Botswanan Government Urges Church: Please Teach Our Children

Try to imagine this if you possibly can: Imagine for a moment that our government has come to us, the Church, and asked us to please help them. Imagine further that our less-than-godly government has opened up every one of our public high schools to us. In fact, they have not only invited us, they are encouraging us to come into their schools and teach all of their secondary students about abstinence, about the Bible, and about Christianity and Jesus as the hope for their lives and their futures. And, if that’s not enough, add this to the mix: The government officials are putting NO restrictions on what we say and do with those students!

Because our school systems are so closed to the Gospel, folks in the US will have great difficulty imagining such an open door. However, before we relegate this far-fetched notion to nothing more than some wild and wonderful imagination, imagine this: Imagine we are Believers living in Botswana. For, you see, if you and I were pastors and Christians in that small East African country, we would not need to dream about such unprecedented opportunities to spread the Good News of Christ. Believe it or not, that amazingly God-sized ministry is exactly what the churches of Botswana have been urged by their government to provide. Botswana is literally on the verge of extinction because of aids. The President of Botswana has appealed to the Christian churches in Botswana to come and help them!

At least one church and one pastor is taking the government up on their desparate request for help. Pastor Norman Schaefer and the Open Baptist Church located in Gaborone are training 100 Botswana college students to be missionary teachers in all 27 senior secondary schools. Open Baptist Church has members from 37 different nationalities. They are quickly becoming the leading and largest church in Botswana. Click here to watch the insightful video that sheds more light on the vision Open Door Baptist has to “face the nation” with the Gospel of Christ.

I have the privilege to go to Botswana in May of this year and help teach these 100 college students. My assignment is to teach on worship and to lead a New Testament Survey class. I am traveling with Ken Galyean and his ministry organization, Call To Africa. Please pray for our team, for the college student teachers, and for the people of Botswana.

God’s hand is clearly on this country. God has “set up” this country for renewal, repentance and far-reaching revival through opening doors that only He could open and He can close. Pastor Shaefer and Open Baptist Church need financial support as they expand their ministry and their tremendous impact on Botswana. They also need people from the US and other countries to come in and help them on short-term mission trips. If you want more information on how you can help, email Ken Galyean at kgalyean@calltoafrica.org.