Making the most of the Decade of Discipleship
Recent news from South Africa is exciting – Rooted in Jesus has been introduced to the Diocese of the Free State, and reinforced in the Diocese of Natal; in both cases alongside training for our companion discipleship programme The God Who is There. Revd Trevor Pearce and a team from Growing the Church led the training conferences, Bishop Dintoe of Free State is leading the way with a group of his own, and lives are already being changed – to find out how see the blog report https://rootedinjesus.blog/2018/08/08/bishops-prioritise-discipleship-training/
New translations
As Rooted in Jesus is introduced to new people groups, new translations have to be made into local languages. Recent work by our partners means that it is now available in whole or in part in Lunda (for Zambia), Luhya (for Kenya) and Kumam (for Uganda). In recent months we have also adapted the Swahili translation for use in DR Congo. Rooted in Jesus has now been translated into 44 languages!
Meanwhile in the Diocese of Bunyoro Kitara, Diocesan Coordinator Joyce Asaba has written to request more copies of Book 4 in the local language of Runyoro. She writes: “Group Members say that they have really benefited from the course and some have become leaders and formed other groups. They also say that scripture memory has indeed helped them in ministry and in their daily lives. Others say that their lives have changed completely. So please we need more prayers because now some churches are picking up interest in RinJ and have started.”
Mark sees the lives of group members changing in Binikira, Diocese of Mityana
Rooted in Jesus often gives new impetus to the ministry of a church leader, and this is the case for Mark. John Musaasizi reports: “Jethro and I visited Binikira Church. Towards the end of the service Mark the trainer of Rooted Jesus at Binikira and I peacefully walked out to address the newly born in Christ Jesus together with those who gave their lives to Jesus years earlier. Some of the members had old lifestyles they felt were not compatible with the New Life in Christ. We could not provide solutions to all questions. We left it to Mark to deal with issues as they surfaced during his Rooted in Jesus training. Mark is one of the best Rooted in Jesus trainers we have in the Diocese of Mityana. He has already indicated his readiness to train the entire church membership.”
Doing your bit – the new Amazon Smile programme
Finally, back to home and your own buying of books. Amazon have a new scheme – when you buy a book (or indeed anything else) from them, they will ask you to let them donate to your favourite charity. The Mathetes Trust is registered with them as an approved charity – so if you choose us, you are helping whole communities find out what it means to follow Jesus! And it costs you nothing at all…
The Mathetes Trust 