Chief Sechele was seeking after God. It helped that he had a missionary doctor living in his village. He was intrigued with the Christian message David Livingstone (1813-1873) shared with villagers. Two barriers, however, stood in the way of the chief becoming a Christian. One was rain. The Tswana people relied on rainmakers to make it rain. Livingstone was vehemently opposed to using magic for rainmaking purposes. It didn’t help matters that Chief Sechele was the principal rainmaker, and Southern Africa was experiencing a severe drought that year. Sechele reluctantly agreed to stop his rainmaking activities. The second barrier was polygamy. Sechele had five wives. Livingstone told him to divorce four of them, which threatened to undermine the social order of the tribe. Sechele grudgingly went through with the divorces and was baptized.
A year later, Sechele impregnated one of his former wives. Sechele repented, telling Livingstone, “Do not give up on me. I shall never give up on Jesus. You and I will stand before him together.” Sechele was undoubtedly sincere yet also reluctant to leave his former life. Despite his flaws, Sechele did more to propagate Christianity in nineteenth century Africa than any other European missionary.
We are similarly challenged in our day to stay true to Christ and resist competing cultural influences. Livingstone went on to continue his mission work elsewhere. Nobody heard from him for six years. A New York newspaper sent reporter Morton Stanley to find him, culminating in the legendary greeting, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” Livingstone often prayed: