REV. VIOLET SAMPA-BREDT:THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE ORDAINED MINISTER IN UCZ …AND RUBBED THE CHURCH THE WRONG WAY “The Church Was Upset Because I Baptised Children Born From Polygamous Marriages … And Got Married Against Its Traditions” AS the first woman to be ordained minister in the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), Reverend Violet Sampa-Bredt […]

REV. VIOLET SAMPA-BREDT:
THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE ORDAINED MINISTER IN UCZ …
AND RUBBED THE CHURCH THE WRONG WAY

“The Church Was Upset Because I Baptised Children Born From Polygamous Marriages … And Got Married Against Its Traditions”

AS the first woman to be ordained minister in the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), Reverend Violet Sampa-Bredt was no stranger to breaking barriers. But in 1976, she shook the church to its very core.
By choosing a traditional Zambian wedding to marry German missionary Rolf Friedrick Bredt, she bypassed UCZ protocols. The decision sent shockwaves through the church, causing both top leaders and everyday congregants to demand disciplinary action.
If that wasn’t enough, she stepped on the church’s nerves yet again by defiantly baptising dozens of children from polygamous families.

For a long time, Rev Sampa-Bredt served as Secretary General for the Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ).

Follow the details in the excerpt from my newly released book: Conversations with Memorable Personalities, Part 2 (2026), By Amos Malupenga, Pages 237 – 238.

Rev. Violet Sampa-Bredt:
“I knew I was in love with him and that when we went home [in the village] I should introduce him as my lover, but I was not sure my family would embrace him as such, so I introduced him as a missionary.

We came back without being engaged. After some months, I received more and more letters from his family and one of his brothers was in Zambia so I felt more comfortable. That’s how we went back to the village.

We arrived and two days later bashibukombe [the-go-between] came to bring
Insalamu. My mother and father asked me if I knew the man and I said yes. And they said, “But this is the missionary you brought some months ago.”

I said, “Yes, but this is now a different trip altogether.” They had to call my aunt to talk
about insalamu …

That is how they accepted the insalamu. And later when it came to lobola, my aunt wanted the family to overcharge this man because he was a white man.

But my father said there was no way he was going to charge him more than he charged for my other sisters who married before me. He said, “Here we should not talk of a white man but a man.”

Anyway, they discussed the lobola and he was charged a very small amount. …

We talked about the traditional wedding and he said he would like to go through that. So
in August 1976, we went back to the village for the traditional wedding.

By this time, I was a minister in the Matero UCZ.

When we returned to Lusaka it was so difficult because somebody had written to the
church’s general secretary to say, “These people have already married in a traditional way so don’t marry them in church because they did things in a primitive way.”

I was summoned to the church office, and I confirmed we had been traditionally married because I wanted to go through what my forefathers went through, especially since I was marrying a white man; I thought it would be very important.

I was told that I had broken the church rule by what I did, and I could be suspended.
There was a problem but finally I married in the church on the 14th of August 1976. I know that some people were unhappy but many others felt very happy. After the marriage, I went to join my husband in Gwembe where he was staying and I was ministering there.

Again, I did some funny things where the church was unhappy with me at Kanchindu
Congregation. I baptised 83 children and some adults. Many of them were from polygamous families.

And the church said, “You shouldn’t have done this, you should have only baptised children from the first wife.”

They called me before some kind of a church court. I said, “Look, when will you have the people enter the kingdom of God if you are going to exclude the children from getting in? Even these wives are our good church members contributing.”

When it came to holy communion, they said no. But I didn’t respect this, and I escaped from being fired. They called me privately and said, “When you do these things please don’t do it publicly.”
But I said, “How shall I baptise people privately?”

Picture caption: After making peace with Rev. Sampa-Bredt, the church hosted her white wedding with Mr. Rolf Friedrick Bredt on 14th of August 1976.
United Church of Zambia (UCZ)