Shifting Expectations

I didn’t know what to expect when I got out of the SUV. We had been in the car for almost an hour to get to the village from our hotel. Before that, we drove almost seven hours from Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, to get to the Sinda District. I was a long way from my Indiana home.

There was a thick cloud of orange haze surrounding us as we stepped on to the large dusty road. On one side of us we saw bushes opening up into an archway, an entry way to the small village.

On the other side of the road, lined with black plastic to protect it from the wind, was the church. It wasn’t a church building. There is no building there, not yet anyway. But this is their church.

Plans Changed

As a storyteller at Bible League, I went to Zambia for the story. I had read about Pastor Sylvester, a church planter who brought the Gospel to his witchcraft-infested village. He’s now leading several Bible studies and Sunday worship services. I read about how the people of his village were rallying together to build a church, making their own bricks from clay with plans to build a sanctuary.

I knew the story we were going to get. I was going to see adults, children, families, molding bricks and beginning the structure of their long-awaited church building. I knew exactly what to expect.

Until I got out of the car. I saw the pile of bricks. I saw the village. But what I didn’t expect was the weather. At the time of my visit, the people of Zambia were suffering from a devastating drought. There had not been rain in three months. There was no hint of rain coming.

Cities across the nation were scheduling blackouts, some as long as 20 hours per day, to save water. As Patience, the national Director Bible League Zambia put it, “there won’t be much food here this year.”

These people didn’t have enough water for themselves and their families. They weren’t going to use it to mix with dirt to make bricks.

So…what was my story now?

An African Welcome

I pondered this question as we walked into the village, welcomed by handshakes from Sylvester and songs and dancing from the local women. Their colorful skirts and beautiful voices were captivating. I had vowed to keep my camera in the bag, wanting to introduce myself and get acquainted before sticking a camera in everyone’s faces. But I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to capture this moment.

There was a joy and excitement in this village. They were thrilled to have us, but the joy wasn’t about us. It was a deep joy that was much more than welcoming visitors. It was inspiring to see. Lizzy, the other National Director of Bible League Zambia, joined in happily then encouraged me to dance along. The children stared, not sure what I was doing with a camera, and not sure about me in general.

Sylvester walked us around the village, and we took in the surroundings. Small, circular, almost identical houses made up the community. I walked the length of the village in about five minutes.

Everyone here comes from the same community, and they consider each other family. Sylvester and his wife have seven children, four who still live here, and several grandchildren. Though he is quiet and reserved, it’s obvious that he is a trusted leader in this community.

Dark Past

This place hasn’t always been so full of joy, though. In 2006, it was abandoned.

Across Africa, many practice witchcraft. It’s a religion passed down by generations, sometimes without children and grandchildren even realizing it. There are no doctors here, so when someone is sick, they look to witchdoctors for help.

But the problem is, when you turn to dark forces for help, they often turn on you.

In 2006, people began mysteriously dying in this village. When people got sick, they looked to witchdoctors, but the sickness got worse. People were so fearful, they began to leave. It was so bad that the local chief ordered everyone out. It wasn’t just for a few days.

The village was abandoned for four years.

A Calling from God

Sylvester has been a Christian since the early 90s. When his community decided to return to their homes, he felt a deep calling form the Lord to build a church.

“Since 1955, there hasn’t been a church in this village,” he says. “I desired to plant a church in this village, and I was hopeful that I would find a way.”

Those practicing witchcraft were against this idea because they knew it would alter their lifestyles.

“We faced a lot of challenges in starting a church in this village. They were telling us to stop, not to start a church here,” he remembers. “They were calling us Satanists and discouraging people from coming to church, telling them that when you go to that church they would remove blood from your body. A lot has been said.”

But Sylvester didn’t let that stop him. He knew God was calling him to plant a church here, he just didn’t know how to do it. For years, he prayed about this, and God answered. Bible League Zambia started a Church Planter Training course in the Sinda District. It was a miracle for Sylvester.

“I had a calling to start a church but without Church Planter training and Project Philip, I think it could have been very difficult,” he says.

Now, he’s hosting seven small group Bible studies in his village and traveling to other villages to share the Gospel. Immediately after our welcome, he broke the villagers up into two groups to study God’s Word. Sylvester passed out Project Philip booklets in the local Chewa language and began to teach. People were deeply engaged in the booklets, soaking up the message of Christ.

As I snapped photos, I began to think through this new story. We were here to see a church being built, but what were we actually seeing?

Sunday Services

We spent the rest of that day taking photos and shooting video of the small group Bible studies. We only had two days in the village, and the next would be a Sunday church service, so we shot as much as we could before leaving.

As we headed to the church the next morning, I was still contemplating the story in front of me. But my focus shifted the minute we parked. As soon as the car doors opened, I could hear the songs and drums as hundreds praised God.

It was not time for me to be thinking about work. It was time for the Sunday service.

We took our places at the front of the church, and we held tightly to our cameras, wanting to capture as many moments as possible. I took cell phone videos to share with my young daughter, knowing there was no way words could describe this worship.

It was different than anything I’ve ever seen. I was not raised in the church, but I was raised in the Bible belt. I’ve seen my fair share of Sunday services. And now, I am active in my local church, so we worship weekly.

But this was different. This was a deep joy, a deep passion, a deep hope coming only from Christ. This community is struggling to put food on the table, yet they are singing praises to God Almighty. These people left their homes for four years because this community was ravaged with dark forces, and now they are here singing praises to Christ.

I was amazed. I was moved. I was inspired to pray for more of this, more of what they have. I have more material things than many of this congregation combined yet I want more of what they have.

Flashbacks

As we finished the service, 28 people came to the front to receive salvation. I was so moved knowing I would see each person again in Heaven. But as the prayer was spoken, one woman fell. No one seemed panicked by this as they carried her to the back of the church and kept singing.

I was confused. I leaned in and asked my colleague what was happening, and she answered frankly, “a demon manifested.”

I was floored. I have only read about this type of spiritual warfare; I’ve never seen it in person. I could hear the poor woman yelling, and yet it seemed so common to everyone else. That’s when I realized that this is common. The remnants of witchcraft still remain in this community.

By the end of the day, we saw demons manifest in three young girls. My colleagues described what I was seeing and what would happen next, yet it will still almost unbelievable. But in a moment of clarity, I realized just how much the Holy Spirit is moving here, and how God has never forgotten about this village. I traveled more than 24 hours to get to this small, remote place. I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. But it’s not nowhere to God.

God sees every single person here. God loves them and has a plan for them, and He used them to change my faith.

Story came to life

During that Sunday service, I found my story. I wasn’t in a village that was waiting on a church building. They weren’t waiting on a building to praise God, they praised him without that. They praised Him in the drought. They praised Him when the darkness showed its ugly head.

They praised Him despite it all. This community craves a deep hope, and they find that in a relationship with Jesus. They know there is more to life than what they have or don’t have, than their past, than their situation. They know God has more and they live in expectation of that.

God never forgot this small village. God brings hope to this church, with or without a building. I know Sylvester and his community will build a beautiful church to glorify to the Lord and they will welcome even more to the congregation. But today, this church has no walls yet it is full of the Holy Spirit.

This church inspired me. This church changed the way I view my own worship, my own faith. God sees us in every circumstance and the circumstances aren’t what define us. He does. Our hope is not in this world, but in Him. In His love, His faithfulness, and His everlasting power.

A New Church Impacting Lives in Zambia

You’re transforming lives and equipping leaders with your gift of God’s Word.
After her parents’ divorce, Faneli faced a harsh life in the Sinda district of Zambia. Sinda is one of the districts in Eastern Province. Most of the population is in informal employment, relying heavily on subsistence farming, the district’s central economic hub.

Faneli’s mother remarried, but her stepfather rejected her. “My stepfather saw no benefit in educating someone who wasn’t his biological child,” she recalls. Subsequently, she dropped out of school in grade seven. As a result, she plunged into fighting and prostitution. She thought she could sustain her life and look after herself through those activities.

She also joined a cult called ‘Gule,’ a traditional outfit promoting satanic beliefs. She got demon-possessed and thought God’s Word was meaningless and didn’t pay attention to it. But despite all her challenges, she states, “God’s plans for me didn’t stop.”

“I thought the Word of God was meaningless and didn’t pay attention to it.”

Planting Seeds

In 1996, Faneli heard a man of God preach the word of God from Acts 16. He explained human challenges and why people regressed from God’s ways. She headed the altar call and received salvation. After attending a church service miles away from her village, she received prayer and delivered from possession. After this, they counseled and nurtured her to live as a Christian.

After receiving Jesus as her Lord and Savior, Faneli’s life changed. She stopped prostitution, fighting, engaging in traditional cults, and dancing. “God gave me a purpose; He didn’t leave me stranded. I have a gift for singing, and I started singing. I knew I had a calling to serve after I started sharing the Gospel and counseling people going astray. I realized I had changed because I stopped every evil thing I was doing.”

“God gave me a purpose; He didn’t leave me stranded.”

Today, the 44-year-old wife and mother of six is a pastor. She asserts, “Jesus Christ is my Savior.” But her trials didn’t cease after salvation. Even in her marriage, she faced miscarriages attributed to spiritual bondage. She reckoned that she needed fervent prayers and to trust in God. “I realized that with God, nothing was impossible. If He picked me from the pit of hell, I believed that He would work on my issue of miscarriages.”

Through prayer and fasting, God delivered her. Faneli saw God’s hand and understood that without Him, she couldn’t have borne children and would have even lost her marriage.

“Jesus Christ is my Savior.”

Watering Seeds

Faneli desired to open a church, driven by the various traditional beliefs hindering locals from knowing the word of God. A local pastor introduced her to Bible League’s Church Planter Training. She desired to learn how to approach people, their cultures, and traditions. She attended the training with all her heart. “The lessons helped me. They helped me plant a church and are still helping me today.” She became the first church planter in her village since Zambia’s independence in 1964.

She also started praying with neighbors at her house. After the numbers grew, her husband, a pastor, too, began building a permanent structure to accommodate the growing congregation. They now hold prayer meetings from there.

Equally, God’s Word has impacted Faneli’s spiritual walk. Romans 8:28 tremendously encourages her. She knows that since she loves God, even if she encounters situations, God will help her overcome them.

“We know that in everything, God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose because that was his plan.” Romans 8:28.

Resourcing Communities

Bible League has equipped Faneli with the skills to plant and run a church, which she says has helped many people come out of darkness and get to know God. The Church Planter Training has aided her in interpreting scripture for the congregation grappling with high illiteracy levels. She has learned the unique features of church members and how to relate with them.

“Thanks to Bible League for the ‘Reaching Towards the Goal’ booklets and Bible, you provided us. These materials are helping us in evangelism, and we are winning souls every day,” she says.

With your support, you’re reaching souls daily through evangelism and providing biblical materials.

Apart from spreading the word, Faneli is also a farmer, which is a sheer contrast to her dark days. She urges the Bible League to continue providing training to enhance God’s Kingdom. “Continue with the excellent work and training more Church Planters worldwide. We also request more materials as the number of people willing to serve the Lord keeps increasing.”