Our Story
GOFRIL, or God’s Friendliness Ministries, is a divine response to Pastor Raphael Isaac Rabin Ijarah's calling, beginning with a revelation in Southern Malawi in 2011.
How Gofril Ministries Came Into Existence.
The God’s Friendliness Ministries “GOFRIL” in short, is the response to God’s calling of reaching out the entire nation to Givehope2Hopeless, and was never a creation, design scheme, or strategy on the part of any human initiative.
GOFRIL is a vision that the Lord communicated directly to Pastor. RAPHAEL ISAAC RABIN IJARAH, his servant whom he chose from his childhood, as he did with Jeremiah the prophet. At the age of twelve (12) already, the Lord began to speak to his servant, ISAAC finally realized that his God repeatedly came to him in a dream in order to charge him a great mission for the salvation of souls.
Therefore, GOFRIL was founded as God’s response to a pressing need recognized by Pastor. Isaac as soon as he got a revelation in Southern Malawi /Africa in 2011. To bring out this revelation, the Lord also showed himself to a multitude of his servants among whom were the apostles, prophets, pastors, etc. who spoke to ISAAC about the same vision of the Lord.
For the first time, the vision appeared to Pastor ISAAC in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Later, the vision began to take on a material form in the city of Kigoma in Tanzania. Pastor ISAAC knew an impulse to serve his God to whom he received the call. He began to lead evangelistic campaigns in orphanages and other places, also joining a choir where he played musical instruments. In addition, he received a charge to accompany orphaned children grouped around the Ujiji "MNAZI MMOJA" Prayer room network coordinated by Pastor Abednego MNKIA GODSON and Anne. This woman servant of God in charge of an intercession prayer room Anne also conveyed a message to ISAAC that God has a wonderful plan with him.
Pastor BIKYEOMBE K. Forcus of International Pentecostal Holiness Church (ESIP), his biological father and Bishop Sadock MLONGETCHA John (his spiritual father) of the PACIFEA Church in Tanzania greatly contributed to the materialization of Pastor ISAAC's vision.
It was thanks to these anointed men of God that he got an opportunity for Bible courses for a year that gave him much strength in pursuing his vision. Other servants of God also came to confirm the same message. But, the following Servants have effectively contributed to the materialization of this vision:
- Prophet Abednego MNKIA GODSON of Ujiji-Mnazi Mmoja intercession prayer room;
- Pastor MALIYAMUNGU of PACIFEA Church;
- Pastor KASONGO of Church of God at Kiliba hondes in south kivu /DRC.
Later, Pastor. ISAAC was forced to take refuge first in Tanzania then Malawi, in Dzaleka camp because of the political instability of his country the Democratic Republic of Congo. Being abroad, Pastor ISAAC did not depart from his vision, he continued to feel a heavy burden. Finally, God revealed Pastor Isaac the Name “God’s Friendliness Ministries” GOFRIL in acronym as an organization and after He had trained him on the vision for seven consecutive days, God then ordered him to launch the organization.
Therefore, on September 15, 2011, the organization was officially launched on the pulpit of the Nazarene International Church at Dzaleka Refugee camp in Malawi. More than 7 men and women joined the Organization and started to intercede on the vision. After God had confirmed them on Pastor Isaac’s Call and Vision, they praised God and also started talking to their relatives and friends about the vision. A month later, 18 more people from different backgrounds and experiences joined the team.
Why We Exist
Over two billion people have never heard the salvation message and 90% of unreached live in gospel-resistant areas in the world. So, they need to be reached. Gofril is dedicated to changing this statistic. We want to be part of the worldwide movement committed to reaching the world’s nations for Christ by preaching the gospel of peace globally and supporting those in need with friendliness before it is too late.
We believe that equipping God’s people is the powerful treasure that will permit them to become best tools and leaders of tomorrow. GOFRI desires to make disciples of the world’s 2.3 billion unreached people. We partner with churches, bible colleges; seminaries etc. to train God’s people (women and men) for the work of the ministry of Christ and provide basic assistance to the most vulnerable and marginalized people around the world.
We, as GOFRIL, love without judgment, serve with passion, and accept others because Jesus accepts us. Jesus calls His followers to spread the Gospel. We answer this call, no matter our denominational background, age, or ethnicity. As people around the world experience the transformation of Jesus our lives change, too. We receive great joy when the people we’ve influenced become Christ-followers and develop as volunteers, all because we obeyed Christ’s call.
Where We Work
GOFRIL is located in Dzaleka Refugee Camp of Malawi, District of Dowa, and Central region in the Republic of Malawi. Dzaleka is a temporary home to refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia. It lies outside of Dowa, approximately 45 km north of the capital of Lilongwe in Malawi. The camp itself was initially a notorious prison under Dr. Banda’s rule. Political dissidents and criminals were sent here, subjected to torture and other human rights abuses (Amnesty International 1998). After years of political pressure and criticism from churches, human rights organizations and other governments, Dr. Banda’s rule of Malawi ended in May of 1994 with the first democratic election the country had since 1961.
Bakili Muluzi became president and immediately closed three prisons, one being Dzaleka. In 1994, Dzaleka was converted into a refugee camp to accommodate new influxes of refugees. There are approximately 50,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from the Great Lakes Region residing at the camp today This camp continues to receive from day to day a massive influx of refugees following the situation of increasing insecurity that prevails in the region of the Great Lakes of Africa, causing the displacement of the population in a declared very poor country of the planet. However, Malawi is on a migration route and the refugee camp continues to receive transiting migrants from the Horn of Africa. As a poor nation, Malawi is politically and economically limited in the freedoms it feels it can allow refugees. UNHCR guidelines request the host country allow refugees to pursue employment, but Malawi has placed reservations on its obligations as host, such that refugees are not allowed freedom of movement and access to the Malawian economy through employment. Malawi’s restrictions have prevented many refugees from finding reliable employment, perpetuating poverty within the camp. Dzaleka camp is very small, congested and surrounded by local villages, and so there is insufficient access to agricultural land for most of the population. Although some have managed to engage in some small scale self-employment activities, the majority of refugees are completely reliant on food aid for survival.
Dzaleka camp only includes one secondary school, primary school and kindergarten supported by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a potential partner of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the field of education. The conditions of education for all the children in Dzaleka are still alarming because all the schools overflow the capacity of reception so as to allow the children to study under better conditions and to pretend to develop well. It is estimated that there are more than 100 students for each classroom due to insufficient school infrastructure!
Since its establishment in 2011, GOFRIL is working to give hope to the most vulnerable and marginalized people, and their families in Dzaleka Refugee camp.
“With your Help we can Empower, Equip and Givehope2hopeless across the world with their need.”