From house fellowship to hospital outreach: one pastor’s testimony

I am Pastor Alfred Phiri, a founder of Hope Embassy Ministries (HEM). The ministry was started on the 5th of February, 2023 as a fellowship in a house in Libala township.

We later registered on the 31st of March, 2023 and moved to a new location in Mandevu.

With the inspiration from the Holy Spirit, I have been mandated to teach and share hope to the world. This true hope is found in and is Jesus Christ. This vision and inspiration was received in 2010 and it became very clear in 2023. I graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center Zambia (RBTCZ) in 2022 where I clearly understood and found purpose for my life.

Mandevu township is a place where most of the people are under a lot of different bondages, drug abuse, drunkenness, prostitution and all manner of illicit life styles. Even children are not spared from this kind of life as they are growing in this very environment.

As a church, HEM has been developing leaders to carry out its mandate through outreach programs, sharing hope both to the young and old. We have special Sundays we call, “Hope Sundays”, where we don’t just share the word but mobilize and gather clothes and foodstuffs which we distribute to the people as a way of ministering to them in substance.

With these outreaches we have seen people coming to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and even influencing their circles to come to church. We are grateful to Rhema Zambia, who sent students to support us with our outreach efforts in 2024.

We were also privileged to have had developed a service relationship and worked with Chipata Level One Hospital to share hope to the people. With the support from some well-wisher, we donated medical equipment and supplies. These were desperately needed at the time by the hospital. At the time, several patients were being referred to other hospitals because of lack of the items we were able to donate.

In all of this, as a minister, I felt alone and falling short in many areas-workforce, financially, spiritually. I felt a lack of encouragement to continue. There is a great work in Mandevu but the labourers are few. I felt like I had no like-minded people to collaborate with on this mission. For example, the clinic has opened up to us to start a fellowship there, to share the Word in the wards and adopt at least one ward to be cleaning it and helping the people in any way possible. We are just a young church, with a handful people.

We honor God for the RAAZ Ministers Fellowship. It has come as a ray of light at such a time as this. Where I felt alone, I now have a fellowship that I can call family and home. The Ministers Fellowship has brought hope to our ministry. I believe I will now be having healthy collaborations with like-minded people. I look forward to getting necessary counsel for ministry and accountability for continuous personal growth and development.

The fellowship is very timely, there is indeed hope for many ministers under the fellowship, both established and the young upcoming. Just recently we had a webinar on “Mental Wellness” which was so impactful to me, thanks to the fellowship. I am personally very expectant for more inspiration and impact coming from this fellowship. Thank you RAAZ!