In 2006, Mulenga found himself just across the border of Tanzania, a country neighbouring his home of Zambia, with a pistol to his head and police telling him he was under arrest. The man he was with, who had told him he was a missionary, turned out to be an international criminal, and because Mulenga was in the car with him, he was branded as the same. That was the start of his two years wrongfully imprisoned in a foreign country.
Some time before, when Mulenga started university, his teacher was speaking about the story of Joseph and how God can use anything as preparation for leadership. He ended up pointing to Mulenga, stating, “God can even take this one, Mulenga Chella, and lead him into prison in order to prepare him for ministry.” Mulenga promptly went home and told God that he never wanted that to happen to him.
Not long after, he was praying with a friend, and in the midst of prayer, his friend stood up and said, “Mulenga, I hear the Lord saying that He is proud of the work you are doing, and He is going to send you into a foreign nation, and in that foreign nation you are going to suffer very much and be imprisoned. Thereafter God is going to bless you.”
Again, Mulenga did not like the idea of that and once more prayed to the Lord, telling him that he never wanted that to happen to him.
Time passed, and soon enough, Mulenga found himself crammed into a prison made for 1500 that held 5000, and stuffed into a room made for 15 that actually held 50-70. He was beaten by his fellow prisoners, thrown into a toilet, and then placed on a mat so small that he had to lay on his side. As he laid next to a man who murdered both his parents and two other relatives with an axe, he prayed to God, not understanding why He would allow something like that to happen to him.
As he continued to pray, wallowing in the suffering he was experiencing, he met another man of God who was wrongfully imprisoned. Unlike Mulenga who had only been there for a few days, this man had been there since 1973. Rather than allowing his circumstance to control his behaviour, he spent his time preaching the word of God passionately to everyone around him. Inspired by his passion and commitment to the Lord, Mulenga joined him, spending every moment he could preaching to those around him. Regarding that, he said this:
“I stopped having pity parties because I came to conclude even though I had been in prison for a short period of time, that man had been in prison for more years than I’d lived on Earth, and yet he was serving the Lord and seeking Him passionately. And yet I had only been in prison a few days and was busy complaining. So the man inspired me to stop complaining and to stop grumbling, and to instead preach the word of God with him. And this became our daily program.” He continued, saying “I had the opportunity to preach the word of God to men who had never stepped inside a church building. I preached to men who had lived lives as criminals, and a number were saved and their lives were changed for the glory of the Lord Jesus.”
Mulenga continued in this way for over a year, dedicating every day to serving the Lord, despite suffering greatly in prison.
One day, God decided to challenge Mulenga even more to serve and obey Him fully. Officers pulled Mulenga aside and told him that the man who caused him to go to prison, the international criminal, had attempted suicide. They informed him that while he was still alive, Mulenga should leave him alone to die. They said that they knew Mulenga was an innocent man, but if the court saw he was assisting this criminal in any way, they would assume he was this man’s accomplice.
Considering this was the man who had landed Mulenga in jail, it would have been easy to agree with the officers and let the man die. Mulenga, however, had a Bible with him that he read daily, and when he stumbled upon this verse, he knew what God wanted him to do:
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” ~ Matthew 5:44
The man was unconscious for two weeks, and through that, Mulenga helped him. He had to do all the dirty work, such as cleaning up after him due to his inability to go to the bathroom, all while knowing that it would most likely cause him to remain in prison and be permanently labelled as guilty. All those around him, including his fellow prisoners, told him that this man was wicked and that he needed to leave him to die, but the Lord compelled him to continue caring for him.
Through all this, as he sacrificed his time and comfort to care for the man who landed him in prison – truly, his enemy – he began pondering the meaning of life. This is what he says he came to:
“What is the meaning of life when you have been wrongfully imprisoned? When you are eating bad food? When you are sleeping in a crowded place full of bed bugs? What is the meaning of life when you don’t have all the luxuries that people long for in life? It was in those moments the Lord started teaching me that life is an opportunity that God gives to us. Life is an opportunity to love, to serve, to honour God and mankind. That even though I was wrongfully imprisoned, God had given me a great opportunity in prison to love my enemy, to serve my enemy, and to honour God by doing that.”
He continued cleaning up after this man, feeding him, and caring for him, all while telling the Lord that he was doing it all for Him. The Lord filled Mulenga and gave him a sense of peace that allowed him to finish out his time in prison, however long it may be.
Two weeks later, the man recovered, and even though he was a criminal who had previously shown neither compassion nor mercy to anyone around him, whenever he saw Mulenga, he would cry.
Once it came time to testify in court for their final jail sentence, the criminal stood up, pointed to Mulenga, and to Mulenga’s surprise, said this:
“This man is an innocent man. He did not know anything about my criminal activities. I simply carried him in my vehicle like an ordinary passenger.”
Those words opened the door for Mulenga to be released from prison. If he hadn’t been obedient to the Lord and followed the teachings of the Bible to love his enemies, that criminal would have died, and Mulenga would have had no way out of prison.
Now, Mulenga, along with his friend Percy, has planted a church here in Zambia. It was started in March, and the building is still simply a frame, but it already has 50 members who are involved in ministry both in the slums and in the prisons. Mulenga is an incredible example of the importance of obeying the Lord and his Word, as well as how God can use any situation, no matter how awful, for His glory. As a final encouragement, Mulenga says this:
“I’m encouraging you. You might be going through a bad situation today. You may be going through a prison experience; not necessarily meaning that you are going into prison, but that what you are experiencing is hard and painful. I’m here to encourage you from the Bible, from the book of Romans, chapter 8 verse 28, which says, ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him.’ As you go through that pain, as you go through that challenge, continue loving the Lord. Continue seeking Him. Continue saying to Him, “Lord, I will continue doing this and will continue pulling through my challenges in expression of my love and passion for you.’ And He will be with you. He will lead you through it. He will work out your challenges for good.”
To hear Mulenga tell his full testimony, you can watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYzUXgTKKFY
Mulenga is short about $19,000 for finishing the construction of his church, and we want to help him!! He and his church are a wonderful example of how the Church is truly the people, not the building, but a fully constructed building would truly be such a blessing to them! If you would like to donate, go here!
