Dioceses of Mt Kilimanjaro and Kiteto (from 2002)

Bishops Simon Makundi, John Hayden and Isaiah Chambala. Teams led by Alison Morgan.

Rooted in Jesus was first written in 2002 at the request of Revd Stanley Hotay, Diocesan Missioner and Director of the Jesus Film programme in the Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro. Introduced by 3 training conferences for clergy and evangelists, Rooted in Jesus got off to a cautious start but gradually took off throughout the diocese. Coordinators were appointed for the deaneries of Kiteto (Michael Samuel), Arusha (Isaiah Chambala) and Babati (Jacob Lihhima). Pastors and group leaders were given gifts of milk goats to enable them to support their families, funded by an appeal in Leicester diocese and administered by the diocesan Agriculturalist Matthias Troff. Rooted in Jesus is used in both Swahili and Masai, and each group leader has been given a Good News Bible in the appropriate language. By 2007 many groups had completed the course, and a new generation of leaders was trained, many of whom are women, all of whom are lay.

In the first round there were eventually over 3,500 people belonging to about 350 groups - 156 in the Kiteto deaneries, 150 in Arusha deanery and the remainder in Babati and Kilimanjaro deaneries. The Kiteto groups completed the course in 2007, and 330 new groups were formed. Stanley, Michael, Isaiah and Jacob have all travelled on teams to introduced Rooted in Jesus to other dioceses.

In July 2009 the diocese divided into two, the Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Diocese of Kiteto, and Isaiah Chambala became the first bishop of Kiteto. Isaiah appointed Michael Samuel as full time coordinator of Rooted in Jesus. From 2010 the Diocesan Council has agreed that:

	Rooted in Jesus will work under the office of Mission, Evangelism and stewardship, with Michael Samuel as its head
	The 7 Rural Deans will be responsible for supporting and supervising the groups in their deaneries
	Rooted in Jesus will be used with all children from ages 10-12 as their catechismal preparation.
	Rooted in Jesus becomes a condition and a qualification for any one who becomes a group leader such as MU and YOUTH
	Rooted in Jesus becomes a standard for the Bible knowledge of all workers in the diocesan offices, as a way of building their spiritual maturity, challenging their call to ministry and inspiring them to grow in their discipleship.
	Regular seminars and conferences will be planned by the coordinator in cooperation with the rural deans and the bishop.

Diocese of Luapula (from 2005)

The Bishop is Robert Mumbi, the first bishop of this new diocese. Rooted in Jesus was introduced in 2005, having been translated into Bemba. Team led by Alison Morgan, with John Lee, Mike Hutchinson, Mark Bedford and Hils Revill.

Individual clergy began using Rooted in Jesus in their parishes with great success, but due to distance and lack of resources it took a little while to establish it as a diocesan-wide programme.

The bishop asked for a review of progress at the diocesan clergy conference in January 07, and it was agreed that Rooted in Jesus is a key programme for the diocese. A clergy re-orientation conference was held. A coordinator was appointed for each archdeaconry, the training chaplain Fr Erwin Tembo was charged with training the lay readers to lead groups, and a new overall coordinator appointed, Ven Cornelius Chalwe. A resolution was passed that all lay readers in the diocese must hold a Rooted in Jesus certificate before they may be licensed; the plan is that they should then use the course for confirmation classes and bible study in small groups in their communities. In August and September 2007 Cornelius trained some Mothers Union representatives to lead groups; Rooted In Jesus will now be used 'in all branches and at all gatherings'. Certificates have been issued to those who have completed book 1, and books 2 and 3 have been printed locally and are now in use. From 2010 Rooted in Jesus is overseen by Sylvester Phiri, diocesan training chaplain and Dean of Chapili cathedral.

	'Bishop Robert Mumbi reported in January 07 on the progress of the Rooted in Christ programme that had been initiated by the Revd Alison Morgan in August 2005. Those clergy who have used the course have found the material very good for teaching at all levels, and plans are being made for the Training Chaplain Fr Erwin Tembo to run seminars in archdeaconries for lay readers. They could then use the material for confirmation classes and bible study in small groups in their communities'. Bath & Wells diocesan newsletter, May 2007.
	'Our programme is going on very well; with God on our side we are almost half way through. The Diocesan teaching team is doing so well such that the Lord God almighty is so wonderful and revealing things we never experienced in the past as a Diocese.' Cornelius Chalwe, May 2009
	Fr Alfred Sichone wrote in January 2009 to say that in his parish of Mbala a group of lay leaders has completed the course and launched groups of their own.

Covenant Church International (from 2009)

Covenant Church International was founded by its General Secretary David ole Kereto in 2006, and with 300 churches was identified in 2008 as the fastest growing denomination in Kenya. Working primarily in rural locations amongst the Masai, CCI has a bishop and a number of dioceses. We were invited to introduce Rooted in Jesus to the pastors in Kajiado and Narok. The two conferences were attended by leaders from 5 denominations, who will work together. A second team visited in March 2010 to run two further introductory conferences in Rotian and Ntulele.

2009 team led by Alison Morgan, with Martin Cavender, Andy Sachs, Erasto Mollel, Lucy Mgwanja and Albert Ngare. 2010 team led by Amanda Johnson, with Geoff Stoke, Michael Samuel, and Erasto Mollel. Rooted in Jesus is used in Masai and in Swahili, both in the local churches and in Narok prison.

We have had a long drought that affected Maasailand so much that the Maasai people were scattered everywhere but we thank God that we now have rain and people have returned to their original homes. The ROOTED IN JESUS seminars that we had last time help individual Christians to grow spiritually and also the numbers of people in Churches where the Conferences were done have increased. There is a huge multiplication both in quantity and in quality. This time I want us to target Church leaders in our Conferences as that will help the ROOTED IN JESUS to spread more faster in our Maasai Churches. David ole Kereto , February 2010:

Diocese of Niassa (from 2006)

Bishop Mark Van Koevering. Teams led by Alison Morgan, with Martin Cavender, David Cundill and Stanley Hotay (2006) and John Watson, Isaiah Chambala, and John McGinley (2007).

Rooted in Jesus is used in Portuguese, Chichewa, and 4 other local languages (Yao, Makua, Senna and Lomwe), and was introduced in 2 clergy conferences in May 2006. The diocese is experiencing rapid and challenging church growth. It covers a remote area 3x size of UK with fewer than 50 clergy. After 30 years of war there is great poverty, and recent flooding and a cyclone have exacerbated this.

Rooted in Jesus is seen as a key part of the diocesan strategy, and is used for

	Discipleship groups for new Christians
	Churchplanting in new areas, especially amongst the Muslim Yao people where there has been little Christian witness
	Catechist training – most have had none at all. All new catechists are now required to complete a Rooted in Jesus course as the main element of their training.
	Confirmation classes – the church is growing extremely fast, and all those presented for confirmation are prepared through Book 1 of Rooted in Jesus

In April 07 we returned to offer further training for the catechists and evangelists of Lago archdeaconry; these conferences were repeated in the other archdeaconries by Amorim Rocha, the diocesan administrator responsible for Christian mission and formation throughout the diocese. He was succeeded as diocesan coordinator by Oscar Hamsine, and following Oscar's untimely death the programme is now overseen by Helen Van Koevering.

Bishop Mark writes: 'I have just returned from Mecanhles where we have grown from 6 churches in 2006 to 23. This year at least one Rooted course will be held in each of the communities. I was told that the literacy groups we had started like the course so much they wanted to meet daily rather than each week. We have made some good progress in a recent retreat with clergy about implementing Rooted in Jesus and have pledged ourselves to starting 1,000 groups in 2008!'

 

Helen Van Koevering writes (May 2008): 'Recent figures show that the diocese has increased 25% in numbers in the past 4 years to about 51,000 now. The MU has increased by about 30% in past 18 months, with lots of activity in all sorts of projects. On all levels and in all church organizations, we are encouraging participation in Rooted in Jesus for discipling, and the priests are much more actively involved now too. The excitement of being church is palpable, quite different to when we came back in 2003. Even a visiting South African Bishop commented on the change. Getting together, whether in small groups or large Diocesan events, has made all the difference... Last weekend, 15 were confirmed in my (new, almost finished) church having completed two books - the first lot of confirmations following the introduction of Rooted in Jesus. One whole family was baptised, a single mother with 3 children, all raised Muslims - the mother, Paulina, was confirmed too.

 for a report from Amorim Rocha click here

Diocese of Southern Malawi (from 2007)

Bishop James Tengatenga. Initial team led by Alison Morgan, with John Watson, John McGinley and Isaiah Chambala. John McGinley took a follow-up team in August 2008, with Cornelius Chalwe, Martin Castle and Else Tarbitt. Rooted in Jesus is used in Chichewa and Chiyao.

Rooted in Jesus is in use throughout the diocese for evangelism and discipleship, in groups led by clergy and lay leaders. The diocese has only 17 clergy, and many churches depend on dedicated lay leadership. Rooted in Jesus is seen as a key new strategy in a diocese which has hitherto relied on crusades for its evangelism, and is now looking to develop an effective strategy for lay discipleship. The programme is overseen by Martin Mlaka, Evangelism Coordinator, and his deputy Revd Richard Maidah.

The groups got off to a good start in 2007 with a pilot project in one parish and other groups meeting elsewhere. For 2008 a new training programme has been put together for the catechists, who will use Rooted in Jesus to disciple new Christians.

'For over three decades, the Anglican diocese of southern Malawi has involved itself in crusades but without a proper tool for follow-up. It is in this regard that we find the Rooted in Jesus material and methods helpful to nurture the converts right immediately after each crusade. Soon after their training, we are going to deploy the catechists one by one at each place we have a church planting crusade and where the congregations are at establishment stage' - Martin Mlaka

The 2008 visit offered training and support to a wider group of lay leaders. John McGinley reports:

People have been filled with the Spirit, given new gifts, delivered from evil spirits and healed. 45 lay people received certificates, were anointed with oil and commissioned in the power of the Holy Spirit to go and form Rooted in Jesus groups and disciple others. They are from 120 parishes and presented very positive plans on how they want to do this. Martin Mlaka wept with joy at all God is doing.

 

'I want to thank you for the wonderful team that you sent to this year's conference.  It was great and marvellous and charismatic, you should have seen how exciting it was.  It was good also to me because this year we only invited those parishes that are in Blantyre and part of Chiradzulu district.  Already, this year's group has started forming groups for Rooted in Jesus.  Monitoring will be easy on my side because I will not have to travel very long distances to observe how they are faring.  Pray for me as I face a challenge to seeing the groups up this year. I am meeting the Bishop tomorrow to brief him on the conference. We are doing well, more than half the parishes of those who attended the conference have started their small groups'. - Martin Mlaka

                                                                        for a report from John McGinley click here.

Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist (from 2009)

An invitation from Bishop Martin Breytenbach to introduce Rooted in Jesus. Team led by John McGinley, with Anne Scott, Merisa MacInnes, Michael Lyden and Nicola Bishop.

The team ran a single four day conference for 70 clergy and lay ministers. Representatives from the Diocese of Zululand also attended, as did Trevor Pearce, the Director of the Grow the Church initiative in the province of South Africa. Bishop Martin and Trevor hope that Rooted in Jesus will become part of the strategic planning of the whole province -  Bishop Martin writes, "I have no doubt that God has commissioned and anointed this course for Africa in much the same way as he is using Alpha in more urban and 'western' settings. We are already starting to see remarkable things in this Diocese as people and congregations are set on fire with the love of Jesus."  Groups have started, follow-up plans are in place, and a further conference is planned for March 2011.

"RinJ is all about what it means to be children of God – now and in the life to come. Too many Anglicans are not confident about their faith, but here we have a way to get to know God well, by studying his Word together. The RinJ Conference in September was very special, and I particularly enjoyed having lay leaders present, together with a good number of young people. They added an excitement and vibrancy to what we were doing. Encouraging reports have begun to come in from groups that have already started. God is meeting people and setting them ablaze with his love." - Bishop Martin Breytenbach