Copperbelt Zambia Conference

The Copperbelt Zambia Conference is a subsidiary Seventh-day Adventist Church administrative unit in the Northern Zambia Union Conference of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division of Seventh-day Adventists.

The Copperbelt Zambia Conference (CZC) territory covers a larger portion of the Copperbelt Province and a small part of the Central Province in the Republic of Zambia. According to the 2022 General Conference statistics, the Conference had 659 organized churches and 414 companies with a membership of 207,196.¹ The Conference’s headquarters office is located in Plot Number 908, Buteko Avenue, in Ndola, Zambia.

The Early Years – 1917 to 1965²

The history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Copperbelt Zambia region is very closely intertwined with the history of the introduction of Adventist Christian education offered through the Musofu Mission station, which was established in 1917. Schools were effectively used as an entry wedge into many rural settlements surrounding that mission station.

Musofu Mission, which was established in 1917 by Samuel Konigmacher, is located in Chief Chitina’s area, north of Mkushi district in the Central Province of the Republic of Zambia, near the Democratic Republic of Congo border. The mission is situated along the Musofu River, about 20 miles from the Walamba railway siding.³ Within the area near Musofu Mission, churches mushroomed around what used to be called “out schools”⁴. The main out schools that were opened by Musofu Mission workers include: Mutaba, Pitala (at Kalombe), Kabwata, Chitina, Nkole, Kalyabune and Peter School (now Upper Musofu). Further to the southwest of Musofu Mission station, more schools were opened at Muchenje, Sala, and Ngabwe. Around each of these schools (also known as mission outposts), churches sprung up and spread in all directions. Formers students from these schools, who later became teacher-evangelists, were instrumental in planting other schools and churches.

One teacher-evangelist named Longwani Mumba was part of the first intake at Musofu Mission school in 1917. He was one of the four natives who accompanied a white missionary named H. M. Sparrow to open the Chimpempe Mission school in Kawambwa. Later in the mid-1920s, Mumba was assigned to open a school named Chiyowela, which was located south of the Musofu Mission near to where Chief Mukonchi’s palace was located at that time. Alongside the school, a church was also planted. That school was relocated in 1947 to its current location along the Lunchu River,⁵ and its name has since been changed to the Lunchu B Basic School. The main reason for the relocation of the school was simply to follow the population migration at that time.

The earliest Seventh-day Adventist Church congregation to become an organized church in this region was called Yongwe, and it was established in 1922. Due to lack of close support after the departure of Teacher-evangelist Longwani Mumba, that church congregation ended up closing, but it was reestablished later in 1956 through the help of Mrs. Minala Mutoya.⁶ By then, the church congregation’s location was transferred from there to its present location although it still maintains the name of “Yongwe”. This congregation was pivotal in establishing many other churches, and later its name also was changed to the Lunchu Main SDA Church. Today, the area near the former Yongwe Church is now a Mission district called Lunchu.

Another teacher-evangelist named Enock Mulamata spearheaded the opening of the Nkole Primary School around 1950, with the strong support of Chief Nkole.⁷ This school was located at a place called Kasomfi (named after a nearby stream) and was initially called the Mulamata Primary School. The school was later moved in 1958 to its current location, and the name was changed to the Nkole Primary School.⁸ Nkole Primary School and its local church became very influential Mission outposts for planting many other Adventist churches near the Kapiri Mposhi town, particularly in the chiefdoms of royal highnesses Nkole, Mukonchi, and Chipepo.

Also in 1958, the Nkole Mission district was opened, with Pastor Enock Katumpa as their first district pastor. He was succeeded by Pastor Albert M. Kawila, and thereafter pastors Champese and Rabson Simankobela respectively.⁹ During the period between 1972 and 1988, Adventist churches located in the Central Province reported to the South Zambia Field, who had offices located at Rusangu Mission near Monze in the Southern Province. The Nkole Mission district was a major district that covered all the three previously mentioned chiefdoms (Nkole, Mukonchi, and Chipepo) including Kapiri Mposhi town. Their camp meeting site was located at Chambulumina, which was also famous for regional Adventist Youth camps. The church’s youth named it “Camp Muyeba” after Pastor James Muyeba, the first native pastor to serve as vice president of the Zambia Field after the departure of the white missionaries.

Also, around 1936, the Musofu Mission had started work around the place we now call Mutaba. This work was initiated by the family of teacher-evangelist Longwani Mumba. His family moved its village from Chief Chitina’s area near Musofu Mission to a place near Matutu Village in Chief Chiwala’s area. The missionaries at Musofu Mission requested that Evangelist Mumba find a place to open a school. Hostilities in that village forced Mumba’s family to find a location in the Fula Village, where a school was opened in 1937. The first teacher to be assigned to this school was Simon Muwile from the Chimpempe Mission. He was later assisted by Aaron Chibomba from the Lenje land. Other pioneer teachers included Stephen Ngwenya, Luck Ndhlovu, and Peter Lengalenga.

In 1943, District Commissioner Goodfellow for the town of Ndola, forced all the villages clustered around Fula area to move to another location to pave way for other national developments. This move consequently affected the operations of the school at Fula and the newly planted church. Then the families of Longwani Mumba and Jeremiah Chanda regrouped in a new location and requested then-Musofu Mission Director W. Cooks to grant them permission to open a school. The request was granted, and that was how the Mutaba Mission School was opened. The first class was held under a Mutaba tree in 1944; hence the name of the school became known as “Mutaba”.¹⁰ The first teacher sent to the Mutaba school was Twopence Chipumfi. With him was one of Longwani Mumba’s sons named Nelson Mumba, who had completed Standard IV, and he became one of the teachers.

The Mutaba school experienced rapid growth to the extent that it became a Sub-Mission station of the Musofu Mission. In 1947, Pastor James Muyeba from Chimpempe Mission and Jailos Mwanakapini, a recent ministerial graduate from Solusi, joined the staff of the Mutaba school. Evangelist Loti Sinyokosa also joined the team. As such, the Mutaba Sub Mission station had two ordained ministers, one evangelist, and five teachers. In essence, the school became a major outpost center for opening new churches in the rapidly growing towns of the Copperbelt Province.

These native evangelists at the Mutaba school shared their responsibilities strategically. Pastor Mwanakapini oversaw all the churches in the towns of Copperbelt Province while he was stilling residing at Mutaba. By then, there were three churches in the towns of the Copperbelt Province, that is, Ndola Main (now known as the Mission Church), Kansuswa in Mufulira, and Kasompe in Chingola. In due course, other congregations were established, such as Chifubu and Kabushi in Ndola, Kwacha and Wusakile in Kitwe, Mikomfwa and Roan Mine churches in Luanshya. Pastor James Muyeba oversaw all the churches in the 15 chiefdoms of the Copperbelt rural. Evangelist Loti Sinyokosa assisted Pastor Muyeba. In addition to the Mutaba Mission school, Adventists had five other prominent mission schools: Kapepa, Fula, Kabwata, Kalyabune, and Mufungu.

It is worth reiterating that Mission schools served as forerunners or the entering wedge for church planting in the Copperbelt Province. At the same time, it must be noted that these schools were mainly concentrated in the countryside or rural areas. As new mines were opened and towns began to mushroom in the Copperbelt Province, many people began to migrate from various rural areas of Zambia to the new towns in the Copperbelt looking for employment. Several of those migrants were former pupils of Adventist mission schools who eventually regrouped to plant several churches in the towns.

Historical Turning Point

A wave of colonial government policy changes in the education sector affected the operation of these Mission schools. Around 1952, the federal government offered to assist the Mission schools by supplying 50 percent of their wage bill for teachers. The Northern Rhodesia Mission Field president at the Rusangu Mission, Elder E. A. Trumper, consented to this offer on behalf all Adventist mission schools. Following the country’s independence from colonial rule, another policy was instituted by the new government in 1965 to unilaterally take over all Mission schools while giving their teachers an option to either remain on the SDA Church’s payroll or move to the government one. This led to the demise of Adventist education in Mission schools since nearly all the teachers opted to go for the higher salary offered by the government.

Meanwhile, the churches which had been opened through the influence of the Mission schools continued flourishing in most of the rural areas. Rapid population growth in the Copperbelt towns also helped bring together people with an Adventist background to establish many new churches. Some of the “parent” Mission schools, such as those at Musofu and Mutaba, persisted in their mission endeavors though facing many challenges.

Post-Independence Zambia - 1965 to 1972

When in 1965, the new Zambian government, under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, decided to completely take over all Mission schools, many teachers left the Mission schools. After having lost so many experienced teacher-evangelists who opted to go for the “greener pastures” offered by the new post-independence government, Adventist Mission schools lost their initial mission focus.

Up to this point in time, there was only one mission field covering the whole country of Zambia, and they had offices at Rusangu Mission in Monze in the southern part of the country. According to C. Chipabila, the SDA Church tried to revive the declining Musofu Mission in 1964 by sending a white missionary from Nyasaland (Malawi) named G. A. Otter. Otter left Musofu in 1968 and he became the last official white missionary to serve there. Then J. P. Sisala took over as the first native mission director at Musofu.¹¹ About that same time, the Adventist Church congregation in Ndola had become large enough to need a resident pastor. So, in 1967, Pastor James Muyeba became the first pastor to be posted in the Ndola town, although only for a short time as he was called to Rusangu Mission to serve as Zambia Field vice president, to Pastor I. E. Schultz.¹²

Apparently, Adventist mission schools had managed to inculcate their values and doctrines in their students deeply enough for them to keep planting churches wherever they went. By the early 1970s, the church grew strong enough to start asking for Union Mission status. But there was quite some resistance from the Zambesi Union Mission, whose head office was in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). What the Zambesi Union Mission desired was the creation of additional mission fields and not a new Union Mission. Pastor Nelson L. Mumba, who was one of the 24 delegates to the meeting held at Lusaka Central SDA Church in March 1972, explained that it was not easy to convince the leaders from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) that a new Union Mission was more ideal.¹³ However, leaders from the Trans-African Division office in Salisbury, particularly Pastor Merle L. Mills, who was the Division president, and Elder Cuthbert, who was the Division treasurer, managed to prevail over the matter, and a decision was made to grant Zambia Union Mission status with three Mission Fields – South Zambia Field, West Zambia Field, and North Zambia Field.

Creation of New Mission Fields - 1973 to 1988

As part of the creation of the Zambia Union Mission in 1972, the country’s territory was divided into three Mission fields. The South Zambia Field’s territory covered three provinces--that is, the Southern, Central, and Eastern provinces. All the churches in these provinces reported to the South Zambia Field headquarters’ offices at Rusangu in Monze, in the Southern Province. West Zambia Field territory covered two provinces – the Western and North-Western provinces. All the churches in these two provinces reported to the West Zambia Field offices in Mongu, in Western Province. Copperbelt, Luapula, and Northern provinces belonged to the North Zambia Field who had offices in Mansa, in Luapula Province.

This territorial realignment to create these three fields proved to be a blessing since it helped the Church in Zambia to grow rapidly. By the late 1980s, the need to further realign the Zambia Union Mission territory became evident. Under the leadership of Dr. L. D. Raelly as the Union Mission president, a bold decision was made to further realign the Zambia Union Mission territory to create three additional Mission fields. The newly created Mission fields included Copperbelt, East, and Central Zambia Fields, who had offices in Ndola, Chipata, and Kabwe respectively.

New Educational Institution

Prior to the birth of Copperbelt Zambia Field (CZF) in 1988, another major development took place. Elder Daniel S. Chintilye, a former student and teacher at the Musofu Mission school, felt the need to open another mission school closer to the Copperbelt towns. When his campaign for this project failed to gain enough support, he single-handedly started a school called the Mupapa Adventist Secondary School. Classes were initially held under a big Mupapa tree at the Mupapa Main SDA Church from 1982 to 1984 when it relocated to its current site. Elder Chintilye acquired a 250 hectares piece of land on the northern banks of the Kafulafuta River, about 5 kilometers east of the Ndola-Kapiri Mposhi highway. The school operated as a private school until 1992 when it was handed over to the SDA Church as a non-governmental, fully church-owned school during the leadership of Pastor Alexander S. Mwinga as Copperbelt Zambia Field president. The Mupapa Secondary School has played a major role in evangelizing the student population that passes through its doors over the years. Some of its former pupils are now church workers.

Currently, the Mupapa Secondary School is the only fully church-owned institution being run by the Copperbelt Zambia Conference (CZC). There is also a grant-aided health clinic operating on the school campus. CZC is still running the Musofu Mission school as a grant-aided school, and there is also a clinic operating on the school campus. There is another relatively new church-operated school named the Ibenga Combined School in Mpongwe, which is administered by the Conference as a grant-aided institution.¹⁴ Ibenga Combined School was started by the Ibenga SDA Church as a preschool in 2001 with the support of the community, and Kingsley Kasongo was their first teacher. Then Leah Kauseni Mambwe became the first government teacher to be assigned there, and he served as teacher-in-charge from 2002 when Grade 1 was introduced. This school is currently the largest church-administered educational institution in the CZC territory with a combined enrollment of more than 1,500 learners from preschool to grade 12.

So far, we have seen how the realignment of territories to create new mission fields helped to enhance the rapid growth of the church as the administration of the work was taken closer to the people. The newly created entities were designed to shorten the distances between the local churches and the administrative offices. In this way, the local churches in North-Western and Central Provinces started to report to the Copperbelt Zambia Field offices in Ndola. Attention will now be focused on the growth of Adventism in Copperbelt Zambia Field (CZF) from 1988 to date. While a lot has happened, the scope of this article does not allow for every detail to be included.

Adventist Church Growth from 1988 to Date

Before the territorial realignment done in 1988, the North Zambia Field (NZF) territory comprised four provinces – Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt, and North-Western (North-Western Province was detached from West Zambia Field and attached to Copperbelt Zambia Field in 1996). The NZF had 192 churches and 26,006 baptized members.¹⁵ At the time of territorial realignment in April 1988, the membership of the Copperbelt Zambia Field stood at 19,704 and 61 churches.¹⁶ By the close of that year (1988), the membership had increased to 21,524. Meanwhile, the new North Zambia Field remained with most of the churches (131), but with less membership (about 6,302). The North Zambia Field president was Pastor Albert M. Kawila, and the Secretary-treasurer was Elder A. D. Chinyoka. The territory had a total of 29 gospel ministers, of whom 13 were credentialed and 16 were licensed.¹⁷ This marked the birth of the present Copperbelt Zambia Field comprising the North-Western, Copperbelt, and parts of Central Province.

During the period from 1980 to today (2024), SDA Church growth has mainly been propelled by the active involvement of lay people in evangelism. The peak period of conducting lay evangelistic campaigns (traditionally called “crusades”) was between 1980 and 2000. During this era, nearly every evangelistic campaign resulted in planting of a new congregation, both in rural and urban areas.¹⁸ Women played a significant role in church planting through the Dorcas Society’s Community Services and conducting public evangelistic campaigns. During the administrative leadership of Pastor Daniel Chuunga as president and Abel Koti as secretary-treasurer, a decision was made to organize the Copperbelt Zambia Field into a Conference,¹⁹ and the organizational ceremony took place in 2014.

The period from 1990 to 2020 (30 years) saw the number of churches increase from 126 to 601 and the membership from 25,435 to 214,273. However, the increase in the pastoral workforce was relatively small, making the pastor-to-member ratio become very high. In 1990, the total number of gospel ministers was 25. Eight of them were credentialed while 17 were licensed, making the pastor-to-member ratio stand at 1:1,017. The total number of pastors at end of 2020 was 42, of whom 29 were credentialled and 13 licensed, giving a pastor-to-membership ratio of 1:5,101. Another significant point to note is that the number of churches more than doubled in just two years from 61 in 1988 to 126 in 1990. This was so because there were so many companies in the new field that were waiting to be organized into churches.

As a result of these growth trends in CZC, organizational management at both the local church and the higher administrative levels revealed the need to realign the Conference territory into two. The Conference administrators at that time were pastors Webster Chabe and Christopher Mwampokota as president and executive secretary respectively, and Elder Eliudie Masamba as treasurer. The action to realign the Conference territory into two was taken on June 27, 2019.²⁰ The Copperbelt Zambia Conference territory became realigned in February 2020 to usher in the new entities, namely, the Copperbelt Zambia Conference (with offices in Ndola) and the North-Western Zambia Conference (with offices in Solwezi). In view of the growth statistics of CZC, another realignment of this entity appears imminent. The Copperbelt Zambia Conference has already grown to be too big to be managed from one administrative office.

List of presidents²¹

Demus Chende (1988-1990); Alexander S. Mwinga (1991-1994); Duwell Malipilo (1995-2004); Webster Chabe (2004-2009); Daniel Chuunga (2010-2014); Moses P. Muyunda (2014-2016); Webster Chabe (2017-2019); Kerries Liambai (2020-2022); Webster Chabe (2023-present).

Sources

Adventist Statistics – Copperbelt Zambia Conference, accessed March 12, 2024. https://adventiststatistics.org/view_Summary.asp?FieldInstID=3558.

Copperbelt Zambia Field of Seventh-day Adventists, (Ndola, Zambia), Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on June 13, 2013.

Copperbelt Zambia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (Ndola, Zambia), Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on June 27, 2019.

Norman Kachamba, Musofu Mission School, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=3CXZ&highlight=Musofu|. Accessed September 6, 2024.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Various years. .

Notes

1. Adventist Statistics – Copperbelt Zambia Conference, accessed March 12, 2024, https://adventiststatistics.org/view_Summary.asp?FieldInstID=3558.↩

2. Clofford Chipabila, interview by author, Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, April 2, 2024. Chipabila enrolled at the Musofu Mission school in 1942 and completed Standard VI in 1950 before being employed there. He was one of the primary sources of information for early history of Adventism in Copperbelt and Central.↩

3. Norman Kachamba, “Musofu Mission School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: (Review and Herald Publishing Association, accessed September 6, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=3CXZ&highlight=Musofu|.↩

4. Nelson Longwani Mumba, interview by author, Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, April 12, 2024. Nelson Longwani Mumba was a pupil and then teacher at Musofu Mission School, and his father was one of the first students there in 1917. He is one of the primary sources of information related to the early days of Adventism in Copperbelt and parts of the Central Provinces.↩

5. Songeya Langson, Jr., interview by the author, July 24, 2024. Langson is the firstborn son of Elder Langson Songeya, Senior, who served as church elder for the mother church of nearly all the churches in the current Lunchu Mission District for a very long time.↩

6. Ibid.↩

7. Mary Mfumbaika Ndatoya, interview by the author, July 24, 2024. She is one of the few surviving pioneers of the Adventist Church in the CZC who witnessed the start of both the Nkole Primary School and the local SDA Church.↩

8. Ibid.↩

9. Ibid.↩

10. Nelson L. Mumba, interview by the author, April 12, 2024.↩

11. Chipabila C., interview by the author, April 2, 2024.↩

12. “Zambia Field, Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: (Review and Herald Publishing Association, n.d., 269), accessed March 12, 2024.↩

13. Nelson L. Mumba, interview by the author, April 12, 2024.↩

14. Leah Kauseni Mambwe, interview by author, Masaiti District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, June 12, 2024. She was the first head teacher assigned by the government to this newly opened community school under SDA Church administration. Between 2013 and 2016, this school received donor funding from a team of Australians under the leadership of Brian Atkinson for infrastructure development.↩

15. “Zambia Union Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: (Review and Herald Publishing Association 1988, 77), accessed March 12, 2024, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/YB1988.pdf.↩

16. “Zambia Union Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1989, 73), accessed March 12, 2024, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Yearbooks/YB1988.pdf.↩

17. Ibid., 1988, 73.↩

18. Webster Chabe, personal knowledge from working in Zambia Union Mission territory from 1987 to date.↩

19. Copperbelt Zambia Field of Seventh-day Adventists, (Ndola, Zambia), minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on June 13, 2013.↩

20. Copperbelt Zambia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (Ndola, Zambia), minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on June 27, 2019.↩

21. Webster Chabe, personal knowledge from working in the Copperbelt Zambia Conference for many years.↩