Jesus changes a factory in Kenya

It is always a joy to hear the latest news from those using Rooted in Jesus, our discipleship programme for Africa. In 2014 Brian and Sheila Keel introduced RinJ to several Pentecostal networks in Kenya, returning this May to visit some of those they worked with. Brian writes:

Rooted in Jesus training in Bungoma

“Sheila and I have been in Western Kenya for the past week, and heard this testimony after church in a rural town today. Last November we were here in Bungoma, and held a RinJ follow-up conference, where we trained some additional facilitators; one of them being the pastor of the church we were speaking in this morning.  He works as a manager in a factory owned by British American Tobacco near the border with Uganda.  He started to take RinJ into the factory, using it in a morning before the men started work and during lunch hours; and as a result there are some 50 men who have become Christians and now attend his church.  As a pastor he had agreed with senior management that he wouldn’t work on a Sunday as he had church to lead.  However, when these men became believers, they too wanted to attend church on a Sunday, as opposed to working extra time in the factory!  This seemed to create a problem, which threatened his job, but when the management learned that he had employed some 200 men, half the total workforce, they changed their mind on the matter.  The factory does not now work on a Sunday, and the pastor has his job, and a bigger church so they are having to construct a much larger building!”

Brian and Sheila have also sent a video interview with Pastor Josphat Adieno, who tells joyfully of the changes he has seen among those using the course. To watch it click here.

Rooted in Jesus goes to Namibia

Rooted in Jesus reaches Namibia

Last year Dignity Worldwide arranged for Rooted in Jesus to be translated into Lozi, and they have now launched the first Rooted in Jesus groups in Namibia, RinJ’s 16th country. Jo Kimball writes: “I wanted to share the attached photograph with you [above] as I think there’s something really special about it. The Namibian team were recently in Makolonga and took this photo of a lady reading Rooted in Jesus. She appears to be totally captivated by it despite the movement you see around her. I found something really uplifting in the photograph and I hope you do too.” All Dignity’s groups are interdenominational, building networks of Christian disciples across a community.

Discipleship and the Anglican Communion

In March the Mission Department of the Anglican Communion Office published a major new report titled Intentional Discipleship and Disciple-Making – An Anglican Guide to Christian Life and Formation. In April the report was discussed at the international Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Lusaka, and the following resolution was passed: ‘The Anglican Consultative Council, in light of the gospel and theological imperative to make disciples,

• recognizes the need for every province, diocese and parish in the Anglican Communion to adopt a clear focus on intentional discipleship and to produce resources to equip and enable the whole church to be effective in making new disciples of Jesus Christ;
• requests the Standing Committee to work with the Secretary General and Mission Department to effect a Season of Intentional Discipleship for a period covering ACCs 16, 17,18 [ie the next 10 years]
• commends the report, Intentional Discipleship and Disciple making—an Anglican Guide to Christian Life and Formation, for study across the Anglican Communion.’

We are delighted by the endorsement given to the report, to which Alison Morgan was one of the contributors. Rooted in Jesus and The God Who is There are both profiled in the report, and we look forward to the growth in Christian discipleship that will surely come over the next decade as a result of this initiative. The report can be downloaded from the Anglican Communion website.

To catch up with news as it comes in visit the Rooted in Jesus news page. To download our latest prayer diary click here.

Posted 27th May 2016 by Revd Dr Alison Morgan