Church Leader at the Well

On October 24 the Toyota pickup trucks arrive unexpectedly, sending dust billows through the grassless soccer field where a group of teenagers are enjoying a late-afternoon game. The heart-and-soul players see the vehicles approaching and decide to take a break. They walk toward the trucks, which have stopped by the dirt path, as other village residents also come closer to find out what is going on.

A delegation of Maranatha Volunteers International, a supporting ministry that builds churches and schools and drills water wells around the world, has made a stop near Chipata, in eastern Zambia, to check on one of the Seventh-day Adventist one-day church structures and a water well they gifted the community some time before. The trucks carry Maranatha leaders, supporters, and a special guest: Harrington Akombwa, a pastor who is currently president of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID) of the Adventist Church.

Tears by the Well

As the guests descend from their vehicles, dozens of children and a few adults are already walking to meet them. Not even the ubiquitous reddish dust can hide their wide smiles. “Let’s check to see how your water well is doing,” one of the visitors tells them after exchanging customary greetings. “And let’s also see how your church building is progressing.”

Locals lead the visitors to the well, around which a dozen smiling children, mostly barefoot, are buzzing around.

A Maranatha worker soon starts pumping water out, and Akombwa bends down to check the spurting liquid himself.

“This is good, good water,” he says after taking a few sips. “Sweet, sweet water.”

Then, as he turns around, Akombwa sees the dust-blanketed, barefoot children looking expectantly at him.

“When I see these kids, I see myself reflected in them,” Akombwa says, suddenly fighting back tears. “You know, I used to be one of them.”

Bible Truth and Education

Harrington Simui Akombwa, a native Zambian, was elected for a second term to his current position at the 2025 General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in July. An experienced leader, he has served in church administration positions for more than 30 years, including as secretary and then president of the Zambia Union Conference (and the Southern Zambia Union Conference after the territory was divided in two in 2015).

But it was not always so. Akombwa grew up in Zambia’s western region, in a village very similar to the one he is now visiting on the other side of the country. He knows firsthand some of the major challenges the locals feel: extreme poverty, a subsistence-based economy, and often a lack of long-term vision and opportunities.

At the same time, Akombwa knows by experience how much power there is in the message of the gospel and in education. He’s also a believer in the strong bond between the Adventist Church’s steady growth and Adventist education. “Studies consistently show that those who get to know the Adventist message in an Adventist school are very likely to stay as church members for the rest of their lives,” he emphasizes.

Once more, Akombwa’s comments are based on his personal experience.

Growing up amid major family challenges, Akombwa didn’t know about the Adventist message. After he found God and Bible truth, however, his life experienced a marked turnaround, he says. Akombwa completed undergraduate and graduate studies at Solusi College (later Solusi University) in Zimbabwe, and in 2010 a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership at Andrews University in the United States.

Now as a father of five adult sons and as a grandfather, Akombwa says Bible-based education is more than ever the way to go. “Education changes people,” he says. “What would I be without the opportunity of getting an education?”

A Game Changer

In extremely challenging social and economic contexts, supporting ministries such as Maranatha are essential to providing opportunities for growth, Akombwa says. In Zambia, he explains, education—even private education—is paid by the government, which also trains and provides as many teachers as possible, so tuition is not an issue. Still, school buildings can’t keep up with the growth of the general population and of the Adventist Church across the nation (Zambia has an estimated 1.5-million baptized Adventist members, second only to Brazil).

It is against this backdrop that the work of Maranatha, which is fully funded by private donors, comes into focus, Akombwa says. In a region with an extremely long dry season, a free water well for the community is usually the first entry and meeting point that locals value and cherish. Then, as much as possible, Maranatha provides church buildings, usually a one-day church, which is a simple but reinforced steel frame and a roof under which church members and their families can meet.

To serve and benefit as many people and villages as possible, Maranatha often uses volunteers to raise the basic steel structure produced by local crews and then leaves members with the task of building up the church walls, providing seats or pews, and finding ways to purchase doors and windows. “It is something that encourages ownership of the building,” Maranatha leaders explain. “It fosters self-sufficiency and a sense of belonging.”

Singing of God’s Miraculous Love

During the October 24 visit, Akombwa and the rest of the visiting crew saw firsthand the progress on the members’ one-day church. Residents proudly showed visitors how much progress they had made on the building since the leaders’ last visit. Block walls have now joined the base of the roof, and stone logs now double as pews. “We still need to raise funds to purchase windows and doors,” a local church member shares. “We would like to finish our building as soon as possible.”

Akombwa, Maranatha team members, and church members in charge of the building remove wooden branches on a side door and walk into the bare sanctuary. Once inside, Akombwa walks to the stage and starts leading in an impromptu rendition of the well-known Christian song “Jesus Loves Me.” For just a couple of seconds his words bounce back from the walls of the cavernous sanctuary before guests and members rush to join him. “Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so,” they sing.

When the singing fades, a local member politely presses on what they are still missing. “What about those doors and windows?” she asks. “Having a church here is a miracle,” a Maranatha team member answers. “So keep praying that the miracle may keep unfolding!”

Akombwa agrees. “Certainly this is just the beginning,” he says. “We haven’t seen the end of the story.”