Church on the farm

Ever since Christian Vision started working in the farm in 1994, there has been a church on the site. In the early days farm workers, their families and CV staff gathered in one of the barns to worship and pray together regularly. A church; a community of believers, who were reaching out to their neighbours with the love of Christ, was born.

Over the years some staff have chosen to travel into town and join established churches there, but there has always been a core group meeting on the farm to meet with local people. The venue has changed many times and since the development of the bible college, which is called Christian Vocation Training College, or CVTC for short, a purpose-built chapel is well used right throughout the week.

When we are in Zambia, we usually meet with this church on Sundays. Now it is run by the college students, which gives them a training opportunity to experience some the demands of running a church. The college staff do not get involved, except to visit occasionally.

Many local people are part of the church and this is the 'Praise Team' who help to lead the worship. Most of them are teenagers and they share the singing and playing of instruments (out of photo).

Usually the songs are in the Bemba language and sung with great enthusiasm and dancing. There are no hymn books or words reproduced on an overhead projector. As a visitor, I just clap and move along to the rythym. There is plenty of scope to praise God in your own language, as the volume is quite loud.

The service starts with an interactive Bible Study before the worship time, then the children go to their own groups, whilst the adults listen to a sermon, by one of the students. This is always translated into English or Bemba, depending on those present.

Here the children are being prayed for before leaving for their groups. It always makes me smile when they pray against 'a spirit of naughtiness', so that they behave in their classes!

I took this just as they turned to leave, so you could see their beautiful faces and 'Sunday best' outfits. When you meet them playing in the road such clothes are never seen, in fact they look like urchins, with dirty torn T-shirts and often not wearing shoes. The brown sandy soil quickly ruins clothes, so children wear their oldest, scruffiest garments to play in and do their chores. They also have a school uniform, which is also quickly removed upon reaching home. It is easy to form an uncomplete picture of life for these families, which although tough, is not without the basics. They don't have much but they are happy and largely stress-free.