Hundreds of pastors, church leaders, church planters and members have been trained for disciple-making in the church’s East Central Africa Division (ECD) using resources from the South Pacific.
The training was led by Dr Peter Roennfeldt, author of the Following Jesus series of books, Calvary to Pentecost and the disciple-making series of Conversation Guides, among other books and resources.
Participants were trained in Discovery Bible Reading and equipped to train others for faith-sharing and disciple-making. “With more than five million members across its countries, the vision is to equip all to transition ‘from spectators to disciple-makers,’” explains Dr Roennfeldt. “Leaders and participants in all the countries—Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda—were excited about the simplicity of Discovery Bible Reading, the process underlying the multiplication of disciples and church plants across Papua New Guinea in recent years.”
Hosted in five cities across almost four weeks in March, the training programs were coordinated by Pastor Paul Muasya, Field Secretary and assistant to the president for Adventist Mission and Church-planting for the ECD. “The equipping of disciple-makers using Jesus’ methods is exactly what we needed, and we really appreciate the process of Discovery Bible Reading,” reports Pastor Muasya. “It is something all our members and pastors can use!”
Already available in Arabic, Amharic (Ethiopian), French and English, the Discovery Bible Reading bookmark is currently being translated into the other languages used across the ECD. “These bookmarks are shared with all in the groups, they explain the process and effectively provide training each time they are used,” said Dr Roennfeldt. “They prompt discussion on the Bible passage being read and equip each participant to share with others—therefore multiplying disciples. Research is pointing to Discovery Bible Reading groups as foundational to disciple-making movements and church-planting movements around the world.”
Work is ongoing to translate more of Dr Roennfeldt’s books and resources in a number of languages around world, including various projects in French and the launch of the Japanese edition of Following the Apostle’s Vision earlier this year. Across this year so far, he has also led training programs and equipped pastors in the South Bahamas Conference, Japan Union Conference and South New Zealand Conference.
