God has given ZEMA one of the great open doors in Christian Missions today: the Zionists of the African Independent Churches in Southern Africa. Membership in "Zion Churches" is thought to be as high as 15 million, divided up into more than 4000 Zion church denominations. These churches took the word "Zion" not from Israel, but from the town of Zion, Illinois, USA which sent literature and missionaries to South Africa at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, thus founding the Zionist movement. Unfortunately, most Zion churches have become syncretistic, combining what they know about Christianity with traditional African religious beliefs, to basically form a new religion. Today many amaZioni (the Zulu word for "Zionists") have a great desire to study and follow the Bible. Because ZEMA has a formal connection with the history of the Zion movement, ZEMA personnel are blessed with acceptance among the amaZioni. In light of the great desire of the amaZioni for Bible training, and the fact that many of the millions of Zionists are looking to ZEMA to provide that training, it is not an overstatement to say that if ZEMA had 20 new missionary couples arriving on the Field today, they would be needed in the work.