Zambia

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"Today is the time to live our lives Holy before God and Man, and now is the time to evangelize and tell everyone we possibly can about the saving grace of Jesus. We need to take as many non-believers as we can with us by turning them into true believers in Christ. That's what we're here for as the body of Christ! Keep your eyes on the East and toward the Father, the days ahead will be prophetic."

A Look at Zambia

The Language
Economy, Politics and Religions
Prayer Concerns and Answers

LAND AREA:
753,000 sq.km. Landlocked country, still heavily forested.

DEMOGRAPHICS:
Year. Population Annual Growth Density
1990 8,456,000 3.8 % 11/sq.km
1995 10,174,000 3.8 % 14/sq.km

PEOPLE GROUPS:
There are 82 ethnic groups.
Bantu peoples. 97%.
Major groups:
Bemba 2,000,000; Tonga 990,000; Nyanja 989,000; Lozi 473,000; Lala-Bisa 439,000, Nsenga 427,000, Tumbuka 406,000; Nylka 320,000; Mambwe 262,000; Kaonde 240,000; Lunda 220,000; Lamba 211,000; Luvale 203,000; Lenje 169,000; M\vanga 169,000; Mbunda 126,000.

Foreign:3%. Europeans 30,000; Asians 20,000 (mainly Gularati Indians). Also many refugees from Angola and Mozambique.

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LITERACY:
76% (functional literacy 25%).

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE:
English.
Trade language. Both Bemba and Nyanja spoken by large minorities of the population.
All Languages. 36 indigenous languages.

LANGUAGES WITH THE SCRIPTURES.
15 languages have the whole Bible.
7 languages have the New Testament.
5 languages have portions of the Bible.
By and large, the printed Scriptures are not readily available.

ZAMBIA'S CAPITAL:
Lusaka
Population: 1,100,000.
Urbanization 43%.

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ZAMBIA'S ECONOMY:
Copper mining and refining has long been the major source of foreign exchange. Post independence prosperity was squandered by heavy-handed socialism, neglect of agriculture and widespread corruption. Wars and unrest in surrounding lands of Angola, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa helped to drive the nation to virtue bankruptcy. The new government is pledged to reinstitute a free market economy and stamp out corruption.
Public debt/person S484.
Income/person S1,390 (6.6% of USA).

POLITICS:
Independent from Britain in 1964. One party democracy under President Kaunda's leadership until 1991. Growing corruption, economic collapse and me ending of the cold war prompted multi-party elections and led to a change of government.

RELIGION:
The official philosophy of former President Kaunda was socialist - humanism was made government policy. When former President Chiluba's first took office his first official act was to declare unilaterally that Zambia is a Christian country, but with the assurance that there would be freedom of religion.

Traditional religions make up 23%.
Widespread, but in rapid decline; stronger in some western and southwestern ethnic groups.
Non-religious/other 0.5%.
Muslim 1%. Some Asians and immigrants from Tanzania and Malawi, and a growing number of Zambians.
Baha'i 0.3%.
Hindu 0.2%.
Christian 75%. Nominal 20.2%. Affiliated 54.8%. Growth 3.3%.
Protestant 27%. Affiliated 22.11%. Growth 11.3%.

MISSIONS:
Missionaries to Zambia 626 (1 missionary for every 13,500 people) in 68 missions agencies.

PRAYER ITEMS OF INTEREST:

1. The Christian President, at the time of his inauguration, prayed on television before the nation a prayer of national repentance and renounced the sins of idolatry, witchcraft, occultism, injustice and corruption, asking God's forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. Pray that the leaders of the land may live this out and not use their power for personal gain or sectional interests.

2. Praise God for the impact of the gospel in Zambia Protestant Christians have grown from 700,000 to 1,870,000 in ten years as the Spirit of God has moved through the country with many coming to personal faith in Christ - in urban areas, among educated young people and increasingly in the rural areas. The United Church (from the work of LMS, Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, Church of Scotland and Methodist Missionary Society) has a growing evangelical witness and is bringing new life and outreach in once dead and formal congregations. The economic crisis, poverty, unemployment and the AIDS epidemic have all prompted a search after God that multiplied conversions in the late '80s.

3. The maturing of the Church in urban areas is encouraging. Strong, well-led English-speaking Baptist and Pentecostal Churches have developed over the last 15 years; although few order people are responding, many educated young people and professionals are coming to Christ. Pray that some of these may also be called into full-time work.

4. Rural churches vary widely in spiritual quality and vigor.

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