Botswana
Who we are
Botswana covers a wide area in the centre of Southern Africa, most of which is the Kalahari desert. It has a sparse population of about 2.2 million, with over half living in what are categorised ‘urban’ centres. There are also many expatriate workers, especially in the capital city, Gaborone.
SIM has had a missionary presence here since the 1970s, though Botswana was first reached with the gospel in 1841 by David Livingstone. The Tswana speaking peoples were the first in Africa to have a full Bible in their language. More than 70% now claim to be Christian, but only an estimated 8% regularly attend an evangelical church.
Despite the country’s political stability, high literacy rates and mineral wealth – a third of the world’s diamonds by value – alcohol abuse and gender-based violence are major concerns, and the HIV infection rate is the fourth highest in the world.
Our areas of ministry
Currently, we are either working, or hoping to begin new ministry, in the following areas:
Theological and medical training
• Running a Bible teaching week
• Re-establishing a multi-denominational Bible school
• Assisting in the development of a medical school Christian Fellowship
• Short-term opportunities for specialist medical lecturers
Children's and youth ministry
• Setting up sports evangelism teams
• Pioneering an Early Childhood Development Centre with the Africa Evangelical Church
• Seizing current opportunities for ministry into secondary schools nationwide
• Supporting providers of mental health care for children and young people
Discipleship
• Distribution of the 'Highest Honour' 60-day discipleship journey book
• Development and running of S.H.I.N.E. Africa 'shame/honour' themed discipleship programme
Mobilisation and evangelism
• Re-establishing a Christian bookshop and resource centre
• Mobilising local believers for worldwide mission work
• Deploying trained SIM workers into vacant government medical posts in partnership with the university medical school
• Exploring possibilities for outreach to Asian expatriate workers
Find out more
You can explore these ministry opportunities further by clicking here, or using the 'Come' tab above.
If you are interested in serving with SIM in Botswana, we would love to talk with you. Please use the ‘Talk to us’ button below or click here to make a web enquiry and start the conversation.
Botswana
Who we are
Botswana covers a wide area in the centre of Southern Africa, most of which is the Kalahari desert. It has a sparse population of about 2.2 million, with over half living in what are categorised ‘urban’ centres. There are also many expatriate workers, especially in the capital city, Gaborone.
SIM has had a missionary presence here since the 1970s, though Botswana was first reached with the gospel in 1841 by David Livingstone. The Tswana speaking peoples were the first in Africa to have a full Bible in their language. More than 70% now claim to be Christian, but only an estimated 8% regularly attend an evangelical church.
Despite the country’s political stability, high literacy rates and mineral wealth – a third of the world’s diamonds by value – alcohol abuse and gender-based violence are major concerns, and the HIV infection rate is the fourth highest in the world.
Our areas of ministry
Currently, we are either working, or hoping to begin new ministry, in the following areas:
Theological and medical training
• Running a Bible teaching week
• Re-establishing a multi-denominational Bible school
• Assisting in the development of a medical school Christian Fellowship
• Short-term opportunities for specialist medical lecturers
Children's and youth ministry
• Setting up sports evangelism teams
• Pioneering an Early Childhood Development Centre with the Africa Evangelical Church
• Seizing current opportunities for ministry into secondary schools nationwide
• Supporting providers of mental health care for children and young people
Discipleship
• Distribution of the 'Highest Honour' 60-day discipleship journey book
• Development and running of S.H.I.N.E. Africa 'shame/honour' themed discipleship programme
Mobilisation and evangelism
• Re-establishing a Christian bookshop and resource centre
• Mobilising local believers for worldwide mission work
• Deploying trained SIM workers into vacant government medical posts in partnership with the university medical school
• Exploring possibilities for outreach to Asian expatriate workers
Find out more
You can explore these ministry opportunities further by clicking here, or using the 'Come' tab above.
If you are interested in serving with SIM in Botswana, we would love to talk with you. Please use the ‘Talk to us’ button below or click here to make a web enquiry and start the conversation.
Communities where Christ is least known
Remote area dwellers of the Kalahari desert
The San are considered to have the oldest culture in the world. Beautiful San rock art can be seen throughout southern Africa, where the San lived as hunter-gatherers. The San are expert hunters, using bows and poison-tipped arrows. Hunting is a collaborative exercise, and the meat is always shared among the group. Over the past 2,000 years, the San have slowly been pushed to live in the arid sands of the Kalahari Desert by Bantu tribes and white farmers, who took the more fertile land for their crops and livestock. Today, the San find it difficult to maintain their traditional culture and lifestyle and land they have depended on for hunting is increasingly being used for grazing cattle.
In partnership with the Africa Evangelical Church, SIM has engaged with the San of the Kalahari for over 30 years. For the past 10 years, the ministry has been carried out by mission workers living in the desert. They retired in 2018, leaving a translation of the Gospel of Luke, around 90 recorded Bible stories, Sunday School material and a worship CD as their legacy.
Asian expatriate workers
As in many Southern African countries, people are arriving from Asia by their tens-of-thousands to build roads, set up shops, run agricultural projects, and organise businesses. Together with the church in Botswana, we want to understand their cultural outlook on life and spiritual things, and to communicate with them in their own language. Our hope is to be able to explain to them the gospel of Christ, which they might never have heard in their home country, and tell them of a God who has made not just the whole world, but a way of salvation too!
Prayers
Pray for San people to grasp the message of God’s love as they listen to Bible stories in their language on donated solar-powered radios.
Pray for San people to grasp the message of God’s love as they listen to Bible stories in their language on donated solar-powered radios.
Pray for continuing success and growth in SIM Botswana's Bible teaching and medical school ministries.
Pray for continuing success and growth in SIM Botswana's Bible teaching and medical school ministries.
Pray for the Africa Evangelical Church to catch the vision for reaching and discipling the remote desert dwellers of the Kalahari.
Pray for the Africa Evangelical Church to catch the vision for reaching and discipling the remote desert dwellers of the Kalahari.
Pray for children and young people to grow in their faith and apply biblical truths in their daily lives.
Pray for children and young people to grow in their faith and apply biblical truths in their daily lives.
Pray for meaningful relationships with expatriate workers that might lead to sharing the gospel.
Pray for meaningful relationships with expatriate workers that might lead to sharing the gospel.
Ask God to supply the resources needed to see new ministry vision become a reality.
Ask God to supply the resources needed to see new ministry vision become a reality.
Pray that Motswana Christians would be helpfully discipled, equipped and mobilised to go out as mission workers.
Pray that Motswana Christians would be helpfully discipled, equipped and mobilised to go out as mission workers.
Pray that Christians would desire more deeply to understand and apply biblical truth in ways that truly transform lives for their good and God’s glory.
Pray that Christians would desire more deeply to understand and apply biblical truth in ways that truly transform lives for their good and God’s glory.