Restoring hope

Word Alive works in Malawi and has a vision to empower and transform communities, socially, economically and spiritually. The Restoring Hope Project, which is supported by E3, aims to bring hope into the lives of local people, by improving the quality of spiritual support in its partner churches and projects, and responding to HIV and AIDS-related problems in the community. Here are just two encouraging stories that Sinatra Matimelo, EngageHIV Director, heard on a visit to Word Alive...

Fred's story

Fred is 33 years old, is HIV-positive and has been sick since 2008. Fred contacted a Word Alive spiritual counsellor in September 2010 and through this support he received Christ as his personal saviour. The counsellor continued to meet with him to encourage and share the word of God. Fred is now living positively with HIV and has become God's ambassador in his community. He visits homes, sharing God's word with others, distributing gospel literature and raising awareness about HIV and AIDS. 

When Fred shared his story with Sinatra, he explained: "Word Alive has helped me come to love Jesus dearly and to share with other people the love of Jesus and the dangers of HIV and AIDS. I now have new life in Jesus and I am seeing many people disclose their HIV status to me and their families through my ministry to my neighbours. A big thank you to Word Alive for taking time to come and share with me the good news of Jesus' love."

Pastor Kenson, God's Life Church

Pastor Kenson shared with Sinatra the impact that a partnership with Word Alive has had on his church and wider community:
“Before the partnership with Word Alive, our church had some spiritual knowledge, but lacked knowledge about important things we could be doing to take part in the fight against HIV and AIDS. When we started meeting with Word Alive this started to change. Our congregation now understands HIV and AIDS issues, and knows that those who are HIV positive are people like everybody else. As a church we have formed a group called Za Chifundo (Mercy Ministries) through which the elderly and orphans and vulnerable children are assisted. Word Alive has also trained our young people as Sunday School Teachers and one couple as Church Marriage Counsellors.

"I am one of the pastors that meet with Word Alive within their network of churches and I have learned a lot about how we as churches can respond to different problems that our communities face. We learned that we should not wait for other people to do things for us and we are able to do something as we partner with other people."

Sinatra was very encouraged and inspired by his trip to Word Alive Ministries: "It is a church with a big vision and is focused on what God has called it to do. They are touching many lives on the ground and many churches in their network are being enabled to transform their communities through training and provision of materials and resources." 

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