Category Archives: Rooted in Jesus

Rooted in Jesus Annual Report

We have just published the Rooted in Jesus Annual Report for the year 2020, which brought challenges none of us had expected. As a global pandemic crept over the world, churches closed, conferences were postponed, movements restricted, and livelihoods threatened.

We were able to run conferences in three dioceses before national lockdowns came into force, but we had to postpone an additional six conferences, all of which will be rescheduled when the situation permits. We have kept in regular touch with Rooted in Jesus dioceses, networks and ministry partners, and have continued to support them in prayer through our regular prayer diaries and our intercession team. We have learned to use Zoom, and have used Whatsapp to strengthen relationships with both dioceses and coordinators. Finally, we have been able to take advantage of a quieter year both to commission and format new translations of the course materials and training manuals, and to begin work on a new Rooted in Jesus Book 5.

The report can be downloaded from the Rooted in Jesus website here – or read on for a summary, with feedback from across the continent of Africa, details of new translations, personal testimonies and more.

Conference outcomes in Ethiopia and Kenya

Rooted in Jesus was introduced to the new Diocese of Gambella in Ethiopia at the beginning of the year. Groups began straight away, and by May coordinator Jeremiah Paul reported that RinJ was having a huge impact in the life of the churches, comforting victims and strengthening churches. By December there were 47 active groups with over 500 members, about half of whom were new to the Christian faith.

Also at the beginning of the year, a team travelled to the Diocese of Kitale in Kenya to train 137 leaders in how best to use Rooted in Jesus. Groups got off to a strong start, but the planned local followup meetings were prevented by lockdown. Nonetheless, Coordinator Tarus Kirionon wrote in December that most groups were finishing the first book, with some having completed books two and three as well.

The Diocese of Kericho hosted the third of the Rooted in Jesus conferences before the pandemic brought gatherings to a close, facilitated by a team from their link parish of Trinity Cheltenham. Groups began in 19 parishes, and Bishop Ng’eno started one himself for the diocesan staff team. It is hoped that groups planned in the remaining parishes will start in 2021.

Reports from across the continent

We try to keep in touch with all those using Rooted in Jesus, and during 2020
we were pleased to receive updates from 38 of our partners, stretching
from Ethiopia to Cape Town. Highlights included:

Countries where Rooted in Jesus has been introduced
  • In Madagascar the Diocese of Toliara currently has 68 groups, and aims to double this number in two years. In the Diocese of Fianarantsoa RinJ Junior is leading to considerable growth in some parishes, with more and more children attending, and new families coming into the churches as a result.
  • In the Diocese of Niassa in Mozambique, Charles Kapito reports that when churches closed for worship, small groups became central to their ministry. There are now 49 adult and 71 Junior groups, and they plan to double these in the next twelve months.
  • In South Africa, the biennual Anglicans Abaze conference was held virtually, with an explosion in numbers attending, and a new digital ministry being launched. RinJ training was provided in Lesotho, Natal and Johannesburg, and testimonies of spiritual growth received from Kimberley & Kuruman, Cape Town, Natal and Free State.
  • In Uganda, the Diocese of East Ruwenzori provided local training for the 37 group leaders. Coordinator James Tumwesigye reports that groups have grown, members become active in ministry, and new people have joined the church. In the Diocese of Soroti Bishop Odongo encouraged clergy to form groups during the 6 months of church closure, and there are now 184 groups meeting across the diocese.
  • Brian Keel reports on the initiatives taken by the Glad Tidings Churches of Kenya: “Over the past couple of years we have been encouraging some of those we have trained in Rooted in Jesus to use the resources in ‘less than familiar’ locations. Covid has brought that about!” In Kisumu churches were asked to run RinJ community programmes for young people, and this led to improved morale and new faith commitments. In Nyanza the churches moved their ministry into people’s homes, and the resulting growth in interest led to the foundation of five new congregations. Similar things have happened in Busia, a border town where Muslims have been coming to faith and three new congregations have opened.
  • In Zambia, Dignity Worldwide have continued to support the Life Group leaders who use Rooted in Jesus for their meetings. They report continued growth in this exciting non-denominational ministry, with over 900 groups now meeting, and new groups being formed for mutual support as people faced the challenges of the pandemic.

New Translations and Editions

2020 was a year of new translations and editions of the adult Rooted in Jesus programme. Books were translated into Thok Nath and Amharic for use in Ethiopia, existing translations into Zande, Masai and French were revised and updated, and work in an additional 11 languages was initiated. We published a French translation of the Rooted in Jesus Junior booklets, and a Swahili translation of the Team Manual.

In their own words

We have received many encouraging testimonies over the past year. Here is a selection:

“It has been a precious experience to be part of a group. There has been a measured approach with our leaders preparing very well and not placing on us any dogmatic agendas or pressure to go and start a church immediately. You have reminded me first and foremost that Jesus wants to have a relationship with me.” RinJ Zoom group member, Cape Town

“These groups have really been a blessing to the people that meet. The ones that had the opportunity to meet have been enjoying and getting encouraged as they journey towards building and growing their relationship with our God. Many groups have already completed the first book and now as they continue with classes they’re using the second book.” Diocese of the Rift Valley, Tanzania

“The enemy has succeeded in keeping places of worship closed temporarily but he has not succeeded in preventing the St Luke’s RinJ from their weekly fellowship via social media. Every Thursday I look forward to spending time and discussing the word of God with my fellow RinJ members. Learning the memory verses has helped me to overcome trying and negative situations during Lockdown” – RinJ group member, Diocese of Natal

“Even if there is lock down of Churches, people are meeting in their cell groups sharing the word of God, and one of the tools that has helped is the Rooted in Jesus material.” Diocese of Soroti, Uganda

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
    sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
    and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
    and it does not cease to bear fruit.

To download the full report click here.
Rooted in Jesus is published and supported by The Mathetes Trust.
Posted 2nd March 2021

Rooted in Jesus by Zoom : A Leader’s Guide

One of the benefits of the coronavirus pandemic this year has been to prompt us all to experiment with new ways of meeting together. Martin and Colleen Breytenbach have been leading the first ever Rooted in Jesus group to meet online through Zoom. After successfully working through the first book, they are now continuing with the second – and beginning to prepare some of the members to lead their own groups. Colleen has written the following report, which we hope will both guide and encourage others:

Colleen demonstrating RinJ, in pre-Covid days!

“Martin and I have been running a Zoom Discipleship group during the months of Covid lockdown in Cape Town. Here are some of the comments we received when our group took a break after Book 1:

“I have appreciated the weekly study of the Word and the contact with other in prayer. It has strengthened me, so that when we re-opened the church after the Covid Lockdown, I had a new confidence to lead the church. I felt like I had grown.”

“It is interesting to see that although this material was designed to teach people who are not necessarily literate, that it was malleable enough be used effectively with graduates in the city context.”

“Coming from a Moslem background I never felt like I had a Christian family. I now have a family, and I have a team of Christian prayer warriors who love each other. I fell like I fit in for the first time.”

“It has been a precious experience to be part of a group. It has never been about manipulating people. There has been a measured approach with our leaders preparing very well and not placing on us any dogmatic agendas or pressure to go and start a church immediately. You have reminded me first and foremost that Jesus wants to have a relationship with me. Also, I love being part of a group who prays.“

Timescale

“The first book took 15 weeks to complete. We favoured depth of study rather than brevity. If the group (who are all graduates) wished to search the Scriptures more deeply, we allowed them to do that. In this way, we ensured that each person drank deeply of the material and were fully satiated.

We took a four-week break after Book 1, during which time we had one social gathering, where we barbecued safely out of doors in line with Covid-19 guidance. We resumed on the 6th Nov and the group expressed great joy to be together again.

Preparation

  1. Before we started our group, we spent time discerning what God was calling us to do.
  2. As we conceived of running one group, many names came to mind from our congregation. We wanted to invite them all! Some of the names were of those who were mature in the faith and we realised that they could potentially be future leaders. We realised that our small group could potentially lead to many groups starting up, and that as we grew in experience in running the first group, we could possibly run a training course for those who would volunteer to run groups in the future.
  3. We shared our calling with the priest of our church to get permission to run the group and got his support and his assurance of prayer.
  4. We created a Whatsapp group and invited participants, having first spoken to them each in person and got their agreement to join the Whatsapp group.

Guidelines

“The following Guidelines were sent out on a WhatsApp group, four days before the first meeting started:

  1. Welcome: Dear all, welcome to the new St Peter’s Discipleship Group, facilitated by Martin and Colleen Breytenbach.
  2. Etiquette: We have created this group in order to communicate essential arrangements and prayer requests. Please keep responses to a minimum so that we do not spam each other. There is no need to assure each other that we are praying, by sending emoticons. Let us take it as read that we will support one another. Remember that prayer requests are confidential and are not to be shared outside of this group.
  3. The Material: We will be following the Rooted in Jesus manuals, the first of which we will study over the next twelve weeks. There are four books in total, which lead a Disciple all the way from making a basic commitment to Jesus, to the point of maturity in Christ, where they can train other disciples. After twelve weeks we will take a break before continuing this journey. We aim to fulfil that Great Commission by making Disciples who will make Disciples (Matt 28:19, 2 Timothy 2:2). The course requires one to memorise Scripture verses, so that the Word of God will dwell in you richly.
  4. Practical arrangements: Our meetings will commence on Friday 29th May 2020 at 19h15 for 19h30 on Zoom. To avoid overloading the Wi-Fi bandwidth, we suggest that if you are a couple, you share one computer. We will end at 21h00 each evening.
  5. The nature of the evening: The Sessions are designed to be interactive and fun. They contain practical demonstrations, videos, and breakaway conversations in Zoom breakout groups. You will be encouraged to participate fully in discussions and sharing. You will need a Bible and a notebook at your side in which to record your personal notes.
  6. Final Greeting: God bless you all. We are praying for this journey of faith, and for all the individuals in the group. You may want to ask a friend to support you in prayer during this journey.

Technical aspects

  1. We had to check that every person had enough data or a strong enough Wi-Fi connection to support their audio and video on Zoom. Sometimes it was necessary to have a private Zoom meeting to establish that the individual understood the system and could participate fully.
  2. We rehearsed Zoom techniques as leaders i.e. Zoom Breakout rooms, and Screen sharing
  3. We practised using the material. We used our morning quiet times to work prayerfully through the verses so that we were ready spiritually, and had brainstormed some of the questions we might want to ask the participants during the session (that served us well during the actual session because it took the discussion much deeper).

Some thoughts in hindsight

“We needed to be flexible in our leadership. Some of what we prepared never happened. Some subjects were never covered, but we realise that that they may be covered later.

We allowed discussion to go off on a tangent if the tangent was worthwhile and not a distraction. However, we never allowed the group to go completely off the topic. We reined in people who talked for too long, by saying, “Thank you very much for that point. That was very helpful. Let us move on to the next paragraph” (or something like that).

We allowed time for people to share their needs, their fears and distractions. For instance, one couple was very distracted one evening because they were hearing about service delivery protests and riots in their near neighbourhood. They needed immediate prayer support. We stopped the meeting to pray for the people concerned and to intercede for the situation. It was an enriching time and brought the group closer together.”


In South Africa Rooted in Jesus is directed by Trevor Pearce and overseen by Growing the Church, based in Cape Town. The Rooted in Jesus Administrator is Estelle Adams.

Rooted in Jesus is published and supported by The Mathetes Trust. To find out more visit the Rooted in Jesus website.

Posted 17th November 2020.

Jesus doesn’t do lockdown

We have just received the following report from Estelle Adams of Growing the Church in Cape Town:

Bruce Woolley reports from Pietermaritzburg in the Diocese of Natal

Rooted in Jesus started at St Luke’s Church, Woodlands on 10th October 2019. We knew very little about the course until the Leaders’ workshop, but it is amazing how God takes something small and grows and develops it. We were not sure how many people would join the course but there was a group of 6 of us that got together every week to pray for the course and for God to send the right people to the group. We also agreed to pray at 9pm every night for this group.

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

We have been so blessed with the wonderful group of people who regularly attend and who despite Lockdown have continued to meet on a Thursday evening using whatsapp to continue the course.  We averaged about 20 -25 people before the Lockdown and about 20 at the moment. Our group is varied and we have 3 members from the Catholic church who have joined and also a  member who joins us from Durban and recently one from Philadelphia, USA. Lockdown has caused so much stress for people but thanks be to God, it has actually allowed the group to develop and reach people further afield.

In their own words : Testimonies from group members

“I look forward to Thursday nights when we can communicate with other members of RinJ like a Bible study group. It’s wonderful to keep in touch with Jesus and each other.”

“Jesus died so that we could have a deep, passionate, personal relationship with God so we need to get to know him thru the Bible & this will help us to be Christ like. The closer you get to God the more he lovingly & graciously changes you from the inside out. RinJ is helping me with all of the above.”

“The enemy has succeeded in keeping places of worship closed temporarily but he has not succeeded in preventing the St Luke’s RinJ from their weekly fellowship via social media. Every Thursday I look forward to spending time and discussing the word of God with my fellow RinJ members. Learning the memory verses has helped me to overcome trying and negative situations during Lockdown.”

“I can remember the first time I walked into the church’s hall to attend Rooted in Jesus. I was nervous. Nervous because I was much younger than the age group attracted to RinJ and because I wasn’t as strong in my faith as they were. I walked in that hall feeling nervous but walked out feeling blessed. Every week I looked forward to Thursday because it would be RinJ. Our sessions made me look into life with new and different specifications. I am now constantly at peace and if anything is attacking my peace I pray about it.”

St Luke’s Anglican Church, Woodlands

“RinJ has brought me much closer to God and his people in the church. About 2 weeks ago I tested positive for Covid-19 and when I found out I was in total shock even though I was very sick. It was just a shock that I was now part of the statistics and that I had something the whole world is talking about. I just went silent and prayed to God for complete healing. I wasn’t getting any better so the first thing I did was call our priest Father George one evening and before I could open my eyes the next morning he was by our house gate to drop off communion and holy oil. He prayed for me over the phone and went through the communion with me on the phone. It was in that moment that I was so grateful I walked through those doors of the church to join RinJ. I am so grateful that RinJ is virtual now during this pandemic because I get to still take part even though I’m positive with Covid-19. I am so thankful to God that he put me in the right place at the right time.”

“I have learned so much. God has shown me that He is always there especially when he is not. I have surrendered all to him and He is in Control. That all will be answered, But in His time. He has sent me angels just at the right time.”

“RinJ has been such an amazing journey so far and has had such a huge impact with my relationship with Jesus Christ. Things that I used to have difficulty understanding have become so clear, it also helped me to open up when we in groups, to hear others testimonies and how people can come together and share is just amazing. I used to get angry with myself sometimes because I couldn’t remember a Bible verse but with RinJ I’m enjoying the memory verses which is such a great way to remember a Bible verse, what RinJ has also done for me is really strengthen me in the word and in my prayer life, I feel so encouraged to pray on my own, with others and for others and has helped me so much in the lay ministry. I really am enjoying this journey in RinJ and I know it can only strengthen my relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

When it was evening on that day .. and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked .. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” John 20.19.

In South Africa Rooted in Jesus is overseen by Growing the Church, directed by Revd Trevor Pearce. Rooted in Jesus is published and supported by the Mathetes Trust.

Posted 8th August 2020.