150 pastors, church leaders, and twenty students met in Kabwe, in the Central Province of Zambia, on Wednesday, May 28, 2008, to learn about and discuss the Micah Challenge program. Micah Challenge, a worldwide Christian initiative to encourage social action within the church, seeks to promote the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) signed by world leaders at the UN meeting in 2000. Various speakers came to present information and provide vision for the attendants who responded through question and answer sessions and group discussion.
Pastor David Muwowo of Kabwe Chapel opened the program with a
devotion based on Jesus’ parable of the rich man found in Mark 10:17-22. The rich man in the story became conscious of his unhealthy attachment to material wealth through an encounter with Christ. Pastor Muwowo argued that a true interaction with Jesus should result in conviction and recognition of personal corruption.
Pastor Martin Kapenda gave the first formal speech of the day. He introduced the MDGs and presented the current status of Zambia on reaching the proposed UN goals by 2015. He then highlighted the vision of Micah Challenge to build a global coalition of member organizations, churches, denominations, institutions, and individuals who are committed to engaging in poverty reduction and responding to the biblical call to ‘do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).
The second speaker was the Jubilee Centre’s Executive Director and National Facilitator of Micah Challenge, Pastor Lawrence Temfwe. He exhorted the participants to put into practice the 
biblical commission to make disciples of all nations while calling on them to live out the greatest commandment to love God and to love neighbor. Fulfilling this call requires integral mission. Such mission, emphasized Pastor Temfwe, seeks to positively affect the entirety of a person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual life with the Gospel. The Church must therefore be relevant to the Zambian context. Relevancy requires engagement in the lives, struggles, and needs of the people, actively working to love them and serving them. He argued that the call to integral mission is based on the work Jesus outlined in Luke 4:18-19. According to this passage, Jesus came to restore relationships. As the body of Christ the Church holds the same mission as Jesus. Therefore, as a body the Church must respond to the MDG campaign not because the UN says so, but because God commands us. Pastor Temfwe offered the attendees practical means to get involved through prayer, signing the Micah Call, and taking action as an individual, church, community, and a nation.
The keynote speaker of the day was Central Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Christopher Mutembo. He called for the government, opposition parties, international institutions, the business sectors, civil society, and the Church to work together towards the MDGs. “To achieve the MDGs, Zambia needs everyone,” exclaimed the Deputy Permanent Secretary. He emphasized the role of the government as an entity for the Church and Civil Society to partner with in development. He also encouraged unity “across denominations, and tribes, across
Report submitted by
Chloé Lee, Ashleigh Rogers, and Bethany Wilson.
