By Rainer Sousa
During the Second World War, the advance of the Nazi armies caused enormous fear among the populations affected by the conflict. After managing to conquer French territory without major difficulties, the German army almost defeated the British in a series of arduous conflicts. At that time, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called on the population of his country to resist enemy attacks.
Little did he know that his histrionic speeches would end up being confused with the “voice of God” that would go on to found a church in Northern Rhodesia, present-day Zambia. It all started when young Alice Lenshina recovered from a coma triggered by contracting malaria. After regaining her health, she came out saying that she had a religious mission to fulfill by founding a church that combined elements of African religiosity with other principles of Christianity.
To attract people willing to convert to the unprecedented belief, Alice wandered around with a gramophone on which she reproduced a speech by Winston Churchill. According to Lenshina, the English statesman's incomprehensible slogans were a call in which God told his listeners to convert to the new religion. Contrary to what many would think, the strategy worked.
In the late 1950s, the so-called Lumpa Church had between 50 and 150 thousand followers. The formation of this great congregation resulted in the construction of a temple in the middle of the African forest. During spiritual sessions, worshipers would enter a trancelike state as they listened to Churchill's indecipherable words. Until then, it seems that a new religion was taking promising directions to figure in the religious scene of the second half of the 20th century.
However, the lack of connection with the political transformations of his country – during the 1960s – would cause serious problems for the denomination. In 1964, Northern Rhodesia achieved its political autonomy from England. With that, Kenneth Kaunda became the new political head of the nation and established the prescription of the Lumpa Church. This measure occurred because of the involvement of some of Alice's followers with the opposition directed to the new state.
The main temple of the church was destroyed, some worshipers were arrested and murdered and Lenshina was sentenced to prison. In 1978, she ended up dying amidst the wear and tear suffered with the escapes and captures that marked the end of her peculiar religious preaching. So that the episode would not cause further problems, President Kaunda publicly declared his forgiveness to Alice Lenshina.