Ministry 25+ Years in the Making
While the Swaziland Partnership itself is a recently launched initiative, we have a rich 25 year history of mission and evangelism among the people in the Kingdom of Swaziland.
The Vision of A Few
The visionary behind our mission in Swaziland is Rev. Jimmy Moore, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Washington, NC; who, after a trip to Southern Africa in 1996 felt called to respond to the meet the needs of the people he met there. Pastor Jimmy felt an immediate connection with the people of Swaziland and their hunger to know more about the Gospel. Within a year, he returned with other members of his congregation. They, too, fell in love with the people of Swaziland and responded to their desire to know more about the Gospel. Thus, a mission and partnership was established.
The Work of Many
Over time, a partnership began between First Baptist Church of Washington and the Baptist churches of Swaziland. In partnership with the International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries on the ground in Swaziland, First Baptist began to send annual short-term mission teams to Swaziland to conduct revivals and homestead visits. These mission trips eventually expanded to include construction projects, specifically in the southern region of Swaziland. God grew the church in Swaziland by hundreds, as more and more churches were planted. Following on the successful church plants in the south, the partnership felt the call and responded by moving its efforts to the north and began church plants there.
In addition to seeing to the spiritual needs of the people in the Kingdom of Swaziland, First Baptist Church began to care for the physical needs of the people, specifically those affected by the HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics. This led to the launch of yearly short-term medical mission teams in February of 2013 with a focus on conducting traveling clinics across the country.
As is always the case in mission and outreach, the person doing the mission work is often more affected than those who are receiving the care. That has been true for the members of First Baptist Church in Washington, NC. In working with the people of Swaziland, God has touched the hearts of many within the church congregation who either have been led to give generously to support this mission or have given of their time traveling to serve in Swaziland. Over 100 members of First Baptist Church have participated on a mission team to Swaziland, many raising the funds to go more than once. This represents 40 percent of our small congregation; and in time, members have invited friends and family outside of the First Baptist community to join them on short-term trips. In this way, God has faithfully provided the needed resources for this expanding mission.
The Next Chapter
Bound Together: Swaziland Partnership officially launched in 2015 as a coalition of American Baptist churches and the Baptist Church of Swaziland. Its mission: to saturate the Kingdom of Swaziland with the Gospel. Shortly after its launch, due to a restructuring of the International Mission Board, Swaziland was left without an IMB presence. The partnership was given the opportunity to step in to continue to foster the growth of the Baptist church in Swaziland, even without a full-time missionary on the field.
The launch of Bound Together produced a plan to partner with new American churches to establish a foundation to facilitate the long-term development of Swazi Baptist churches. We desire to continue in partnership with Swazi churches without missionaries on the field via quarterly short-term trips that engage in evangelism, discipleship, construction, medical missions, and church planting.
We believe God is using and will continue to use the Swaziland Partnership for his glory in the Kingdom of Swaziland. Join us as a part of this life-changing mission by contacting us here.
