Zambia
Summary
Multiple waves of Bantu-speaking groups moved into and through what is now Zambia over the past thousand years. In the 1880s, the British began securing mineral and other economic concessions from various local leaders and the territory that is now Zambia eventually came under the control of the former British South Africa Company and was incorporated as the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia in 1911. Administrative control was taken over by the UK in 1924. During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining spurred development and immigration.
The name was changed to Zambia upon independence in 1964. In the 1980s and 1990s, declining copper prices, economic mismanagement, and a prolonged drought hurt the economy. Elections in 1991 brought an end to one-party rule and propelled the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) to government. The subsequent vote in 1996, however, saw increasing harassment of opposition parties and abuse of state media and other resources. The election in 2001 was marked by administrative problems, with three parties filing a legal petition challenging the election of ruling party candidate Levy MWANAWASA. MWANAWASA was reelected in 2006 in an election that was deemed free and fair. Upon his death in August 2008, he was succeeded by his vice president, Rupiah BANDA, who won a special presidential byelection later that year. The MMD and BANDA lost to the Patriotic Front (PF) and Michael SATA in the 2011 general elections. SATA, however, presided over a period of haphazard economic management and attempted to silence opposition to PF policies. SATA died in October 2014 and was succeeded by his vice president, Guy SCOTT, who served as interim president until January 2015, when Edgar LUNGU won the presidential byelection and completed SATA’s term. LUNGU then won a full term in August 2016 presidential elections. [1]
📷: Wikipedia
Statistics
From the The Joshua Project [2]
In the News
📷: Wikipedia
Prayer Guide
Missions. There is an open door for ministry, although few are unevangelized.
a) Receiving. The emphasis is rightly on partnering with Zambians, training them for leadership and service and developing holistic ministries that are sustainable and useful. The largest are: CB/CMML, SIM, IMB, LM.
b) Sending. The Zambian Church’s interest in missions has grown in the last 10 years, in large part due to the GLO Centre and ProChristo/OM. Hundreds now serve cross-culturally within Zambia and to neighbouring nations, almost all of which are much less evangelized and even more in need of practical assistance. The Brethren/CMML alone has sent out 150 workers within Zambia, into the region and even to India and the UK. Pray for these first fruits to represent a much greater harvest.
The less reached – there are still unevangelized pockets and a few peoples who have received much less ministry than the majority.
a) The many smaller groups of peoples in the southwest are minimally reached – the Subiya, the four Khoisan groups, others.
b) The urban satellite towns of Lusaka, the Copperbelt and Kabwe are spiritually needy. Many are squalid shanty settlements, rife with poverty, AIDS and little hope. Pray for the work of Dorothea Mission, World Outreach Team Action and others in evangelizing these areas.
c) The Indian Gujarati community is both Hindu and Muslim, but few are Christian. South African SIM, Pentecostal Assemblies of God and Asian missionaries from Tanzania work among them.
[3]