ILI: History Makers Leadership Podcast

Ep. 76 | A New Era for Gospel Growth in Africa

• International Leadership Institute • Season 1 • Episode 76

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Start with a village by the Zambezi and a teenager walking hours to school. Add a mission secondary school, two faithful mentors, and a hunger to learn that wouldn’t quit. Now watch that young man become Rev. Dr. Alfred Kalembo—a national church leader who preached to a grieving country at a president’s funeral and is now catalyzing a student-led movement across Zambia’s universities.

We sit down with Alfred to trace the unlikely path from Gwembe Valley to Lusaka, from cultural Christianity to living discipleship, and from a local congregation in Chipata to leadership at the Council of Churches in Zambia. He opens up about growing up in a polygamous family, being the first in his lineage to finish seventh grade and pursue higher education, and the moment missionaries led and discipled him into a durable, life-giving faith. Along the way, we explore Zambia’s unique religious landscape as a constitutionally declared Christian nation—why public faith language doesn’t always translate into personal integrity, and how intentional formation can bridge the gap.

The heart of our conversation centers on influence that serves. Alfred’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift the name of Jesus at a state funeral, his conviction that leadership starts with discipleship, and his strategy for national impact through universities. You’ll hear how an initial training of 37 students has multiplied into 600+ across UNZA, Copperbelt University, and more—driven by young leaders hungry to share the gospel and live it out in medicine, law, business, and public service. 

From leadership development to church growth to the explosive growth of  Christianity throughout Africa, this episode will challenge and encourage you. Subscribe, share with a friend who mentors young leaders, and leave a review with your favorite takeaway—what part of Alfred’s journey stirred you the most?

Join a community of leaders who are ready to change history and make an impact in this world. When you take part in ILI training, you will discover how ILI's Eight Core Values will help you transform your leadership. Discover more at ILITeam.org/connect.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the ILI History Makers Leadership Podcast. One of the great things about being an international organization is that we have friends and partners all over the world. And so today I have the privilege of sitting down with Dr. Alfred Kalembo, Reverend Dr. Alfred Kalembo from Lusaka, Zambia. He's a longtime friend. The first country I ever visited in Africa was Zambia in 2004, many years ago. We did a training together. He showed me the countryside of his beautiful country, the capital city, the city where he lived. And since then, we have partnered together in many, many occasions. And Alfred has a beautiful story, a beautiful testimony of what God does in the life of a man who commits to serving him and building his kingdom on earth. Alfred, welcome to the History Makers Leadership Podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you very much for having me today.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Alfred, we want to start with your story. So let's let's begin by talking a little bit about Zambia. Where is uh Zambia?

SPEAKER_01:

Zambia is uh in the southern part of Africa, um and surrounded by eight nations, uh, two in the north, two in the east, two in the south, and two west.

SPEAKER_00:

Probably the most recognized and well-known landmark of your country is the beautiful falls. Yes, Victoria Falls, which is one of the wonders of the world. One of the wonders of the world. Yeah, it's a beautiful country. Um, I remember vividly landing uh our airplane landing at the Losaca airport and looking out and seeing huts with uh in villages, even in the surrounding area of the um the uh the airport. And and um we want to you were you grew up in one such village, right? Yes. And there's an in some interesting facts about you and education. Yes. Uh first of all, did you uh did you grow up in a in a Christian family?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I didn't grow up in a Christian family.

SPEAKER_00:

Tell me a little about about uh what your family was like.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I grew up in a village in the district of Sinazongwe by uh River Zambezi uh in the Gwembe Valley. Um it's a it's a it's a it's it's a very hot area. But uh my dad had three wives. I grew up in a polygamous family. My mother was the first one, and uh there were two other other women. And so in my village, there was uh no school. Uh where I grew up, really, I had to walk many, many, many hours to school. Uh, but I had so much passion. I wanted to be uh to be educated. There was nobody educated uh on my dad's side and on mom's side, but somehow within me I had a passion to go to school.

SPEAKER_00:

And you ended up collecting several firsts, right? Oh, yeah, sure. Tell us, what is what are these firsts in your life?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh some of the first of the many firsts is that in my family, I'm the first one to finish seventh grade. I was the first one to finish seventh grade. My sister never went to school. From the second wife of my dad, a boy went on to fourth grade. The third wife of my dad had two children, and they they never even went to school. So I'm the first one to finish first uh seventh grade, first to go to secondary school, first to go to college, and then uh after college, at the college level, within the Wesleyan church, which I became part of, I was the first 12th grader to go to Bible college. Then first to a first degree, first to have masters at Asbury, probably the first Zambian to go to Asbury, uh, first uh uh Zambian and first within the Westlean Church to have a doctor of ministry degree.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that is excellent. And you are uh you are an academic, but not necessarily you are a practitioner of leadership and pastoral leadership. But we need to clarify one thing here. You did not grow up in a Christian family. In fact, you grew up in a polygamous family, which was probably practicing African traditional religions. Correct. Right? Correct. So how did you how did you come to become the leader of the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church in Zambia?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's very fortunate because in the seventh grade we had to kind of apply to secondary schools. And my seventh grade teacher advised me to apply to Choma Secondary School, which was a mission, secondary school, school established by American missionaries to reach young Zambians with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So it uh it was at that school where I met missionaries, and I'm very privileged that Wilmachini, who led me to Christ, is 93 years old living in Brooksville, Florida. And Mr. Davis, who discipled me, is 85 years old and living in uh uh North Carolina. Uh, and so I'm very privileged that these people are still alive and they see the fruit of their labor.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Um uh they must be really proud of young Alfred, because you were in secondary school, uh, you were probably in your teens, yeah, 17, 17 years old, and they invested in your life, leading you to Christ and discipling you. And when you invest in the life of a young person like that, you know you never really know uh what is going to turn out, but you pray and you hope that they will remain faithful to the end. And uh so now um you are not only faithful to the end, but you have been um very influential um in in uh in in your life in your ministry in Zambia. So how would you describe the the current climate or even the climate, the religious and spiritual climate in which you grew up? What are the what are the greatest challenges of the church in Zambia? Because on the surface, Zambia is a Christian country. We were just talking before we started recording, and Zambia is almost 90%, quote unquote, Christian. Almost 90% of Zambia identifies as Christian. Uh furthermore, there are we we saw the number about 25, about a quarter of the population are professing evangelical Christians. And so in a you would almost think that there's no evangelism to be done in a place like that. But try to just describe for us what is it like to be a Christian, to be an evangelist, to be a pastor, to be a Christian leader in Zambia.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, I think we do have a very good environment. Uh, as you have alluded, uh Zambia is uh a Christian nation that is enshrined in the preamble of our constitution. And all the presidents from 1991, when Zambia was declared a Christian nation, all the presidents have upheld uh that uh uh that position. And the Christianity is uh is freely expressed and shared in Zambia. But uh as you have said, part of the challenge of our of our being a church, I mean a nation that needs to continue to evangelize is because uh there is a sense in which that uh people have really not uh received the the the gospel as one would desire. I think part of the the challenge is that of course is that uh there is no uh clear uh understanding in some circles about who a Christian is. And so you still see while we have this as a Christian nation, it's a wish, it's a desire that people should be guided by Christian principles. But we still see the challenges of not uh people not being guided by the Christian principles.

SPEAKER_00:

So even in a in even in a nation that identifies as Christian, the challenges are great. And um, and and and I can see that um from you. And so in that environment, you are um when I first met you, you were a leader, uh, I could say a mid-level leader in a denomination called Pilgrim Wesleyan Church, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

But my understanding is you rose through the ranks of that denomination to achieve uh, and and in part because of these degrees and all the education that you have received, which was a blessing in your life, but you have achieved a significant level of leadership in the denomination. Tell us a little about about that. How did you what were the what were the positions that that that you held? How did you rise to the leadership of your own denomination?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think I was very privileged because uh my undergraduate uh as the first uh Wesleyan uh to have a degree, uh theological degree, I I served as an associate pastor of a missionary in the eastern part of Zambia in the town called Chipata. And I was very committed to discipling and mentoring uh the people. That was, to me, that was very key. And so my local church, Chipata, was known all over our denomination, that everyone who comes from Chipata, they are leaders and they are givers. So the church was I was faithful at giving, it was known at the national level that this church is. And so, though I was young initially, I mean, when I rose as a national superintendent, I was only 32. And so, but the church felt, I think this young man, he may be young, but I think we have seen what he has done at the local church. Chipata church has become a very, very dynamic church within our denomination. So I tend to think that my focus uh for my uh discipleship and the and the and the mentoring program really helped.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. So what led you to that commitment to discipleship?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think, you know, my professors at the Kenya Highlands Bible College were Asbury graduates, and they impacted my life so much. Actually, even when I was at that school, uh, that college at uh I said, if ever I have an opportunity to go to seminary, Asbury is the place. But the teachers and the professors at the at my college were very committed to our spiritual growth, our personal uh depth in our spiritual work.

SPEAKER_00:

And so I carried that. You carried that and you put that into practice. And then you became, you said, um a super uh overseer or uh national superintendent. National superintendent. It's like is that like a bishop?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, okay. Positional bishop.

SPEAKER_00:

So you became the national superintendent, but then um your church began to have a str a bigger influence, and you ended up in an interdenominational position as well. What how did that happen?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we have in Zambia we have three church mother bodies where churches do affiliate. Uh, we have the Catholic Um uh Bishop's Council, which takes care of all the Catholic churches in Zambia. Then we have Council of Churches in Zambia, which are many protest Protestant churches. At that time, there were 19 denominations. One of them, which really has one million members, which is United Church of Zambia. It's one of the 19. And then we have Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia. And so the three are the church mother bodies. And I was elected to be the president of the Council of Churches in Zambia.

SPEAKER_00:

Council of Churches in Zambia, which includes the United Church of Zambia. Yes. And includes your uh your own denomination. Yes. And I understand you've had uh quite the privilege by I wouldn't call it by accident, but by by an event that happened at when you were at that position that you and and tell us, tell us that. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Well, I would like to, of course, many, we had many issues to deal with at that level, but I want to share two. Okay. Uh the first one was, you know, unfortunately, our president died in 2014. And I was actually, I was in Mozambique. And so the three uh church mother bodies, uh, general secretaries gathered, and they nominated me to be the one to preach at the funeral of the president.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

And that was a one in a lifetime opportunity to console the nation. And that day I realized I had a big, big opportunity to lift Jesus. When the entire country was my audience, uh dignitaries, uh, the ambassadors were all there. The entire machinery, communication machinery was at my disposal. And as I stood, I took a deep breath. I said, Lord Jesus, help me to lift your name. And I lifted the name of Jesus. What an opportunity that I had. Uh really, I think that that is once, as I said, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to lift Christ.

SPEAKER_00:

If I may correct you, it's a once in many lifetimes. Because I I've none of us here on the studio, none of us at our organization have had uh that amazing opportunity. And he and and um I love it as the way you put it, not not to not to preach the funeral of the president, but to lift Jesus up before an entire nation. Wow. And I love to think that that discipleship, that America that missionary that who discipled you in uh in secondary school, who helped you to grow in your faith, um had a part to play because he sowed the seeds of that commitment to lifting Jesus up, didn't he? Yes. Did you ever get to tell him?

unknown:

Huh?

SPEAKER_00:

Did you ever get to tell this missionary about Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

I meet him actually. Last February, I was with the, we we affectionately call her Aunt Wilma. I was with her in Brooksville. Uh, she actually hosted Mumbe and I in her home. And actually, because she taught both of us, actually. She taught Mumbe English and she taught me English. Okay. And then Morris, I just talked to him uh this uh this week. Uh I'm very much in touch with both of them.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good, very good. Uh, this is the kind of thing that encourages um. I was a missionary myself, encourages us to see, as John says, that our children are walking in the faith, our spiritual children are walking in the faith. Now, with all of that leadership, with all of those opportunities, there are also challenges. So, what is it like to be a leader in a country? Now, Zambia is a peaceful country, but it's a poor country. And you and and it's a lot of times some poor countries are always in the brink of some kind of trouble, whether it's financial, political. And I know that um that you you you mentioned uh before when we were chatting about an opportunity you had to speak um and be interviewed. Um try try to to bring um a word of peace, a word of reconciliation, because there is a lot of political uh instability or or or even I don't I don't know exactly how to describe it, but tell me about the current political uh situation, spiritual situation altogether, and how does a Christian leader like you um, who has now risen to a position of influence, how how do you steward that influence uh for the benefit of your country and of the benefit of the kingdom of God?

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you very much. I think the best is uh one uh to continue to focus on the imaging uh leaders, which are young people. When we focus on young people, we are presenting Christ to them. And then they are studying in different fields, but if they become royal followers of Christ, then our nation will be uh influenced by the word uh of God. And one of the ways, as I said, as from our church is why we are even establishing uh Africa Westfield and University, because the government is encouraging churches to have universities as a way of influencing our young people who are future leaders to become uh uh better leaders. And I'm privileged to serve as the uh vice president of uh of that uh institution to be uh for for what do you call in here you call it advancement. And so really I think if, and it's very exciting that our young people, this is hope for us. Uh we must focus on our young people in order to influence the nation.

SPEAKER_00:

You're you're raising up the next generation of leaders for Zambia in the universities. You told you were you were telling us about the amazing opportunities you've been having to train young leaders and their desire, young Christian leaders, next generation Christian leaders, and their desire to uh to serve, to to influence uh for God. Tell us a little about you know all of this, all of this that is going in, their hunger for it. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I can I can speak for a long time, but let me be brief. Oh no, you don't have to be able to do that. Because this is very, very exciting because uh we started with the ILI team in Zambia. We started, we taught 37 young people from the University of Zambia, uh, School of Medicine, and from the main campus, and one student from uh uh Cavendish. And we uh the my team, we we spent the whole week with them, and at the end we challenged them, said, we want you to reach your fellow students. And their message was you have taught us we will take the gospel to all the universities in Zambia and colleges. And they started, and right now we have over 600 that have been taught in various uh University of Zambia main campus, uh Copper Belt University, uh School of Medicine, Cavendish University, uh Lusaka, University of Lusaka, and the um, I mean several universities. So they have taken, and I'm feeling that I'm behind, and then they are running. The fire in them is unstoppable. It's really exciting to see uh this kind of hunger among young people, led by, I think I wanted to mention really Matthew Chwanda and with his assistant um um Wesley Muene. These young people are truly rising to the challenge of leading their fellow students.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I was my last question was going to be what gives you hope in Zambia? But apparently you've answered that question already, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sure. So there's hope. There's hope. Definitely there's hope. So these young people.

SPEAKER_00:

As long as we invest in the next generation, yes, there's hope. Yes, isn't there?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thank you, Alfred, for being with us. Thank you for giving us these insights into what it means to be a leader in in Africa, in Zambia, and the amazing journey that you've had. Um you've mentioned this verse this morning in our in our uh office devotions, but uh it it just keeps the reminding me of of Ephesians 3, 20 to 22. Uh, he who is able to do infinitely more, abundant, over abundantly more than we can think or imagine, um, according to his power that operates in us. Uh, your life seems to be a living uh proof of the truth of this text. God has done um amazingly more in your life than I think you could ever imagine, right? Oh, sure. So one last word of encouragement to those who hear um or watch our podcast from Alfred in Zambia.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we are very grateful for the opportunity that uh God has given us in our lifetime to invest in uh our next generation. For those of us in Zambia, we are very excited that the government is very supportive. The government is desiring our nation to be a nation of truth, uh, no corruption, uh a nation that is upright and a peaceful nation. So we welcome you and encourage you to partner with us in any way to make Christ known through the next generation.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, come to Zambia, see the falls, Victoria Falls, they are beautiful, but also uh make sure to uh help the Zambian body of Christ to um proclaim Jesus to that nation and beyond. And if if um if this has blessed you, if this conversation has encouraged you, uh make sure to like our podcast, make a comment. It helps the algorithm to make our conversations available to uh many other people.