He was converted to Christianity by David Livingstone and in his role as ruler served as a missionary among his own and other African peoples.

[5] Sechele led a coalition of Batswana (Bakwêna, Bakaa, Balete, Batlokwa) in the Battle of Dimawe in 1852.

Sechele was born in 1812, the son of the chief of the Kwêna tribe of Tswana people of what is modern-day Botswana.

[5] During the time of their association, Livingstone urged Sechele to make peace with the uncle who ruled the other half of the Kwêna.

The Boers destroyed the Kolobeng mission and attacked the Kwêna at Dimawe, where they encountered the combined Batswana tribes of Bakwêna, Bahurutshe, Balete and Batlokwa.

[12] Before the attack there was an attempt by the Batswana to protect the women and children by sending them into hiding, but according to Livingstone, many were taken prisoner by the Boers.

Under the leadership of Sechele, Khama of Bangwato, and Bathoen I of Bangwaketse, the Boers were defeated by a combination of strategy and fire power.

[14] Sechele set out for England with the intention of seeking the protection of Queen Victoria, but his resources ran out by the time he reached Cape Town.

[5] When Moffat led a group of missionaries into Matabeleland in 1859,[15] he discovered that Sechele had preceded him and that the local Ndebele people held Christian prayers.

[5] Neil Parsons, of the University of Botswana, stated that Sechele "did more to propagate Christianity in nineteenth-century southern Africa than virtually any single European missionary".

[5] Under his leadership, his region became a refuge to other people fleeing persecution, and the numbers that he ruled exceeded 30,000 at the time of his death in 1892.