The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ),
The Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ)
and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC)
“I have seen the Miserable State of my People … I have heard their Cry” (Ex 3:7)
We the three Christian Church Mother Bodies namely: the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) are repeatedly saddened at the rampant political violence that keeps on popping its ugly face especially in the recent by-elections. As people who have a God given mandate of exercising the prophetic mission in our nation and in our time, we cannot tolerate such abominable and immoral acts being committed right before our very eyes. Our nation today, stands at the crossroads and we are in a crisis. We face many challenges related with governance and survival, among which, are increasing levels of poverty among the majority of our people, a pervading cancer of rampant corruption, escalating youth unemployment, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, an education system that is falling apart, a poor health service delivery coupled with the unclear constitution making process, the gagging or muzzling of people’s freedoms, the arrests of the opposition party leaders and human rights violations. As Zambians, we all need to examine our conscience, seek the truth and work towards bringing back hope to our people. READ MORE
mafrsaprovince
With the permission of Daniel Kashimoto.
This statement is full of truth to be welcomed by people who have ears but only use them to hear nice things said about them. But the truth of the Gospel demands that we listen to the Spirit of God in the everyday lives of our people and respond to it. And only a blood-thirsty and power-hungry people would close his/her ears to the cries of the powerless. Imagine a country comprising of unruly people! Let us all stand up together to defend our country from those who mean nothing but bad.
EPK
The Prophetic voice of the church must never die!
FR. Peter Chungu
As we enter the Easter Triduum the Three days which calls us to walk the talk with Jesus as he prepares to enter Jerusalem. It should however, be stressed that sometimes as Christians we tend to forget or may I say over spiritualize that when Jesus was crucified in such a violent way it was done by human beings like you and I. It was the norm in the ancient times and it became the culture to stone those perceived to have committed certain offences. in other words a culture where violence was enjoyed prevailed and an innocent man in the person of Jesus was indeed crucified in the same common brutal and violent way. He endured that suffering because of his faithfulness to his father which led him to even die on the cross.
Reflecting on the events in Zambia especially during by elections, free assembly being denied but above all the violence culture that has come in our beloved country I wouldn’t be surprised if we too are not “killing the innocent” in gruesome ways…..It has indeed become the norm that anyone with divergent views in our country should either be arrested or silenced and this was what happened to Jesus. Jesus had different views that challenged the status quo and they decided to arrest him….! His love for God our father earned us eternal life, eternal peace and we are proud to be among his sons and daughters.
And yet in our country we as the clergy especially in our Catholic Church have somehow either forgotten or over spiritualized our prophetic voice such that during this time when there is so much political confusion in our country we have willingly or unwillingly decided to keep silent. Our silence speaks volumes and I say this because history tells us that in our beloved country the Catholics have always provided the prophetic voice without fear or favour like the prophets of old. But right now when our country is under siege by our own failures and the “political confusion” that we have brought upon ourselves as a Church we have rather taken ‘leave’ of our prophetic voice. As a country we seriously need to reflect where we have come from and where we would like to be for we cannot afford to be held by this wanton situation which is fallen on our country.
I am therefore, kindly urging all Christians and especially those in leadership of proclaiming the good news to those in captivity to really awaken the prophetic voices in order to redeem us from the idols of the mind which has led to our country having such “political, socio and economic confusion”….Unfortunately the confusion has a lot of repercussions such as youth unemployment, political instability, economic instability etc. Without going in details of what is happening you all know that “imimbulu” has infiltrated our country and they have indeed succeeded in holding our country directionless…….As a Church we need to speak against such behavior because when our country experiences the above mentioned the “body of Christ” the people of Zambia are indeed entering the tomb and it will require God’s intervention …. We are in a way as country already in that tomb and only God’s mercy, love and power can save us from this wanton tragedy we have brought upon ourselves.
May this Easter Triduum period be a time for us to seek God’s wisdom and fortitude to awaken the prophetic voice in our midst….Please God raise men and women to bring about your good will and never allow your prophetic voice to die…..
Wishing you all a blessed and happy Easter!!!!!
Note: “Imimbulu” is a Bemba proverb that refers to small animals that are commonly seen in Zambia. They move in groups and they have determination to kill even an elephant….! They run fast, bite and bring down the animal they are pursuing no matter how strong it is. In the context of the Zambia political spectrum, “Imimbulu” is active since the dawn of MMD. But now, people have come to realise that “Imimbulu” is in our midst.