Network Pastoral Afrika

About the Institute

Faith and Encounter Centre Zambia (shortened as FENZA) is a pastoral centre devoted to faiths and cultures in Zambia. It is based in Lusaka. FENZA is a project of the Missionaries of Africa or White Fathers. It was established in 2007 with the backing of the catholic Bishops of Zambia. It was created in the wake of the first African Synod to help the Church in Zambia to respond to the new evangelisation with regards to culture and to foster the Church’s mission to others. Inspired by the first African Synod call for an in-depth evangelization through inculturation and dialogue, FENZA engages in research and promotes reflection on matters of pastoral interests particularly in the fields of encounter with culture, ecumenism, and interreligious dialogue.

Vision/Mission

The mission of FENZA is to empower Christians to face the challenges of contemporary and traditional cultures with openness, and to encounter people of different Christian denominations, contemporary religious movements and religions.

We dream of a more visible FENZA with a greater contribution and impact in the Zambian missionary thinking and praxis. FENZA aims also at becoming a reference centre for interfaith encounters and activities.

Curriculum

FENZA engages in activities that are ordered as follows:

• Library and Archives: FENZA runs a resource centre that consists of a library and an archive. The library contains thousands of books and journals on anthropology, sociology, history, religions, African studies, ecumenism, missiology and Zambia; with a provision to online access to e-libraries. The archive at FENZA holds diaries of the first and early mission stations, early publications, historical documents and various collections on culture, making it an invaluable memory of the Church in Zambia.
• Language and Culture courses: FENZA offers intensive courses in two main Zambian languages i.e. Bemba and Nyanja. We also offer short courses of introduction to life in Zambia for people who wish to deepen their understanding of the cultural, religious, social and economic dynamics in Zambia.
• Research and Animation: FENZA organizes teams to research and facilitate workshops and conferences on cultural and religious topics relevant to its mission, e.g. Inculturation, Witchcraft and Satanism, interfaith encounter, Ecumenism, Missiology, Islam. Time-frame and ways of running the workshops are flexible to suit the participants. Whenever possible or mandated these subjects lead to research and publication. Our research findings are put forward in publications and made available on our website.
• Encounter: We have established contacts and partnership with various Churches, Traditional Healers and Muslims. We also take part in organized functions such as non-Catholic worship, ecumenical groups, interreligious conferences.

FENZA collaborates and exchanges expertise with other like-minded institutions at local level. We also share resources through our interconnected websites. Although working mainly in Lusaka, FENZA reaches out to other dioceses upon request. In addition, as a centre that works under the trusteeship of the Missionaries of Africa in Southern Africa, FENZA collaborates with the other centres under the same administration i.e. the Centre for Social Concern, Ku Ngoni Centre of Culture and Arts (both in Malawi), and the Centro de Formação Nazaré (Mozambique).

Partner of Network Pastoral Africa

For FENZA, the Network Pastoral Africa (NPA) provides a valuable ongoing formation opportunity and a way for pastoral institutes in Africa to learn from each other and share expertise. We look forward to an increase in sharing resources through various means within the NPA.

Fr. Romaric Bationo (Director)