The Mathetes Trust | Rooted in Jesus

In South Africa, Rooted in Jesus is overseen by Trevor Pearce and his team at Growing the Church, based in Cape Town. They have recently published a number of video interviews and an exciting report on recent conferences in the Dioceses of Lesotho, Natal and Free State.

THE DIOCESE OF FREE STATE

The Diocese of the Free State held a discipleship training conference in May last year, followed by their own Anglicans Ablaze Conference in November. Bishop Dintoe has spoken recently about the growth of discipleship within the diocese which has resulted from the introduction of Rooted in Jesus – click on the image to hear his remarkable testimony:

Bishop Dintoe Letloeyane of the Diocese of the Free State, speaks with Bishop Martin Breytenbach about the impact of Rooted in Jesus in the diocese

The GtC newsletter confirms: ‘A recent visit by Trevor Pearce revealed that as a result of Rooted in Jesus the Diocese was growing in fruitfulness, and development was obvious. Bishop Dintoe’s group with his staff members are now moving on to book three of Rooted in Jesus. Fr Itumeleng Pooe has a group with some of the members of the Fellowship of Vocation. He also runs a RinJ Junior group with his family. The programme has also taken root in the Far Eastern Free State, where the Revd Hectorina Tsotetsi, on her own, is coordinating 7 discipleship groups!’

Revd Hectorina Tsotsi reports: “So far Qwaqwa has seven RinJ groups, four RinJ adult groups, two RinJ junior groups and one group for The God Who is There. God is awesome; through the RinJ program people are growing spiritually, physically and economically. The church of God is growing!”

With the help of a team from Free State, Growing the Church was able to facilitate two further conferences in Lesotho and Natal. They report:

THE DIOCESE OF LESOTHO

‘The Diocese of Lesotho recently hosted a Discipleship Training Conference – training small group leaders in Rooted in Jesus, Rooted in Jesus Junior and in the urban, post-modern discipleship tool, The God Who Is There. What an exciting and vibrant group of participants – about 55 people attended. Facilitators consisted of Trevor Pearce and Estelle Adams of the Diocese of Cape Town, the Revds Itumeleng Pooe and Hectorina Tsotetsi from Qwaqwa, and Dr Joseph Morenammele, Dr Frangena Rathabanang and Me Thakane Mohapi, from Lesotho. ‘The 55 facilitators committed to starting 24 small groups. With an average of 10 people in each group, 240 people will be discipled! There is such excitement. Yes! Lesotho TV aired part of the conference.’

“I am totally humbled as I reflect on the weekend—words will never be enough to express what the Lord has done here! It was a wow experience. As Isaiah 43:18 says, ‘God is doing a new thing.’ Several participants heard the gospel for the first time and committed their lives to Jesus. Thank God for Revd Trevor who preached boldly about salvation and gently challenged the people to consider inviting Jesus in their lives.”
Joseph Morenammele

THE DIOCESE OF NATAL

‘After hosting Anglicans Ablaze 2018, the Diocese of Natal has become unstoppable! Their enthusiasm has led to lots of activities. They launched Growing the Church, Natal, which included training conferences on various aspects of Intentional Discipleship in five different regions, including Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Port Shepstone, Ladysmith and Durban North. The training tools used were Rooted in Jesus Adult, Rooted in Jesus Junior, J-Life, Alpha and a Discipleship Workshop. Teams of trainers spread across the Diocese of Natal.’

Bruce Woolley explains: “Each course will be rotating around the diocese over a period of 15 months. We are, with our Bishop’s support, taking GtC to the people, and assisting and enabling parishes to evangelize and make disciples. God is good!” Since then, three new Rooted in Jesus Adult groups, one new Rooted in Jesus Junior group, three new Alpha Groups and one new J-Life group have been formed at Parish Level.”

Zama Dlamini reports: “RinJ took off nicely in our diocese. We had a great start in Ladysmith. God’s presence was experienced by all. The participants showed so much excitement with regards to RinJ. We had both lay people and clergy attending. On Saturday, youth members from various parishes joined us. All in all, the sessions went well. We appreciated all the support from Revd Bruce and Revd Shezi for organising the logistics pertaining to the workshops.”

Find out more about Rooted in Jesus

The first diocese in South Africa to introduce Rooted in Jesus was the Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist in Limpopo Province, ten years ago now. Bishop Martin Breytenbach, who has just stepped down as Chair of Growing the Church, explains how Rooted in Jesus works:

It is exciting to see the difference that Rooted in Jesus is making in the Province. to find out more about Rooted in Jesus in South Africa visit our South Africa page. To watch more video interviews by Martin, visit the Rooted in Jesus website here or have a look at our youtube page here. The Rooted in Jesus report from Growing the Church can be downloaded here. If you would like to follow this blog just click on the ‘Follow’ button on the right.

Rooted in Jesus is a project of the Mathetes Trust, a UK registered charity which publishes both Rooted in Jesus and The God Who is There. To find out more visit our website.