Roman Catholic missionaries entered the territory of Bemba-speakers in Central Africa in 1891. 70 years later the Church in Bembaland was about to enter a new phase as an independent religious community within a newly established African nation. This work traces the stages of church growth from its pioneering introduction to a traditional agricultural polity, through periods of disturbing economic and social change, to the later challenges from autochthonous Christian foundations originating in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions.