“Your Nyanga name can be Mapalo. It means blessings.”
I laughed and thanked him. Then, as we were unloading, he paid our bus fare.
One of the most fun parts about living in this city is all the different people we get to meet, most of them on the bus. Sitting next to Percy, we exchanged information and by the next day, he was sending message after message about setting a time for us to meet his pastor. I’ve never seen a man so passionate about his pastor. Nonetheless, Percy was. We scheduled a date for Maya and I to go and meet the man. After hearing his story, it wasn’t long before we were passionate about people meeting the pastor, too. Here’s what I mean.
Mulenga picked us up and drove us to his church yesterday morning. On the hour-ish drive there, he began telling us his testimony. He was sitting and listening to a lecture where the man was talking about times when God uses imprisonment for the gospel. Terrified, he immediately went home and prayed and pleaded that the Lord would never send him to prison. Later, he was approached by a man who told Mulenga that he had heard from the Lord that he would be imprisoned. Mulenga, scared, denied the word and said that he didn’t think the Lord would do something like that to him. A short time after, Mulenga was approached by a missionary from the neighboring country of Tanzania who invited him to go back with him. He agreed and jumped in the car only to be met by multiple policemen on the other side of the border and the news that the man posing as a missionary was actually an international criminal. Both men were arrested and thrown into the prison, a facility built for 1200 inmates that was currently holding over 5000. Mulenga complained day in and day out until meeting one of the other inmates who was a pastor. The man told his story of how he had been with a group of men when they committed a murder and was innocently arrested and given the death penalty. He said that he prayed if the Lord would spare his life, he would commit to preaching the gospel to the prisoners for the rest of his days. Soon after, the death penalty was lifted in exchange for a life sentence. Inspired by the man, Mulenga stopped complaining and began immersing himself in the Word.
At one point, the criminal who had been arrested with Mulenga fell sick and was no longer able to feed, clothe or bathe himself. In an attempt to love him, Mulenga began taking care of his oppressor and sharing the gospel with him. When their court date came around, the criminal’s heart was softened and he announced to the jury that Mulenga was an innocent man, wrongly imprisoned. Mulenga was set free and his oppressor served 10 more years. Hearing his story, the president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas at the time invited Mulenga to come share his story with the students. After the assembly, he was offered a full-ride scholarship to the university. After completing his schooling, he returned to Lusaka to plant a church, the one we were on our way to visit. We arrived at the church and were told that the foundation was laid in March of this year but they continually had service in the pre-constructed building every Sunday and Mulenga preached. He told us that their main attendees were families from the slums a few streets over and they were looking to begin a prison ministry as well. Their church is $20,000 away from having the funding it needs to finish construction.
While we are in the process of figuring out a way to help raise money for the church, please pray for the people Mulenga pastors, the funding to come in just as they need it, and the development of the prison ministry. I’m including a link also for a video of his testimony in case you’d like to hear it from Mulenga himself.
Pastor Mulenga Chela’s Prison Testimony
Little God-ordained meetings like these remind us why we came and give us the little kick we need to take on the next forty days of this journey like champs. Reminds us that while the mustard seed analogy is a classic, maybe we should all be striving to have faith like this inmate.
Updates to come on how you can donate to Mulenga’s church, Christ Life Church, so make sure to keep an eye on my social media for those opportunities if you’re interested.
