Where we work
The Lesotho Flying Pastors are based in Lesotho, Africa. The capital city is Maseru, where most of the pastors live, and where the MAF base is located.
The Lesotho Flying pastors perhaps should be referred to as the Lesotho walking pastors because they do a lot of hiking after they are dropped at each airstrip. They work in 4 areas:
Tlhanyaku
This is a region in the northeast of the country of Lesotho. The pastors have been working their since early 2019. In 2020, Pastor Setlokoane and his wife Mahlompho began to live there to minister to 6 of the more than one dozen villages that dot the two valleys near the Tlhanyaku airstrip. Each weekday the couple hikes up to 2 hours to the different villages to lead and encourage Bible studies. They also build relationships and talk about Jesus with local shepherds after the young men finish their herding duties in the evening.
Matsaile
A small village in eastern Lesotho that is close to two other small villages and is not reachable by road. There is a small Christian community here mostly composed of youth and shepherds. The nearby villages are Manganeng which is 45 minutes’ walk from Matsaile, and Tlaling, a Xhosa village, a 3 to 4 hours hike higher in mountains. Since early 2022, Sehkhobe and Mamolemo have been living and ministering there. They are assisting the understaffed schools there as tutors.
Lebakeng
(in Partnership with Ntate Molimo Roma Nna) – Five minutes flight but many hours walk from Matsaile, Lebakeng is a region made up of numerous villages: Partner organization Ntate Molimo Roma Nna, led by Ebenezer Oguamena and his staff, have been discipling budding Christian communities in several of the villages in since 2018. Using Theological Education by Extension materials and aided by food, equipment and transport provided by MAF and Lesotho Flying Pastors, NMRN staff are discipling several Christian communities.
Kuebunyane
An area in central Lesotho that is unreachable by road and that requires nearly 2 days of travel to reach by foot after the roads ends. The initial location of the first Flying Pastor outreach in 2015, this site has not been extensively discipled until recently when God removed obstacles to allow the beginning of construction of an MAF-sponsored church building. More importantly since mid-2021, a pastoral couple, Masheane and Matsepang, have been living and ministering to the community of believers there. A unique feature of the area is a strong interest in sports which gives an opening for the couple to engage in sports ministry.
About Lesotho
Lesotho is a small country surrounded by South Africa. Named “the Kingdom in the Sky”, Lesotho’s strikingly vast mountain ranges supply it with abundant water resources. The country enjoys a significant influx of foreign aid, a relatively stable government, little intertribal conflict, and is full of friendly people who are open to discussions about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Those same beautiful mountain ranges separate a majority of Lesotho’s 1.8 million people from basic amenities and medical care. Tragically, Lesotho is saddled with the second-highest HIV prevalence in the world with over 25% of the population living with HIV. High unemployment and lack of economic opportunity, especially in rural and mountain areas, are the norm. Economic realities and tradition in the mountain areas force boys as young as 5 to work as shepherds, limiting their education and opportunity for the future. Teenage pregnancy, abuse of alcohol and broken homes are too common in these areas. Many of the people in these areas never travel out of the mountain valley in which they were born. These isolated people do not know that life can be different than what they know, and even worse, face eternity without knowing even the name of Jesus.