The West African nation of Sierra Leone is rich in history and culture, natural beauty and determined human spirit.   From a past shaped significantly by the African slave trade to a brutal civil war (1991 – 2001), the people of Sierra Leone have known their share of pain and suffering.  Today the country is at peace but continues to struggle with the wounds of war, pervasive poverty, high unemployment, devastated infrastructure, and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.  

 In recent years, the country has made considerable progress in establishing a stable and democratic political environment.  Religious tolerance is a primary value held by both the minority Christians and majority Muslims.  In  2011 Sierra Leone marked the 50th anniversary of the nation’s independence from Britain.

Like the nation itself, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone is multi-cultural and multi-lingual.   The ELCSL was formed, beginning in 1989, by a Sierra Leonean who had become Lutheran while living in the U.S.  He called together family, friends, and associates, and the church was thus born of relational evangelism. 

Today the ELCSL numbers 23 congregations in urban as well as remote village locations.  Total membership is estimated to be 3,000, with the majority being children and youth.   Members are from a variety of tribal, educational, and economic backgrounds.   A young church, and the first indigenous Lutheran church in Africa, the ELCSL strives to be a source of light and life, hope and healing in the development of the nation of Sierra Leone, and seeks to share good news for all.

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On Mission Sierra Leone     -   Pastor Kate Warn
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