Report by

Bro. Jesse M. Nzima

We had been organizing and preparing for Brother Peter Chavula’s visit from Lusaka for over two months. Finally the Lord made a way and he was able to visit us on the weekend of 23-25th December. The brother was accompanied by two other brothers,  Annnel Silungwe and John Chilufya.

Our first session started on the morning of Sunday 24th December, 2023. The people were in great anticipation. We had invited a number of people for these meetings. Each believer was tasked to invite not less than three people for the meetings. Brother Chavula spoke on the story of the prodigal son. He explained that we were all like this prodigal son when we were lost in the world. After being restored the Lord gave us three things: the shoes, the ring and the choice garments. The lack of shoes on the feet of the prodigal son indicated slavery as quoted from 2 Chronicles 28:15 -16. The robe he was given represented salvation and righteousness Isaiah 61:10. The ring represented authority (Genesis 41:42 and Mark 16:17)

The word came with the newness of life. Some brothers were greatly touched and kept on testifying about the sermon during lunch break. They rejoiced and explained that heaven came down in their hearts that morning. I learnt something from his expression; God’s word always comes with the newness of life. I also realized that people who haven’t heard of this word when they hear it for the first time it leaves a wonderful and unforgettable mark on them. Brethren, this is what happened to you and I  when we first received the word of the Lord.

In the afternoon he took on the subject from the book of Leviticus 23:1-2. He spoke on the seven feasts of Jehovah which the children of Israel observed. He explained that these were physical observances (the children of Israel had to follow) which had spiritual types that were to be fulfilled in the future. 

The believers were greatly admonished and instructed in scriptural truth. The revelation of the word brought an excitement and there was joy in the audience. He explained that the first of the feasts was the Passover which came to be fulfilled through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, secondly the feast of unleavened bread which came to be fulfilled as the Lord’s communion as observed by Christians, then the feast of first fruits which represented the Lord’s resurrection together with the saints of old who resurrected with him, the fourth feast was pentecost which came to be fulfilled as the dispersion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. He explained that the first four where already fulfilled. The next three feast were yet to be fulfilled and these being, the feast of the trumpets which came to represent the return of the Jews to their homeland. The sixth feast being the day of atonement which will be fulfilled when the Jews repent and recognize Christ whom they rejected and crucified. The last feast being the feast of tabernacles which would be fulfilled in the age of regeneration.

The second day of the meeting had double services as well. It was wonderful to have meetings for the whole day . This was very beneficial to the believers as many of them were concerned about the happenings in the villages on this day (Christmas day). The villages are usually filled with all sorts of ungodly activities and celebrations which are very disturbing to believers. Because of this we thought it wise to have all an all day time of fellowship.

The brother took on the subject titled ‘We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him He took the reading from Matthew 2 which accounts the visit of the magi .’He explained to the believers that the Lord used a star to send forth a message. He picked on the wise men. These wise men followed this star which was very special and they could not have followed any other star apart from that one. Likewise the children of God are also following the star with wisdom for we are not of this world. Despite having the meetings on Christmas Day, we do not celebrate Christmas because Christmas is not in the scriptures.

In the afternoon, he wrapped up the meetings with a time of prayer for various needs. He encouraged the people to have faith by reading a passage from John 12:24. He explained that the Bible makes inferences from natural things to bring up the spiritual. He encouraged them to manifest their faith which was like a seed. Because faith like a seed has potential of growing into a tree . He further pointed out that a seed which is not put in the ground can never multiply and likewise a believer who is not exercise their faith can never see the result (fruit) of their prayer. .

The teachings were a blessing to the new believers who needed to have a spiritual balanced diet of the five fold ministry.

On Tuesday 26th December the brethren were back on the road to Lusaka

Tap on link below to download the PDF document of the report:

Missionary Trip Report- 2023

Seeing these pictures, of the church construction in Chatama, the village where we had a crusade last year in October, brings tears to my eyes. Countless times I had visited the remote village. The place was dry and initial plans to bring the Word to this place seemed hopeless. I could not hold back my peitions to the Lord. In that dark small mud house where I would keep up I raised my voice asking the Lord for His light to shine on this poor village.

This I did on three occasions I had visited the place. It had seemed impossible, dark and discouraging.But then came the crusade and the village has been shaken by the power of God’s Word.

My spirit rejoices.I can’t wait for the forthcoming crusade we are having in October in a village called Mutenguleni. We keep trusting the Lord for His Word to set the ccaptives free in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

I am in Chatama, a village in the Eastern Province of Zambia where we had a crusade in October 2022. It is a joy to meet our new brothers and sisters in Christ.The testimonies are many and different.

One old man testified about how his life changed after surrendering it to the Lord. “The Message that day revealed my destroyed and wasted life. I just wanted to get in the water for baptism! I looked at the multitudes of people being prayed for, for sickness and other things, and I felt like time was being wasted and running out for me, I needed to be baptised!”

Well, this brother got baptised and after coming out of water he said the smell of cigarette and beer became an ugly stench which irritates him. People in the village are telling him of his changed looks.He looks good, healthy and sober. He tells them, “Its the riches of the Word that I have received that makes me look good”. Jesus still saves and heals!

Shalom and blessings to all, especially those who have a burden for the Lost on their hearts.

By God’s grace we have continued to receive encouraging testimonies from Chatama, a village where we recently held a crusade and 38 people got baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ  (we initially recorded 31 but number has been updated to 38!). Testimonies of deliverance from sickness and demonic opression, and people getting established in the Word are a source of immense encouragement in this difficult work (read about the Crusade Report here).

It is now Rain Season here in Zambia and so our focus and burden is to quickly raise a building where the new believers can start gathering. Thankfully, the foundation (which is the most costly part apart from roofing), is already in place.

Dear friends, be informed  that there are also myriad expenses of monthly support for our missionaries on ground. This has been a work of faith and this far God has never failed to supply the needs.

We are presently working towards making a church building for the new congregation in Chatama. It is also in our plan to sink a borehole (which should be equipped with a solar pump) for water needs. We were encouraged to see a temporal structure that the new believers have erected to use for their worship services. Surely something has happened in the lives of these new believers.

To all our ministry partners and friends be informed that this is our current objective and urgent need. On 15th December I am scheduled to visit Chatama for a series of teaching meetings to establish the saints in the Faith. To this end we are called, to proclaim the Word of Truth for a people who live in gross darkness to see the Light of Day. Amen.

In the Field

Andrew C. Phiri

By

Pastor Hubert D’souza (Mumbai, India)

It was the 25^th of October 2022, when our precious Bro. Andrew Phiri along with his beloved wife arrived on a visit to Mumbai. The scheduled time of his arrival was about 2:15 pm at the Mumbai airport, yet his flight arrived about 1:40 pm, about 35 minutes earlier than its scheduled time. I reached the airport eagerly awaiting at 2:15 pm, expecting him to be out of the airport early yet the Customs took some time and delayed his process and finally he was out at about 4:00 pm. We were glad meeting each other and my son Joash who works at the airport came along and we headed to our home at Borivali. I knew that the travel must have been hectic so after refreshment we asked them to rest for the evening. That late evening we discussed about the ministry and each other’s welfare. I then narrated the program that was scheduled about the meetings in Mumbai Pune and Khanvel.

Meetings in Pune

The Mumbai meetings were just in the evenings as it was working days for most of the people. The church certainly delighted of the blessing that the Lord bestowed upon us through his servant Bro. Andrew Phiri. He preached on ‘THE BREAKING OF HE ALABASTER BOX’ and gave a simple yet a delightful revelation that truly brought a great joy in the presence of the Lord. He also spoke about ‘THE BEATEN OLIVES’, another wonderful revelation in the simplicity of the scripture, Bro. Andrew explained the laborious process  extracting the oil. The type of beaten olives to bring forth the pure olive is a perfect type of a Christian life. These truly anointed messages are worth going through (the sermons are available here).

We also enjoyed listening to some Zambian worship songs through Bro. Andrew and his wife Norah Phiri. So the two days, 26^th & 27^th October were a great spiritual festivity for our local Assembly. We at Faith Assembly Mumbai will cherish these memories for a long time.

With Sis. Flossy D’souza

A full day gospel meeting was organized in Pune City on the 28^th of Oct. 2022. This city is about 170 kilometres From the city of Mumbai. It was organized at the St. John School hall, Pune Camp road. Bro. Andrew spoke In two sessions (pre and post lunch sessions). Afternoon meals were arranged by the Pastors family. Pastor More’ serves in Pune, his assembly is called Grace Covenant Church. He has two daughters Priya and Priti who are extremely talented in leading gospel worship songs. The worship was very melodious and uplifting, all were certainly blessed. I truly appreciate the efforts taken by the entire family to make the event successful and glorious.  The brothers presence brought joy to everyone’s heart. Various ministers and believers gathered from far and wide to hear the word of God. Pastor Sona Dethe from Ahmednagar came forth with his ill son to be prayed over, and the Lord was gracious towards him. Pastor Manoj from Pune city also joined the gathering and was blessed.

Pastor Sona Dethe officially welcomes Brother Phiri to Pune with a flower presentation

Bro. Vijay Kermode from Mumbai also had joined in the gathering along with his daughter and were blessed. The saints delighted in taking photographs with Bro. Andrew and his wife. Finally the meetings at Pune City came to an end, and we were made to stay at a decent hotel lodge, the YMCA in Pune. We all enjoyed every bit of the gathering and stay in Pune. The next morning, we left to Mumbai that was the 29^th of October. We all had a good rest and were now ready on 30th October  early morning to leave for Khanvel.

The next destination was Khanvel a state of Gujarat in India. About 170 kms from Mumbai. Pastor Nana Shinde serves the Lord in that tribal area called Bengaon. He is serving among the tribals for the past 20 years. He has spread the gospel among the tribals and has baptized them in Christ. His meticulous work has brought life among the tribal community and the gospel is preached. The saints had long awaited for this day in preparation for the final moment. Pastor More from Pune and Pastor Manoj from Pune drove all the way from Pune for over 7 to 8 hours and reached Khanvel. We came from Mumbai and also reached the destination. We had to carry the sound system and the musical instrument was carried by the More family. The meetings in Khanvel were for two days and all the sessions went perfectly good for the glory of God.

Khanvel Meetings

In all there were 6 sessions of which Bro. Andrew Phiri took four sessions and one  session was taken by Pastor Hubert and another one by Pastor Manoj. Bro. Phiri spoke from the scriptures to the standard of the tribals. Even many testimonies of the village meetings in Africa, which boosted the morale of the tribals in Bengaon. The food and breakfast with tea was provided by the tribal saints. We truly appreciate all the hard work the saints in this tribal area had done for the glory of God. We were made to stay in a beautiful hotel lodge which was about 7 kms away from the meeting place. It was a beautiful time of fellowship specially with Priti and Priya leading the worship. Bro. Andrew also taught us how to greet in a Zambian language. It was joyfull and every moment were sweet memories. The tribal folks will long remember the precious moments of these meetings. The next day Pastor Nana Shinde took us to a Dam, there was also a beautiful landscape to view. We went boating in the lake. We also visited a tribal Art Gallery.

Sightseeing in Khanvel

Sightseeing in Khanvel

After the beautiful sightseeing we started our journey back to Mumbai. We were back in Mumbai by late evening. The 2^nd Nov., was a day of rest and shopping specially for sis. Nora. That evening we were invited by Bro. Russell from Mumbai to his house for dinner. Sis Reena bro. Russell’s wife is a very talented cook, we were blessed by the delicacies prepared by her. The next day was the 3^rd of Nov.’22., Bro. Andrew and his wife left for Singapore. We all thank our Lord for his precious visit and all those precious moment… the Lord bless them for evermore.