Lumpa Church

Lumpa Church is the name given to a religious movement that arose in Zambia in the 1950s. The name Lumpa means "better than all others" in the Bemba language.

The group began with the ideals of Alice Mulenga Lubusha who rechristened herself Alice Lenshina or essentially "Alice the Queen." The group was what could be deemed the "eradication movement" in African religion. It strongly opposed polygamy and "sorcery". It emphasized baptism and wrote hymns better suited to the language of the people.

By 1958 the organization adopted the controversial rejection of all earthly authority. It began having its own courts and refused to pay taxes or be registered with the state. This led to a confrontation soon after Zambia became independent, This violent confrontation led to the deaths of approximately 700 members and the arrest of Alice Lenshina. Alice was released in 1975, but imprisoned two years later for trying to revive the movement's strength. The Catholic Lay movement Legion of Mary adopted some of their hymns and thus converted some of the former members. Although the Lumpa Church itself is said to survive in a diminished and largely underground form.

Further details are in History of Church activities in Zambia

ee also

*History of Church activities in Zambia

External links

* [http://www.dacb.org/stories/zambia/lenshina1_alice.html Alice Lenshina biographical information]
* [http://www.shikanda.net/african_religion/lumpa0.htm Anthropological case study of Lumpa]