In April a Rooted in Jesus team travelled to the Diocese of Kapsabet in Kenya in the North Rift and was led by Revd Dr John Eldridge with members Steve Marriott, Revd Capt Joshua Opondo and Andrew Whysall.  The Diocese was established in 2016, has 47 parishes, 96 clergy, 50 secondary schools and 150 primary schools.

Delegate participation!

John Eldridge reports,

“The residential conference was held at Aldai Girls School, a few miles south of Kapsabet and was attended by 190 delegates.  These were predominantly Lay Readers; two or three from each of the parishes in the Diocese.  This worked well, as each of the Lay Readers came expecting to take back the training and begin discipleship groups in their local churches.”

“Each of the seven archdeacons in the Diocese attended the conference and committed themselves to support the Lay Readers in their implementation of groups within the churches in each of their archdeaconries.  One of the archdeacons, Ven. Japeth Sugut, was the Diocesan Coordinator for Rooted in Jesus and he very competently organised both the conference and the arrangements for the follow up and implementation of groups as the conference came to a close.”

Conference delegates

“The team came together and worked very hard, especially given the large numbers in the sessions and workshops.  It was particularly valuable to have Revd Joshua Opondo with us, himself a Kenyan vicar from a neighbouring diocese, as this gave an important local representational feel to the team.  As Bishop Korir explained: “we were delighted to receive a Rooted in Jesus team from the UK, but relaxed when we heard Joshua was to be a member of the team.”  There were a number of healings at the conference including a lady healed of fibroids and a man of his addiction to betting.  Joshua says: “the report that I got from the Diocese is that this was one of the most inspiring conferences ever, they got new ideas not only in discipleship but for personal and family growth.”

The Diocese had prepared well for the conference, under the encouragement and leadership of the Bishop and his team – recognising the importance to the Diocese to maintain the emphasis on discipleship moving forward, and the opportunities that exist for diocesan personnel to help in future Rooted in Jesus teams.

Rooted in Jesus team

This training conference was well received by the Kapsabet Diocese and met a felt need of helping local churches grow in discipleship.  The delegates participated well, even running around the playing field during breaks – this area is famous for their Kenyan runners!

The team themselves were warmly welcomed, extremely well fed and looked after by their hosts, thoroughly enjoying mountainous quantities of fruit and vegetables! They returned to the UK thanking God for the opportunity to serve Him among such loving and responsive Christians!

We are so grateful for all those who faithfully prayed for the team and the conference.

Rooted in Jesus is published and supported by The Mathetes Trust.