Note to parent or teacher: Here is a 30- to 40-minute lesson plan on the life of David Livingstone that highlights the following lesson objectives: “Learn of some of the well-known great men and women of God throughout history,” and “Learn what it means to be a missionary, both in the past as well as in present-day society.” (Christian Life and Faith: Witnessing and Missionary Training: Great Men and Women of God-1b; Christian Life and Faith: Witnessing and Missionary Training: Missionary life-1a)

Read “David Livingstone, Part 1.”

Discuss how David Livingstone applied himself to his schooling in order to prepare for the future, and how he didn’t allow what looked like legitimate excuses to stop him from being educated.

Talk with the children about how receiving a good education is important in order to have a productive life as an adult.

Read “The Light of the World.”

Watch “I’ll Shine.”

Memorize “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, paraphrased). (See “Crazily Cool Card Set: Sharing God’s Love.”)

Read “David Livingstone, Part 2.”

Look up Joshua 1:3. Talk about how the fellow missionary was encouraging David Livingstone with God’s promise that He would work through David to teach the of the people who lived in these new lands about Jesus, and that is what happened because God did a great work through David Livingstone—winning people to faith in Jesus in all of the areas of Africa that he went into.

Discuss how God used the healing of the chief’s daughter to help win the chief and the whole tribe to faith in Jesus. Even though David Livingstone was a doctor, he asked God to do the work of healing while he did what he could with his medical training. Highlight how often the purpose of miracles is to bring glory to God and highlight His great love for people.

Look up Acts 1:8. Talk about how David Livingstone had great difficulty when preaching in a church in England, but when he was faced with the need to preach to the Bakwena tribe, the Holy Spirit gave him the power needed to be a bold witness. Discuss with the children how they too can ask for the Holy Spirit to help them have power to be a bold witness for Jesus. Discuss scenarios that are applicable to their lives, such as telling their friends about faith in Jesus, performing to attract people to Jesus, passing out tracts, and even standing up for their convictions of doing what is right and not something that is wrong.

Ask the children what type of things David and Mary Livingstone’s children might have enjoyed during the time they lived at the Kolobeng mission station (e.g., unique animals native to Africa, plant life native to where they were living, watching and helping their parents teach the local people about Jesus).

Study the list below of key events of David Livingstone’s missionary life so far. Find South Africa on a map.

• March 1841: arrives in Africa, landing at Cape Town (in present-day South Africa).
• July 1841: arrives in Kuruman on the Cape Frontier (in present-day South Africa), where he works for two years with Dr. Moffat, a famous pioneer missionary.
• August 1843: locates to Mabotsa (in present-day South Africa).
• 1844: marries Mary Moffat, the daughter of Dr. Moffat.
• 1844–46: wins many of the Bakwena tribe to believe in Jesus and His gift of salvation, and starts a mission station.
• 1847: builds new mission station at Kolobeng (in present-day South Africa), along with his wife, Mary. Lives there five years.

Read “David Livingstone, Part 3.”

Look up Romans 8:18. Talk about what sacrifices people might have been referring to when they talked of honoring Livingstone for the great sacrifices he had made (e.g., left his homeland to go to a land that had a different climate, traveled long distances across large expanses of unknown terrain, learned to eat new foods, built some of his own housing, worked with people who had different cultural habits and languages).

Discuss what Livingstone might have felt were the rewards he was already experiencing (e.g., close friends who appreciated him bringing the Gospel to them; adventure and discovery; God’s supply even in the midst of difficult circumstances; being used by God to reach people with Jesus’ love, and knowing that one day he was going to see these same people in heaven when they are all united again in Jesus).

Study the list below of further important events of David Livingstone’s missionary life. As you go over the list, also find Botswana, the Zambezi River, Angola, Zimbabwe, Lake Nyasa, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Lake Tanganyika, Burundi, Congo [DRC], and Zambia on a map.

• 1849: crosses the great Kalahari Desert (in present-day Botswana), which many had thought couldn’t be crossed.
• 1849: discovers Lake Ngami (in present-day Botswana). This lake was Livingstone’s first great discovery.
• 1851: is the first to explore the Zambezi River (in southern Africa), in search of new places suitable for mission stations.
• May 1854: reaches the coast at Luanda (present-day Angola).
• 1855: discovers Victoria Falls (in present-day Zimbabwe), one of the largest waterfalls in the world, and also one of the great natural wonders of the world, which Livingstone named after Queen Victoria, who was the Queen of England at that time.
• May 1856: reaches the mouth of the Zambezi River on the Indian Ocean (in present-day Mozambique) and is the first European to cross the width of southern Africa.
• 1859: discovers Lake Nyasa (also known as Lake Malawi in Malawi), one of the three greatest lakes in Africa (in present-day Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique). To explore Lake Nyasa, he and hundreds of local helpers haul a large sailing boat hundreds of miles overland.
• 1866 to 1873: explores the area around Lake Tanganyika (in present-day Burundi, Congo [DRC], Tanzania, and Zambia).
• November 1871: Stanley finds Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika.
• May 1873: dies at the age of sixty, and goes to heaven to live with the Lord.