We are writing to let you know about some exciting events and a new publication – and to invite your prayers!

Very soon the Mathetes Trust will embark on two full scale parish missions, the first since the foundation of the Trust. Roger will be spending a week in Purley, near Reading, with a team of 9 people, and a week in Breaston, near Derby, with a team of 12. The vicar in Purley is David Archer, and the vicar in Breaston is Chris Smedley. Both are excellent guys in their 40s with a heart for mission. In Breaston the Methodist church will also be closely involved. At both missions Roger will be supported by Richard Scott, the Director of Through Faith Missions and one of our Associates.

So, to cut to the chase: we are looking for people who will provide prayer backup during the period September 22^nd until October 17^th. If would like to pray, we will send bulletins each Tuesday and Friday with details of the events we would like you to cover, as well as feedback on what has happened so far.

Roger has been involved in many parish missions, some of them very fruitful. This time, we have decided on an innovation: we will be working not just with a visiting team, but also in each church with a home team. During the summer we have been working closely with the home teams, providing encouragement and training in evangelism and going out onto the streets together. For every visitor, there will be two or three home team members. By doing it this way, we hope to leave behind a home team that is equipped both to follow up those who want to take things further, and to lead their churches into growth over the coming years.

“We all get one life to live and deep down we’re all asking the same question – what’s it all about?”

During the mission week, there will be three kinds of activity.

Men’s curry night…

Youth chill-out..

Cream tea…

Youth theatre workshop

Special healing service…

Ladies down the pub…

Singing for fun…

• Every day we will use any spare time to do cold calling, using the well tested TFM questionnaire and relying on Richard’s expert leadership. We are finding that most people receive us warmly, and that we often get opportunities to share the gospel or to pray for the needs of the people we meet.

• Secondly, each member of the home team will be hosting a meeting in their own home, to which they will invite friends, family and neighbours. We will share our testimonies with the guests, listen to them, try to answer their questions and then before we go home share the gospel with them. Roger has found from experience that it is in these meetings that the best work of the mission is often done.

• Finally, we will have a lot of bigger meetings – on church premises, in restaurants, in village halls, usually with refreshments, always around a specific topic, and often aimed at a specific age group. For example Roger is preparing a talk on ‘Has Science made God unnecessary?’ to be given to men at a restaurant in Purley following a curry meal, and we are currently deciding who is to speak at a Youth chill-out evening on the Friday. For a complete list of events at Purley check out their mission website.
  

A new resource for evangelism

We are pleased to announce that we have just published Decision, a booklet written by Roger and designed for anyone who wishes to find out how to become a Christian, or who is just starting out on the adventure of faith. This is a brand new edition, and we will give a copy to everyone who makes a decision for Christ in Purley or in Breaston. We have given away thousands of these in the last 10 years, and many churches have used them to give to people after Alpha, or in the context of parish missions and outreach events. If you would like to get hold of a copy or order a pack, it’s on our publications page.

If you would like to find out more about evangelism training or mission teams please do get in touch – details of how you can do this are on our contact page. And if you are happy to pray for us, let us know and we will send you all the details. We know from experience what a difference prayer will make!

Posted 12th September 2017

The Makonde people of Tanzania are famous for their woodcarvings, and like the great teachers of the church many centuries ago they believe that everything we achieve is built on a foundation of what others have achieved before us. And so many of their carvings represent groups of people supporting one another in the journey of life, clambering gradually upwards, together reaching heights which no individual could attain on his or her own. These trees of life are often created out of a single tree trunk, and can reach many metres high. They offer a powerful reminder of the way we depend on one another in every aspect of our lives – and not least in our journey of faith.

Rooted in Jesus was originally developed for use in Tanzania, 15 years ago now. Since 2013 it has been independently run in the Province, and each year the Diocesan Coordinators gather together to review their work and plan for the year ahead. This year the Conference was held in Arusha. Every diocese is different, and each person had their own story to tell – stories of children being discipled in Sunday Schools, of people coming to faith, of new churches being planted and coming to maturity; and of course stories too of great challenge and difficulty. But perhaps the most striking thing was the sense of unity and shared purpose, even where distances are great and resources are few. It was only one day – but it was a good one.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” – John 17.20-23

To find out more visit the Rooted in Jesus blog here. If you would like to help us support the ministry of Rooted in Jesus in Tanzania please visit our support page.

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Posted 30th August 2017

A Rooted in Jesus team has recently returned from the Diocese of Butere, in Kenya, where they led two discipleship conferences at the invitation of Bishop Timothy Wumbunya. The team was led by Revd Richard Morgan (from Philadelphia, US), Revd Capt Joshua Opondo (from the Diocese of Maseno South, Kenya) and Revd John Eldridge (from Wickham Market, UK).  The conferences were hosted by Revd Capt Benjamin Kibara, the Diocesan Executive Secretary for Mission, and attended by a huge turnout of 300 invited delegates – in fact the biggest conference in the history of Rooted in Jesus!

Bishop Tim says: “They seem to have embraced or understood this Rooted in Jesus training, and they seem more determined to go forward and share it with other people, which we haven’t seen before in any of the other courses that we have done – and we have done many other courses! This Rooted in Jesus seems to be the one that has finally helped us turn that corner.”

The team have put together a wonderful video report which you can view by clicking on the image below. To find out more do visit the Rooted in Jesus blog!

We are very grateful to the team who went, to the diocese for their careful planning and generous hospitality, to the church of Good Samaritan Philadelphia who helped with the funding, and to all those who prayed for the conferences.

Posted 21st July 2017

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The core purpose of the Mathetes Trust is to help make disciples of Jesus in the local church. That means that we long to see churches whose members are learning to:

Love God and love one another
Live as Jesus lived
Pray as Jesus prayed
Minister to others in the power of the Spirit
Proclaim the gospel in word and deed

We know that prayer is a fundamental part of the Christian life, and we sometimes invite you to pray with us for particular things. So we are issuing our first prayer diary. It’s modelled on the longstanding Rooted in Jesus prayer diary, which it will now replace; it covers the next three months, starting with the Rooted in Jesus team currently working in Kenya.

An exciting update

A few weeks ago we invited you to pray with us for the Diocese of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan, where Bishop Emmanuel Murye and his colleagues are ministering to all those who have fled their homes for refugee camps in Uganda. As a result of your generosity we were able to send a financial contribution and replacement RinJ books to Uganda, and we are overjoyed to learn that Coordinator Nelson Saya has been able to train 35 Rooted in Jesus group leaders in the camps. Nelson writes:

To the glory of God we visited twelve churches in Morobi refugee camp in four places, we finish the program well and the people were able to testify that these program will bring revival because it has awakened them in their faith since they flee to the camp and it has comforted them. It gives them assurance that God is with them and also enables them to know that God cares for them more than any other creature on this earth.

We continue to pray for them, as for the many other churches with which we are in touch. You will find many of them in the prayer diary – including the two UK parish missions which we are helping with in the autumn.

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Eph 6.18.

Thank you for your prayer and support.

An important part of the work of the Mathetes Trust is the groups that form part of our EQUIP programme. The idea is to bring together a number of church leaders who are all working in the same geographical area, three times a year, for a one day seminar led by one of our EQUIP group leaders. Each EQUIP meeting follows a specific theme or topic, explored through a specially written booklet. The leader also acts as a mentor to each of the group members; this means getting involved in the ministry of each church in whatever way is considered most helpful.

This is to let you know that John Benson, one of our associates, has just opened a new EQUIP group in North Wales involving many churches that are struggling to grow in challenging circumstances. The group members are leading churches at various places along the A55 from Anglesey to Chester and south from Chester on the A483. The first session took the title “Focus on the Lord” – a call to refocus on the Lord amid challenges that can seem overwhelming. The Lord’s presence, the Lord’s plan and the Lord’s power are the key to a ministry that grows in fruitfulness. Please do pray that this new group will bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God and result in many more people becoming disciples of Jesus Christ in North Wales.

John himself spent many years working in Singapore as Vicar of St George’s. During John’s time St George’s grew and grew,  so John has much experience of what God can do – albeit in a rather different environment to North Wales. John was also one of the first mission pioneers to take the gospel into Cambodia. John and Anita  are now retired and living in Chester.

If you would like to find out more about our EQUIP program or about John please do visit our EQUIP page.

Posted 25th June 2017

Many of our partners in the Rooted in Jesus family have been writing with updates on their work. There is much to tell, not least from the Diocese of Kajo Keji in South Sudan where Rooted in Jesus groups have now been established in the Ugandan refugee camps, and we will bring you an update on that soon.

In the meantime we have just posted a report from the Diocese of Upper Shire in Malawi. This is a diocese with just 62 clergy, serving 286 churches. Bishop Brighton Malasa introduced Rooted in Jesus in 2015, and invited us to return to facilitate a follow-up conference earlier this year. RinJ is used for evangelism, especially among Muslims, and for church groups and confirmation classes.

Bishop Brighton writes:

I am happy to report that Rooted in Jesus has seen its roots indeed going deeper. The Reverend Father Edward Kawinga and the Reverend Father Elliot Litereko are doing a great job. We are happy and glad that the laity of this Diocese can be given such a chance to undertake theological studies in their local parishes which was perceived as for the ordained ministers. When I visit the parishes I have seen people gathering and undergoing these training on Saturdays and Sundays after Mass. I am delighted to see such progress. I am convinced that if people (the laity) are rooted in Jesus having undergone these trainings, we shall have both the laity and clergy rich spiritually which will lessen the tasks of our priests as we shall have knowledgeable faithfuls. Please continue praying for us.

The Diocese of Upper Shire has a vision for discipleship and proclamation of the Gospel. It struggles with the usual challenges of finance, distance, illiteracy and the vagaries of the rains and the harvests. And yet its people are growing in faith, served by the commitment of the clergy of the diocese, not least the coordinators Fr Elliot Litereko and  Fr Edward Kawinga. It is a privilege to serve them.

To catch up on the news – and find out what the headlines are! – please check out the Rooted in Jesus blog here.

Much of the work of the Mathetes Trust happens in Africa through our Rooted in Jesus ministry, which is headed up by Alison. We are working in many places; one of them is the Diocese of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan, where we sent a team last October led by Mike Cotterell, oneof our trustees. But since we were there the political and humanitarian crisis has deepened, and almost everyone in Kajo-Keji has fled to Uganda, where they are living in refugee camps.

Bishop Emmanuel and his clergy colleagues have set up an office in Mojo, Uganda, so that they can continue to care for their people; from this base they are travelling between the refugee camps. So the church is now mostly in exile, as the people of Israel once were. They have some upsetting stories to tell, but an ambitious vision to share as well – and they still need Rooted in Jesus. Bishop Emmanuel writes: “The believers need Rooted in Jesus at this time of distress and spiritual need. Rooted in Jesus is the only tool and way forward to nourish the Christians and make the newly born Christians grow.”

They ask for our prayers, and also for financial support to enable all this travelling. To find out more, look at our blog https://rootedinjesus.wordpress.com/, where you will also find information about how you can help us to support them. At some stage we will want to send out another team, but they are not ready for this yet.

Psalm 139 is helpful. It’s a prayer of anguish, and yet it’s a prayer of trust too – trust in God who knows us and is always with us. It seems a good prayer to pray for the people of South  Sudan at the moment:

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.”

With best wishes in Christ Jesus

Roger Morgan
Director, The Mathetes Trust
To find out more about Rooted in Jesus visit www.rootedinjesus.net

As part of our aim to help make disciples in the local church, here at The Mathetes Trust we support and lead parish missions. Roger has been doing this on and off for many years, and the best of these missions have been very fruitful, leading to significant church growth. So far we have two missions planned for 2017, in Purley near Reading starting on September 23^rd and in Breaston near Derby starting on October 7^th. Beginning with these two missions, we have decided on two innovations in the way that we do things:

• So far the missions Roger has led have focussed on reaching the families and friends of the local Christians, aiming to reap what those Christians have been sowing, perhaps over many years. While this will still be the principal aim of our missions, starting in Purley we plan to add cold calling to our usual mission week activities, thereby hoping to reach out to some who have never had much contact with Christians. Richard Scott of Through Faith Missions is gifted and experienced in this kind of evangelism and he will lead this aspect of both the planned missions.

• The team of people leading a mission week has normally consisted entirely of visitors from outside the parish. This year we plan to draw team members from both inside and outside the parish, thus adding a home team to the usual visiting team. We hope to use the mission to provide significant training input for the home team members, expecting that this experience will lead to fruitfulness long after the mission week is over.

This is where we are up to in planning for both Purley and Breaston. If you have time and inclination we would value your continuing prayers as we move these plans forward – please just let us know and we will keep you updated.

The practicalities

• In each place we have recruited a home team of 25 people or more.

• Richard and Roger will meet with the home team members for the first of three training mornings on April 29^th in Purley, and May 6^th in Breaston.

• Each home team member has agreed to host a party during the mission week to which they will invite family and friends to meet members of the visiting team. Preparation for these parties will be an important part of the training programme.

• Each church has appointed a mission planning group to organise mission week events of many kinds. The planning group will also be responsible for organising prayer support, for publicity, and for taking care of the hospitality to the visiting team. Roger and Richard will soon begin a series of meeting with this group.

• We will need a visiting team of up to a dozen people for each place and recruitment for this team is soon to begin.

Looking ahead

We are beginning to plan missions for 2018, starting with one in Bedworth near Coventry. If you would like us to send a team to your home church then let us know. More information on our Mission page!

A major part of the work of The Mathetes Trust is to support the Rooted in Jesus discipleship programme for Africa, which Roger and Alison Morgan first founded back in 2002 along with Stanley Hotay, and which is now in use in 80 dioceses or denominations in 16 countries. Rooted in Jesus is a discipleship course written for use in rural Africa, where nothing else of its kind is available. We estimate that between 70,000 and 100,000 people have done this course so far, and we know that the impact on the lives of ordinary Christians has been enormous. Every year we send out teams from the UK both to new dioceses and to places we have been before.

This is the time of year when we compile an Annual Report based on feedback from the previous year, and it is available for download here; it includes many testimonies from those whose lives have been changed. We have also posted a new blog entry with news from South Africa, where they use both Rooted in Jesus and our companion discipleship programme The God Who is There – both now endorsed for use across the Anglican Communion. If you would like to receive regular updates you can sign up to receive an email notification on the blog itself.

We have been particularly moved by recent messages from two places : Uganda, where they are experiencing great growth, and South Sudan, where they are experiencing great hardship.

• Canon John Musaasizi writes from the Diocese of Mityana: “We give glory to the Lord our God for providing the Rooted in Jesus program as a means of fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus. We are excited to see the involvement of Rooted in Jesus members in growing their fellow members into Christ likeness and at the same time preparing themselves to start new groups in their local settings. With the availability of this program, the church ceases to be an auditorium in which the audiences passively watch what is done by a few people on the stage for years. The program makes it clear that the church in which we are members is on the move where growth and multiplication of believers moves  on like fire, catching every area of human location without discrimination. Members discover not only  who they are in Christ, but also the Spirit given gifts that they can  employ in building up one another and the Church at large.  The Spirit is teaching us a lot.”

• Bishop Emmanuel Modi writes from the more challenging situation of the Diocese of Kajo-Keji: “Three quarters of the population are in the refugee camps and others are internally displaced. We are going to make new strategies among the refugees. I am going to establish the churches and find out those Christians who were trained in Rooted in Jesus so that they will start their groups. The believers need Rooted in Jesus at this time of distress and spiritual need. Rooted in Jesus is the only tool and way forward to nourish the Christians and make the newly born Christians grow.”

Both of them ask for our prayers as they pour their energies into the task that the Lord has given them.

This year so far we have invitations to send teams to seven dioceses, and requests to support the work as it expands in many more. If  you would like to support Rooted in Jesus financially you can do so here, and if you would be interested in joining a team please do let us know!

Click on the images to download the Annual Report, the Prayer Diary or to read the blog.

As we move into the season of Lent we are delighted to announce the Mathetes Trust’s first publication : Something Understood – Poems for Reflection and Meditation.

‘Most people need poetry, but not much of it: it is a vitamin of which small familiar doses are enough. The poems most people know and enjoy and turn over and over again through their lives are like prayers addressed to the mystery of themselves’ – Geoffrey Grigson

A sequel to the earlier collection Distilling Life, this new anthology is designed to provide a starting point for reflection on some of the big questions of life – things we often avoid talking about, or for which we can’t quite find the words. It is arranged in five thematic sections: Seeing, Living, Loving, Trusting and Dying. Each section contains about twenty poems or pieces of prose, and each includes contributions from a wide range of authors, both historical and contemporary. Some of the poems are well known; others are published here for the first time.

Designed to be used for personal reflection, in poetry groups, or read aloud in larger gatherings, the book is beautifully illustrated throughout with high quality black and white photographs and drawings.

What people said about Distilling Life:

• “Our poetry group meets monthly. It is surprising how often this short anthology seems to contain a poem that just fits the bill, inspires new insight, provokes us to further discussion – and sometimes makes us laugh” – Anna Farago

• “I have just conducted a quiet morning with lay leaders. As well as Scripture readings I used a number of poems from Distilling Life. A very powerful and moving resource” – Bishop Stuart Robinson

The collection is edited by Alison Morgan. Alison has a lifelong love of poetry, and is known both for her academic and spiritual writing. Her books include Dante and the Medieval Other World, The Wild Gospel, and Following Jesus: The Plural of Disciple is Church

Copies can be ordered from our publications page or by post from The Mathetes Trust, 10 Dairy Close, Wells BA52ND, price £8. If you would like to order by post please include a cheque for £9.58, which includes p&p. Or you can order it on Amazon.