I’ve just returned from a quick trip to Lusaka, Zambia in southern Africa. The flights took a painfully long time, transferring through Johannesburg as well as Amsterdam and Paris. But my ReachGlobal partner Stu and I eventually arrived and connected with our Zambian friends. Although the stay in Zambia was brief, it was filled to the brim. On Sunday, for example, I preached in four different churches and then had three meetings with different leaders.

Then I went home and exercised each night to work out kinks from the long flights. Lusaka is a nice city, comfortable weather, a bit cleaner than some African cities I’ve been in, but similar in culture. We stayed in a lower class part of the city near the slums.

From the first moments, I realized a number of things were going to be different than I had planned, but that is pretty common in this line of work. Of our two ReachAfrica partners where were going to help us get connected, only one was present, and he was quite young and unfamiliar with what to do. I had made outside connections, and was able to meet with several leaders of the primary evangelical denomination in Zambia (ECZ) and the primary evangelical interdenominational fellowship in Zambia (EFZ). The latter proved to be an extremely valuable meeting opening to door for us to bring Pathways Bible Training to thousands of Zambian pastors who otherwise have no training. Despite hearing from certain Zambian pastors that we would be required to pay each trainer to go through our training, the director of EFZ (Bishop Mwanza) stated that this was not true, and in fact for the sustainability and reproducibility of the trainings, this was not advisable.

In that important meeting with Bishop Mwanza, in every point we discussed we found we were in complete alignment. This included:

• The desperate need for biblical (exegetical, hermeneutical – his words) training for pastors.
• The Zambian govmt is moving toward passing law that all pastors are required to be properly trained to stop the widespread false teaching, therefore certified training is becoming more urgent.
• The trainings must not be given for free (and certainly not paying pastors), but for the reproducibility and sustainability of the trainings pastors must pay at least some small amount for the training (this is their pattern in EFZ).
• Careful planning of details must be made for the success of the training cycle and multiplication throughout Zambia.
• EFZ under Mwanza’s leadership is very interested in a partnership with Pathways toward bringing this training to every part of the country since EFZ has a country-wide presence and can add credibility to our trainings.
• Bishop Mwanza is eager to stay in communication with me toward making this a reality.

 I was deeply encouraged by the time with him, and sensed a high degree of alignment as he shared his vision and I shared ours and there was strong symmetry.

On one of the days, I led a training for a group of about 25 pastors and organizational leaders that was very well-received. We discussed the importance of Bible study, and I introduced them to the Pathways process of training.

It is clear that another trip will be necessary to set up a healthy Pathways network, but hopefully I can tie this in with another training somewhere on the continent. Please continue to pray for our Zambian brothers, for the need for Bible training are significant and a number of factors must come together before we are prepared for launch. 

Pressing on, Eric