In April 2010, House of Prayer Ministries was born! We held our first Sunday service on Sunday 2 May 2010 with about 10 people in attendance most of whom were guests. The “congregation” first met in a house of a sister (who never became a member of the church) but graciously let us use her living room in Stoke village. We held about 2 meetings in her house with about 4 people in attendance then we moved to Frederick Street Youth Centre in Stonehouse where we were using a small room on the first floor of the building. We stayed at Frederick Street Youth Centre for three months. From there we moved to the Crown Centre in Stonehouse but eventually outgrew the space and returned to Frederick Street Youth Centre, this time using the main hall. We stayed there for about five years. We then moved across the street to an unused building, single-handedly occupying the space for one and half year and it was there where we saw the biggest growth within our church. The building was no longer suitable, but we were blessed to be offered our current residence at Abbey Hall since January 2019.

Pastor Charly Kongolo received the calling from God to start a new church in Plymouth.  He resisted the call for many years preferring to join forces with other ministries around Plymouth. But God’s plan was always different to what Pastor Charly wanted. After a time in prayer seeking God it became clear to Pastor Charly that he could no longer resist the call. This call was made clear in three ways.

 The first, it came in the form of a burden in Pastor Charly’s heart whereby he could not find peace with God unless he responds to the call. His spirit was restless and he knew deep inside that answering the call is what is required for him to find peace with God.

 The second, was in the form of confirmation through the scriptures and men of God. When meditating the word of God, Pastor Charly felt so strong about Matthew 21:13 “It is written,” he said to them, “’My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” Jesus here was quoting Isaiah 56:7 “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” When reading these pieces of scriptures Pastor Charly saw in the spirit this church called “House of Prayer for all nations.” This is what the church will be called and this is going to be our vision: to see people from all nations, races and backgrounds coming together to worship God. A church that is not black nor white, rich nor poor but a place that has in its heart worship and outreach. A church that trains and equips believers for the work of ministry, that sees spiritual growth as one of its highest priorities, and a place that feels like a family, a place to belong. Pastor Charly envisioned to build a church that lives and displays the love of God by extending the same love to the community. Helping each other to get better, to grow stronger and grow in the likeness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The third and last way God confirmed this calling was through word of knowledge (some will consider it as a prophetic declaration) by other ministers. The most incredible confirmation happened as Pastor Charly and his wife were seriously praying and considering whether to launch the new church, they attended a Sunday service at a local church. During the service, a guest speaker whilst ministering, called out pastor Charly and spoke the message “God has been calling you to go and do what He has laid on your heart, go and do it”. This is when he knew he could no longer hide or run from this calling. The church launched the next Sunday.