups of this kind.
Due to the difficulties experienced in communicating with them, and thus in
obtaining data, these churches cannot be dealt with in the same detail as the
mission churches.
a. Jehovah’s Witnesses
From Barrett’s data (1982, 765) it is estimated that a quarter of the pop-
ulation of Zambia has had, at some stage, close contact with the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, be it as a member, regular visitor or as a strong sympathiser. Ad-
herents of this denomination, which is often labelled a sect, can be suggested
to number 740,000 in 1982 - 83 (extrapolation according to BARRETT 1982),
representing approximately 12% of the total population of the country. It is
therefore second only to the Catholic Church. Zambia has, in fact, the high-
est percentage in the world of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the population. The
monthly magazine, “The Watch Tower”, plays a central role for the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, appearing world-wide in 100 languages of which four are Zambian
(Nyanja, Bemba, Lozi and Luvale).