A Brief Background of the Church of Christ in Zambia:
It is believed that brother Peter Masiya brought the Church of Christ doctrine in Zambia which was then Northern Rhodesia around the year of 1907. their not clear exactly where he came from, but he is believed to have come from Malawi or Mozambique. He came to Livingstone and arrived at the Village of Chief Mukuni near the Victoria Falls. At that time there were no schools in that area, but this brother started preaching the word of God as well as teaching those who believed in Christ how to read and write. Since they were already old, they were learning together with their children.
However, around the year 1912, another man came with the Church of Christ Mission School. He was a teacher who brought the School first at Chief Mukuni’s area. His name was Mr. Bulawayo Kukana. Thereafter he got married to one of his pupils. This teacher came from Zimbabwe, the then Southern Rhodesia. From there he became old and moved to Ngweze area, with his family and eventually he died there. His grandchildren are still live in Zambia. From there the Church and Misssion Schools spread to Nsinde, Ngweze, Sianalumba in Livingstone. Then Kabanga Mission was set up in Kalomo. Then in 1923 the Namwianga Mission was set up and is currently the biggest Church of Christ Mission with schools and hospitals.
Chilenje Church of Christ History
In 1951 six students came to Munali School from Namwianga and found no Church of Christ in the area, in fact at this time the Church of Christ had only reached Kalomo area from Livingstone. Fortunately brother Sianzalu and the 5 other students located two men, a Mr. Chirambo who was a printer at Namwianga and had come to join the Government printers, and Mr. Kambimbi. These two people both were staying in Chilenje and when they found them they said let us plan on how we can start the church in Chilenje. The Church was started in Brother Kambimbi’s house.
From 1950s more families from around Zambia and other countries came to Chilnje and joined the worship. This included worshiping under the tree. Apart from the pioneers who started the Chilenje congregation, Dr Murphy worked closely with other brethren like Chikwibu senior, Wilson Mulele, Musa Mufuzi and Nchena just to mention a few. It is reported that this Dr. Murphy was a very “Energetic and Enthusiastic Christian,” whose interest was to try and help establish churches in Lusaka, and he worked with the brethren tirelessly using his financial resources in the service of the Lord. A good example is that about 1953 – 1954, he hired a contractor to erect a church building which now houses the Christians at Chilenje, all from his pocket!”
Since the 50s the church continued up and down. Various leaders came and went. However it was on the 22nd August 1993 when the first scripturally ordained elders were installed at Chilenje. The three elders who were ordained were Elder Billy Siamunenge (late), Elder Adale R. Mukemu and Rabson W. Mhango (late). During this period, we still had veterans like Wilson Mulele, Musa Mufuzi, Chikwibu senior and a few others.
As time went on the Chilenje membership started growing to a point where the leadership resolved to plant a church in Bauleni as a number of members were coming from there. Still membership continued to grow such that late coming members could not fit in and ended up standing by the windows to follow the service. In view of that, the church leadership resolved to increase the capacity of the church building. A Building’s committee was set-up to fully implement this Project from Scratch to completion. The elders expected the project to be complete in 10 years’ time.
Early in 2002 the late elder and sister Mhango were invited to USA to attend the Jabulani Celebration, marking 100 years of Mission work in Africa by the Americans. The Chilenje leadership resolved to go and fundraising for the building from the American brethren. However, when the Mhango family got to the hosting Church, and saw the splendor of the church building, resolved that “if the God that we worship can bless the Americans like this, then He can bless us too”. Especially that earlier in the year one of our preachers (Dcn Kalaba) taught us that “Blessings do not come from Abroad but come from ABOVE!”. On 21st September 2003 the church leadership sank in the first pick to launch the new building project! The New building was completed and officiated on 25 September 2011.
The current membership of the congregation is around 220. The congregation upholds the Biblical teachings, doctrine and principles of the first Church of Christ established on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Act 2:41 Therefore, Chilenje Church of Christ anchors its mission on last words that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoke on mount Olives before he ascended to Heaven to preach, make and equip disciples of Jesus Christ. Mathew 28:-19-20
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