Apostles Revival Pentecostal Ministries Chifubu, Zambia

Vision Go out and proclaim that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only saviour and redeemer… We shall strive, with the help and guidance of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cater for the needs of other people, seeking first the Kingdom of God

We want to offer spiritual guidance both to those in the church, and those out in our community Through our ministries, we hope to empower children, the disabled, widows, orphans, youth and the needy in our community

Community Profile: Chifubu Chifubu is a high density and low-income area, meaning the majority of Chifubu residents live on less than a dollar a day Economic liberalization meant that many companies that once provided employment for the citizens of Chifubu have closed, leaving more than 50% of the residents unemployed

The economy of Chifubu was stimulated by smuggling from the Zaire (now Congo) border. People would smuggle petrol, diesel, sugar, mealie meal (a food staple), soap and detergents across the border. This ended in the early 1990s, with the new, ‘liberal’ government

Youth in Chifubu High levels of unemployment and poverty make it difficult for parents to send their children to school. Since many youth do not attend school, they become prone to drugs, alcohol abuse, thievery and prostitution. This also leads to a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. The national HIV/AIDS rate is around 17%, and this is higher in cities and high-density urban areas, such as Chifubu.

Our primary school is a little run down – but it’s hard to get the government to invest in our community. That is one thing our pastors try to do for the community through the Chifubu Association for Development and the Resident Development Committee

Adults in Chifubu Many adults now have small farms or gardens, but the areas they garden are often too small to sustain the family and a long walk –1 to 3 hours each way

Adults are mostly concerned with issues of survival, asking “what are we going to eat today?” These are female members of the church cooking traditional food for a youth event

Our Church We meet in the Chifubu primary school, renting out two rooms - one for children’s Sunday school, and one for our service.

Sunday Service One of the primary things our church does is have Sunday services. This is a time to gather as a community in prayer. An example of activities in our services are: praise and worship (our church loves to sing!), pentecostal prayers, humility prayers, testimonies from the congregation, a sermon, and sometimes afterwards an alter call for the sick and to cast out demons.

This is our Sunday school. Here, our children learn about the Lord through song, dance and story. It is usually upbeat and cheerful! The books we use to teach the children A leader in the making! One of our children leading the others in song.

Our Sunday school teacher, Letisha, is in Grade 10 at Secondary school and is the pastor’s daughter. She also helps lead worship during the main service.

We recently had a ‘harvest Sunday’ where members brought their ‘firstfruits’ to the church During the sermon

This is us learning about your church! We were quite shocked to see you preach in bars – that certainly could not happen here!

Church Ministries Our church focuses on two areas: spiritual guidance, and “ impact survivor skills.” Spiritually, we are guided by the Holy Spirit as we worship a God who encounters people. We want to be a witness to our community and the world, ministering unselfishly to the community in the name of Jesus Christ.

Women’s Ministry This is our knitting machine we use to give women practical, ‘survival’ skills Our sewing machine

Youth This is our church football team – want to challenge us sometime? Playing football after the Sunday service While we do fun activities and play as youth, most of our activities are also grounded in fellowship, prayer, and promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and abstinence.

This is a youth training meeting, practicing a drama about issues such as HIV/AIDS awareness, purity, love and conduct. The Chifubu football field

Home Based Care Because of the high rate of HIV/AIDS in our community, our church recognizes the need to help those with HIV/AIDS. Currently, under partnership with the Jubilee Centre we are supporting 5 clients who are terminally ill with nutritional supplements under the program of Home Based Care (HBC) on a monthly basis We also give nutritional, educational and recreational support to 5 orphans through this partnership with the Jubilee Centre.

Partnerships: Local Community We work closely with other local churches, sometimes holding joint events. We are also involved in the Chifubu Association for Development which is a group of 22 churches working together to bring transformation to our community. Chifubu is split into four wards, each with a Resident Development Committee. Our pastors are involved in two of these Committees. This allows the pastors to be physically involved in the community, and gives them opportunities to advocate for the further development of the community.

Partnerships: National and Global We work with the Jubilee Centre, a faith-based organization, for our Home Based Care program and the program helping orphans and vulnerable children. The partnership with the Jubilee Centre also links us to global churches. Recently, we had a team of doctors from the US help our local Chifubu health clinic provide free medical care whilst members of our congregation prayed for the patients, and cast out demons.

Our church has great vision for the future. Seeing the amazing challenges facing our community, we want our ministries to impart skills to the vulnerable. We would like to start programs teaching carpentry, agriculture and computer skills. For now, we are moving at a sustainable pace – this being our starting point. With the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have hope of achieving these goals. The Future