We have been hugely encouraged this month to receive reports of an increase in faith and discipleship within community of those using Rooted in Jesus.
The Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro (DMK) is the home of Rooted in Jesus: conceived in partnership with Stanley Hotay, then the Mission Director and now the bishop, Rooted in Jesus was first piloted in both the north of the diocese and in the southern region of Kiteto – where, under the leadership of missionary bishop John Hayden, it was instrumental in the formation of a new diocese.
Stanley is now the bishop of DMK, and over the last decade he has pursued a strategic programme of evangelism and church planting, with 420 new churches planted so far. Bishop Stanley has just released a report which is available on youtube. He says:
“How are lives being impacted through the gospel proclamations? In our diocese, this is a reality, not a story. We have been busy planting new churches – over 400 new churches since 2012. Most of these churches are under trees, they are worshipping the Lord; people’s lives have been changed and transformed in many ways – they are no longer the same. There are places where they did not even know who Jesus is. In some places they even asked our Mission Director Clement if he is Jesus! The Lord has blessed us.
We have also started schools in some of those areas, because people do not know how to read and write. We have planted new schools, for example in Moshi. This is mostly a Muslim community, but we have a church there now, almost 100 people, and we have built a school, and drilled a water well. We have built a school in Sonjo, where 250 were baptised in one day. In Ereko in Ngorongoro, 668 were baptised in one day. In Engaruka, 167 were baptised in one day. These are big numbers!
We have started saving groups, where people come together weekly and save the little they have. There are over a thousand people in these groups. They are learning an economic way of living their lives. The money saved in these groups is over 150 million shillings [65,000 USD]. That money belongs to them. Some have bought goats, cows; some have started little projects. But it’s not just money – they are building strong relationships through coming together. They are praying weekly, and learning the word of God. This has transformed their lives.”
Clement Manyatta leads the outreach programme in DMK 
Discipling the new believers
The obvious question arises: how to disciple so many new Christians, many of them in such remote areas? Earlier this year, Mission Director and Rooted in Jesus coordinator Clement Manyatta wrote:
“We have just come back from the DMK pastors’ retreat. l got the chance to talk about Rooted in Jesus ministry in DMK, l wanted to know if it is really helping or not. It was really amazing since all pastors said it is helping a lot in their churches. But also we have many new pastors in DMK, so some don’t know much about Rooted in Jesus. So l talked to them about it; they liked it, so we will have Rooted in Jesus seminars in each deanery this year.”
Many of the new churches have been planted amongst the Maasai people of the diocese. Working with Clement we have been able to produce and print a new updated edition of Rooted in Jesus Book 1 in Maasai, and Clement has just written again to say that Rooted in Jesus training has now been given to a group of Masai pastors who will form 50 new groups in the churches of Minjingu, Engaruka, Ngorongoro, Namanga and Mkono.
Bishop Stanley asks: “Please pray for our people, and particularly the new believers.”
Rooted in Jesus in the Anglican Province of Tanzania
Bishop Stanley serves not only as bishop of his own diocese but also as the National Director of Rooted in Jesus for the Anglican Province of Tanzania. Rooted in Jesus has now been introduced to 20 of the 28 dioceses within the Province, and in the next few months a first conference is planned for the Diocese of Bihamarulo, along with follow-up training in a number of other dioceses. Team members will also help to train leaders in Uvira, a missionary area within the Diocese of Bukavu in DR Congo, where Bishop Elisha Tendwa has accepted an invitation to plant a second new diocese. “The plural of disciple is CHURCH,” Bishop Elisha reminds us, “so our members of RinJ must go to Galilee because Jesus is risen and He has already gone before them.”
Please pray for us as we support these missionary journeys. It is a privilege to work, as Jesus worked, with some of the poorest (in material terms) people in the world. As we seek to bring blessing to others, so the Lord brings blessing to us.
In Tanzania and Dr Congo, Rooted in Jesus is used in Maasai, Swahili and French
Rooted in Jesus is published and supported by The Mathetes Trust. To find out more visit our website or follow us on Facebook – or sign up to follow this blog.
Posted 4th May 2021
Rooted in Jesus 