This Week - 1813
David Livingstone
On 19 March 1813, David Livingstone was born in Scotland. He was a physician, Congregationalist, pioneer missionary with the London Missionary Society, and explorer in Africa. Livingstone came to have a mythic status as a missionary martyr, a “rags to riches” inspirational story, explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of British colonial expansion. He became one of the most popular British heroes of the 19th century.
Livingstone’s fame as an explorer is rooted in his obsession to find the sources of the Nile River. His exploration of central Africa was the pinnacle of European discovery and colonial penetration of the African continent. His missionary travels, “disappearance,” and eventual death in Africa led to the founding of several African missionary initiatives.
Livingstone is known as “Africa’s greatest missionary,” yet he is recorded as having converted only one African, a man named Sechele. After Livingstone left the Kwena tribe in Botswana, Sechele remained faithful to Christianity and led missionaries to surrounding tribes as well as converting nearly his entire Kwena people. In the estimation of Neil Parsons of the University of Botswana, Sechele "did more to propagate Christianity in 19th-century southern Africa than virtually any single European missionary."
Prayer points:
1. Pray that Africans like Sechele can continue to reach other Africans for Christ.
2. Give thanks for the many western missionaries who have worked in Africa, at great personal sacrifice and dedication.
3. Pray that African Christians, who are now the majority religion in Africa, can reach their people and mobilize missionaries to other parts of the world.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone
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