Pray for Lesotho on Sunday, April 3, 2011

Pray for Lesotho on Sunday, April 3, 2011

Prayers for Lesotho: John 9:1-41

God of Light and Truth, we give praise and thanks to you for sending us Jesus, the Light of the world.  We confess our blindness in making judgments that lack your wisdom and mercy.  Help us to acknowledge our blindness and need for seeing things in the Light of Christ.  Help us, the “haves”, to see the world through the eyes of the “have nots”, those who struggle for survival in a world of injustice and greed.

We give thanks for the many ministries of our partner church in Lesotho, the Lesotho Evangelical Church (LEC), as they bring the Good News of Jesus’ love for all through their service.  We pray for:

  • pastors and evangelists serving the LEC and nourishing the spiritual lives of their parishioners
  • doctors and nurses ministering to the sick at the LEC’s hospitals and clinics
  • principals, teachers and students at over 500 schools which are affiliated with the LEC  

We join the Lesotho Evangelical Church in praying for:

  • a productive and transformative annual synod meeting later this month
  • unity within the church as it seeks to reform and renew itself
  • political stability as the country prepares for parliamentary elections in 2012

We pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Mission Moment from Lesotho:

The right to basic education is one human right few, if any, would argue against.  In Lesotho, the past decade has seen the introduction of free primary education.  However, beyond these seven years, school fees are still required to attend high school.  While the government of Lesotho helps many, including the thousands of orphans created by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there are always others in need.

One of these students at Masitise High School is Keneuoe (Kay-nay’-u-way).   A few years ago her family was doing fairly well.  Her father was working steadily as a miner in South Africa.  But a strike at the mine has left him without work for over two years.  Without a job, there is no income to pay school fees for Keneuoe.  Thanks to gifts given to Global Ministries, there is a scholarship fund at Masitise to help students in need like Keneuoe meet the cost of school fees and textbooks.  Her younger sister Limpho (Deem’-po) has followed her to Masitise and also benefits from the generosity of others.  Both are excelling academically and making the most of the opportunity they have to continue their education.  For them, your gifts make all the difference in the world!

(Prayer and Mission Moment by Mark Behle) 

Video Resources for Lesotho:

Global Ministries International Partners in Lesotho:

  • Lesotho Evangelical Church – The Lesotho Evangelical Church is one of Africa’s oldest Protestant churches, founded in 1833 by missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Mission society.  It is Lesotho’s oldest denomination and today it has 261,350 members in 112 congregations.  It also maintains 563 schools.  The LEC-sponsored schools have contributed to the 83 percent literacy rate nationwide.   Global Ministries’ relationship to LEC began in 1983.
  • Christian Council of Lesotho – The Christian Council of Lesotho is a fellowship of Christian churches and Christian organizations. It has two main objectives: (1) to foster closer cooperation and unity amongst churches and organizations of different Christian traditions; (2) to enable member churches and organization to more fully share in the spiritual, social and economic endeavors.  It has been involved over the years in social development, formal and informal education, health and sanitation, environmental protection and agriculture, civic education, conflict management. 
  • Christian Health Association of Lesotho – The mission of the Christian Health Association of Lesotho is to facilitate the participation of the Christian churches in ensuring that the right of all members of society to the highest quality health services is upheld.  In pursuit of this mission, the Christian churches are committed to see to it that quality health services reach those who have least access, the families and communities, through appropriate technologies, in spirit of mutual trust and cooperation as a tangible expression of Christ’s vision to love our neighbors as ourselves.

For more info on Lesotho: http://globalministries.org/africa/countries/lesotho/

Global Ministries Missionary in Lesotho:

Mark Behle serves with the Lesotho Evangelical Church as a teacher at Masitise High School.  He teaches math, a course on Luke & Acts, coaches basketball and leads a youth group called Friends of God.  He has been in Lesotho since 1996 and prior to that served with Global Ministries in Zambia for eleven years as a teacher at Kafue Secondary School.    

Pray for Partners without Global Ministries Mission Personnel: Republic of Congo

God, we lift up to you our brothers and sisters in the Republic of Congo. We ask you to bless the ministries of the Disciples of Christ Church in the Congo. We pray for their young leadership that they may grow in wisdom as these lead your church. We pray for their projects in sustainable development so that they might provide financial assistance to their communities. Teach us how to be faithful as we walk with them in their ministries. Amen

For more info on the Republic of Congo: http://globalministries.org/africa/countries/congo-brazzaville/