This weekend, back at our home church, it was announced that we plan to start The Life Church Durban in 2010!! Woo-hoo!! We are so excited! We joined each of the four services live via Skype at our Cordova campus - and I believe was shown on dvd at the Jackson and Collierville campuses.

We’ve been in Durban, South Africa since the middle of July - it made sense to move a little early so I could start going to a doctor here during the pregnancy. During this time we’ve been meeting with people who might be interested in being a part of the church, connecting with other churches and ministries here in Durban and basically learning as much as we can about this large and diverse city.

Diversity

One of the things we love about this city is the ethnic diversity. With a population of around 4 million, Durban has many different cultures and ethnicities residing within the city limits. We are believing that The Life Church Durban will be an ethnically diverse church representing the city demographics.

70% of the population are black African with the most common tribal ancestry being Zulu and Xhosa.The Zulu tribe, with it’s fearless leader Shaka Zulu, formed a large Zulu nation in early 19th century in this area. 

20% of the population have an Asian Indian ancestry. The Indians came to South Africa as indentured servants during the days of sugar plantations in the late 19th century.  Now, the community in Durban is the largest Indian community outside of India. Within this group you have Muslims, Hindus, and Christians - three distinct cultures.

10% of the population are white with European ancestry. The Europeans, mainly Dutch and British,  started settling in South Africa in the 17th century. In this area, the British have had the most influence in the white culture, but there are still many Afrikaans (Dutch ancestry) speakers here.