A program to counter spiritistic rituals among Adventists in Hilanga Mission district, Lusaka Conference, Zambia

Abstract

The rate of Adventist Church growth in the Chilanga Mission District of Lusaka Conference in Zambia is overwhelmingly great, yet the dual allegiance of members to both Spiritualism and Adventism is a matter of serious concern. Five in ten of the church members have showed a constant participation either secretly or publicly in the spiritualistic rituals of local traditional religion understood broadly as ATR. For this reason there was a need to go against the tide to create a counter effort in form of a project to confound the practice. The researcher sought to establish these facts of scriptural basis against the practice of spiritualism and thereafter creatively and consciously designed a project on practical action based program to engage the church members.Understanding that there are adverse principles in the scholarly field supporting the fact that ATR should be encouraged is a matter that cannot be underestimated. For this reason the approached that was taken had the Ethno philosophers Principles in mind.This was an attempt to dislodge claims that ATR is equal to Christianity. Thus the proper Biblical guidelines identified in the study guided the whole process academically and spiritually to its end. The researchers’ conclusion of the project was that, very few of the African Adventists living in the area under study are safe from turning their backs from the truth if faced with difficult situations. For this reason a lot of help was needed in strengthening education, social community emphasis, and empowerment of leadership so as to have the best desirable condition of members. The Bible references given or used in the whole document are quoted from the Holy Bible (New American Standard Version), unless otherwise quoted from another version.