PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Baptist Convention of Zambia (BCZ) is the newest and since 2017 a full member of EBM INTERNATIONAL. For the first time a church convention was registered into the EBM INTERNATIONAL family by a new procedure. At first contact was just through Feltcher Kaiya (Malawi) as our regional representative in that region. Upon meeting at our mission council we reflected if our values corresponded and if a cooperative and equal collaboration was possible.
We are supporting the training of leaders in different ways with a total of 20 000 Euros a year as a pilot project. This way we are covering the costs of two young men of Zambia that are being trained at the theological seminary in Lilongwe that are wanting to get a degree in theology. We are hoping to invest long term into future leaders of the church convention. At the same time it’s great to see how partnerships are being formed naturally between the Baptist conventions in southern Africa.
In addition to that BCZ has designed a schooling program for the many church founding initiatives in the country to be connected and to offer trainings to leaders. The challenge is that all the different people that have founded churches often know very little of each other and dispose of different possibilities and competences. Through training measures important tools for their work is being taught and the contact among them is established. This way they can support each other well.
One of the concerns is for the trainings to take into account the value of integral mission of EBM INTERNATIONAL and to include the holistic needs of people and villages. The base is always the existing resources that are already available on site.