The cross-cultural missionary enterprise of the Lesotho Evangelical Church

[摘要] The Lesotho Evangelical Church was established in 1833 by the three French Missionaries of the thenParis Evangelical Missionary Society, thus making it the first and oldest evangelical church in Lesotho.The purpose of this study was to evaluate and ascertain the involvement of this church in missions,particularly cross culturally, as a form of a case study that could cast light on the general participationof the church in Lesotho in cross-culturally mission.Since the aim was to evaluate the cross-cultural missions enterprise of the church, that is mission workbeyond the borders of Lesotho, while not neglecting its work locally, much emphasis was placed onthe involvement of the church in other countries. Firstly, the research searched for evidence of the pastinvolvement of the church in cross culturall mission through its historical documents. The MorijaMuseum and archives in Lesotho provided much needed primary sources such as letters ofMissionaries, Minutes of Synods, newspaper articles of antiquity and other helpful resources. With thispast history, the foundation of the church in Mission was ascertained and understood.To understand what was currently taking place in the church, a qualitative and quantitative researchmethod was used. Questionnaires were compiled and distributed in the 7 districts of Lesotho, whichwere then evaluated and computer-analysed. Results were then interpreted and conclusions andrecommendations made. The research has established that the Lesotho Evangelical Church was involved in the late 1800s incross-culturall missions in places such as the Northern Transvaal and Zambia. While the work was ledby the PEMS in Paris, the church in Lesotho provided the Evangelists and some financial support.However, gradually that involvement grew less and less as the years progressed, to a point where itwas found that currently there seems to be little or nothing really being undertaken by the LEC churchin cross-culturall missions, and this phenomenon is probably prevalent in the evangelical communityin Lesotho generally.

[发布机构] University of the Free State