Two ministers, opposite sides of the road in South Dunedin, both from Zambia - what are the odds?The odds are pretty good if you consider 85% of Zambia's 14.5 million people identify themselves as Christian.
South Dunedin Baptist Church pastor Sandala Mwanje is the recent arrival, having taken up his position late last year.
His wife of two years, Adabelle, has worked in Dunedin Hospital and lived in New Zealand for eight years, so he decided to come over from Zambia too, and arrived in March last year.
''We started attending this church then they learnt that I was a pastor in Zambia, so they gave me a few opportunities to preach and then in November last year I became pastor.''
Their first child - daughter Omega - was born in December last year.
Across the road, his countryman, Henry Mbambo, has already spent seven years as minister of the Dunedin South Presbyterian Church.
In July, he and his family, wife Chileya and children Taonga, Lusangu and Kondwani, will be heed a new call and head for Ashburton.
''We feel at this point we have done our part in the life of this church and want to share our passion for Christ in the wider community.''
He said there were big differences between churches in New Zealand and in Zambia.
The congregations in Zambian churches were much bigger on average - probably due to the large Christian population there.
He described the worship back in Zambia as ''more spontaneous'' although he was reluctant to label it as noisy.
''I wouldn't call it noise, I would say we are just joyful, maybe joyful noise. Rarely do we sing from a hymn book; [we] sing from memory a lot of the time.''
He said the fact there were two Zambian ministers on opposite sides of King Edward St in South Dunedin showed how ''connected'' the church was around the world.
