Church

The establishment of Baptist churches through the work of the International Mission Board began in 1987 when Randy and Nancy Sprinkle from Missouri, USA journeyed to Maseru, Lesotho to open this work.

The International Mission Board presently works with Basotho Baptist churches in Lesotho and in the Eastern Free State (EFS) of South Africa.

In Lesotho, one of the churches are located in Maseru, the capital city (Ha Foso Baptist Church). Two of the churches are in the Maluti Mountains (Khohlo-ntso and Khohoba) about a 3 and 1/2 hours drive into the mountains from Maseru. Additionally, there are several locations where work is taking place with the goal of beginning new churches in these areas.

In the EFS, the Baptist work focuses on two major types of areas ..... farms and in the townships/locations.

The hard work of former IMB missionaries in Lesotho has resulted in several pastors for these Baptist churches who have a heart for God and are devoted to evangelism. But the small size of the congregations (mainly consisting of women and children) and the lack of giving by church members makes life difficult for these Baptist pastors. Day to day living is a struggle as they try to provide for their families as well as their congregations.

The goal of the International Mission Board in Lesotho is to establish a church planting movement among Baptist churches in Lesotho. This is a movement whereby church members are actively involved in witnessing, home Bible studies , and church planting. The Basotho Team, IMB missionaries and local church leaders, seek to serve these pastors and their churches through Leadership Training in these church growth principles as well as equipping lay leaders to this task.